Hello Skiers,
On Sunday, April 7, Michael Arndt and I skied to the NW and SE of the 10K South Trailhead. We wanted to see what the snow conditions were and try Sam's new day-packable crosscut saw made by cutting a 5-1/2 foot saw into two pieces. I wanted
a saw that I could use to remove small to medium-sized down trees from Jemez trails where no winter trail maintenance is done.
From the 10K S Trailhead we skied to the NW and followed Sam's Trail parallel to the highway to Kerry's Trail past Dan's Loop to a section of the Old Highway Clearing. We skied around about a half-dozen down trees until we came to a small
train wreck near the end of Kerry's Trail. We used my short crosscut saw and a pruning saw to remove three small aspen trees. A 15-inch log remains partially buried in the snow.
From the highway switchback above Dan's Loop, a short section of old highway, we skied to the SE on a couple of trails groomed earlier by the Sandia Nordic Ski Club until we came to the last aspen grove and a cliff overlooking Double Eagle
Road. This former logging road goes from 10K S Trailhead to the Double Eagle downhill run, the northern-most run in the Sandia Peak Ski Area.
The top 2 inches of snow was soft, but skiing down slope was very fast; therefore, we skied four traverses on the groomed trails and through aspen groves in order to slowly return to 10K S Trailhead.
As you can see in the photos, most of the area was still covered with snow, and we were the only skiers.
Sam