Saturday Feb 15, seven of us met at Target on Paseo at 8am and headed to the Valles Caldera.
Carol Miller, Debbie McGrew, James Whitfield, Michael Arndt, Tony Hsu and his son Kevin Hsu, and myself, Leslie LaBry, regrouped at the check in station in the Caldera at about 10:15. There were not many people in the parking lot upon arrival.
The road was plowed, and a bit washboard, but frozen. With the temperature 24 degrees and warming, we took off from the check in station, first crossing the road, then heading west on the History Grove Loop towards the cabins. Michael and Jim started leading the group, and I brought up the back. We skied uphill alongside the road.
When Carol and I got up toward the cabin area where everyone was crossing the road, we found Michael with a broken pole. By the side of the road, he did a quick repair with tape he had in his pack and kept going. Debbie took off, breaking trail to the History Grove, headed to our lunch stop. Temps were getting warmer, but everyone was managing fine with the snow, but Michael's repair quickly failed.
Lunch was next at the History Grove, and time again for Michael to see if he could repair his pole. Tape alone was not the answer.
Debbie, Michael, and Jim worked on trying to come up with some way to support Michael's pole where the break was. Unfortunately dry pine branches used to support it on the inside were not the answer. The final attempt was using a carabiner taped to the broken pole, not a lot of options to make this work!
The final leg of this little adventure to the check in station was downhill. By this time the wind had picked up, dropping a fresh layer of icy snow on the existing track. In spite of the warming temps, the snow was still pretty good. With MaxiGlide on our skis, we headed downhill to the check in station.
Back at the muddy parking lot by about 1:30, the temperature was about 45 degrees. I found out at that time that the second repair on Michael's pole failed again. But with one good pole, he managed to skied down to the check in station well before the last of us got in.
Everyone enjoyed the day. Kevin (Tony's son) was not an experienced skier but he did great (that youth thing helps!). Michael, well we all know he will have a pair of new shiny ski poles on the next trip.
I appreciate that so many people jumped on this trip with such short notice. Having not led a ski group before, I had not considered it until I talked to Sam on the Thursday night meeting that was before this trip. I appreciate his encouragement, route suggestion, and help in getting this posted as I did not have time Friday to deal with the details.
Total elevation gain was about 200' and mileage about 4 to 4.5 miles.
On the drive out of the Caldera, the road was now a sloppy mess of mud with water running down the road. A good time to head back to Abq!
Leslie LaBry