Hello Skiers,
On Saturday, March 16, sixteen Ski Club members enjoyed skiing in the Coyote Call area on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. This trailhead is located on the south side of NM-4 south of Valle Grande in the Jemez Mountains. The weather was clear and cool in the morning.
The NMDOT had cleared NM-4 very well, and it was dry. Most of the skier parking places were plowed. The Coyote Call parking space had a few inches of snow on it, but we were able to park 4 vehicles there. One front-wheel drive vehicle tried to park on the edge of the parking space, became stuck, and we pushed it out. At least four of our vehicles were parked on the plowed shoulder. A skier reported that he had seen many cut pine trees that had been across the highway between Valle Grande and Los Alamos.
From the Coyote Call Trailhead, we skied east on the old road, and most skiers were able to ski up the moderately steep east side of the loop. After lunch at the saddle between Rabbit Ridge and Scooter Peak, we skied west on the upper Coyote Call segment and found that about six trees had fallen. We had to take off our skis to get over these logs safely. At the west end of the loop, most skiers descended by traversing or Telemarking. We were skiing for 3-1/2 hours to 4 hours, depending on when each group arrived at the trailhead. The snow conditions were so good that a few skiers stayed in this area to ski in the large meadow just south of the highway.
The skiers were Chris Rasmussen, Sam Beard, David Saylors, Phyllis Pryror , Catherine Waters, Jennifer Burns, Ellen Bauman, William Sable, Terri Elisberg, Tony Hsu, Steve Roholt, Byron Garner, Wendy Cox, Clancy Pigman, Holly Noland, and Alan Shapiro,
Sam