After the big snow in Los Alamos, I was anxious to get into the Jemez this past weekend. A friend and colleague from 40 years ago, Norbert Ensslin, and I finally were able to ski together on Saturday. He had not skiied Los Griegos much recently, and we decided to do the Ladera/Elk Ridge combination.  It was the best day for cross country skiing in memory for me (insert sarcastic comment here.)

We were the first on the trails since the recent snow, and broke trail through 4-8" of medium heavy snow up to Griegos Junction (GJ). Near the upper intersection of Ladera and Elk Ridge Trails, I got a little snaked up and missed Sam's blazed trail.  We ended up climbing a steeper route that lead to Lower Road and then to GJ. This error had the bad side effect of leaving the wrong broken trail, which all subsequent skiers took. (I remedied this, as best I could, on Sunday.)

After lunch, we went down Lower Road to Elk Ridge Trail, and descended back to Ladera, and on to the trailhead.  I'd been looking forward to Elk Ridge Trail for a long time, including all of snowless 2018.  But the snow was deep and heavy enough (and unbroken) that the hoped for exhilaration didn't occur until Norbert volunteered to break the trail ahead of me, to allow me to get up some speed in his track, and then execute some very enjoyable turns with my new backcountry setup. Thanks to Bet for patiently explaining to me how to use it.

On Sunday, I dawdled too long at home, and missed Guy's Los Griegos tour, and was a little too early to meet Alan Shapiro and Sarah Stout. I went up Ladera again, this time with less effort, thanks to a number of skiers who had followed our track. And this time, I did see the contours, and did follow the correct track up to Los Griegos.  So, if you decide to go, and find "two roads diverged in a wood...take the one less travelled by."  Alan and Sarah did so, and I met them at GJ a little later.

While munching an apple at GJ, Guy appeared with his group. Then so did others, including Alan and Sarah, and it was soon standing room - I think there were a dozen of us at one point.  It was clear that Squirrel Canyon had not been skiied, and Guy express interest in following it out.  I tried to describe to Guy the route back, using Black Dog Canyon. My descriptions were vague, and I thought it might help if I at least set a recognizable trail into Black Dog, which we suspected had not been skiied recently.  

Lower Road and Elk Ridge were all that I'd hoped for, and skiing in and out of the broken track from Saturday made for an fast and exhilarating, but controlled, descent.  Most of my body (not including my out-of-shape quads) agreed that it was a great run. At Ladera, I climbed back up to Lower Road (power lines) and skiied down Lower Road and into Black Dog Canyon and then back to the trailhead to set a track for Guy.  Lower Road was a fun cruise higher up, but the sun-exposed snow was heavy enough and sticky enough to require some kicking and gliding lower down.

The Los Griegos area is documented in Sam Beard's "Cross Country Skiing in Northern New Mexico," p.46, and on the NMCCSC website under the "Trails and Maintenance/Trails and Maps" tabs.  Attached are screenshots of my tracks for the two days. The 2/23 track shows my actual (erroneous) track and the correct one (in color). For Sam, Carl, Bet, and maintenance geeks there is an attached photo of the large rootball/hole on the second last switchback below GJ.

There was some snow blown onto NM4 near the Valle, but driving was not hazardous. The gate was open and a vehicle had gone up FR280.  A few snowplow swipes had been made at the major trailheads, but I think that 4WD would be helpful, and perhaps a shovel.

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