2023 Taos Mini-Gathering - Date Poll Added

[Lvovsky /Pasha/Pavel]

Is it too soon to plan next year Taos mini gathering?

 

[Tony S]

Is it too soon to plan next year Taos mini gathering?

I think so. (Other than "It will be at Taos." ) Seems like it would be important to settle on the dates for the national gathering first. Quite a few people had talked about moving the Taos gathering a further into the season. What that looks like in practice probably needs to be informed by the dates for the main gathering. Not that I'm the boss or anything, as I learn hourly at work.

 

[mdf]

What that looks like in practice probably needs to be informed by the dates for the main gathering.

Just to agitate a little....
I can't envisage a major reshuffling of dates. But I think the Taos times are on that cusp where a week can make a difference in coverage and open terrain. So I advocate moving it a week later, reducing the gap between it and the main from 4 to 3 weeks. The big issue is how hard most people's employers will squawk.... I think for most its "what, 2 weeks off in the same winter and you're not even going to Florida?", not "what, less than a month back between trips?".

But that's a question for the people whose bosses are in question. (... and what they expect of their boss vs the bosses really caring).

 

[dbostedo]

Just to agitate a little....
I can't envisage a major reshuffling of dates. But I think the Taos times are on that cusp where a week can make a difference in coverage and open terrain. So I advocate moving it a week later, reducing the gap between it and the main from 4 to 3 weeks. The big issue is how hard most people's employers will squawk.... I think for most its "what, 2 weeks off in the same winter and you're not even going to Florida?", not "what, less than a month back between trips?".

But that's a question for the people whose bosses are in question. (... and what they expect of their boss vs the bosses really caring).

I like that thought. I'm going to be a strong advocate for leaving it early season (as opposed to after the national gathering, which is unlikely to move), since I am going primarily for the lessons and camraderie, not for particular terrain to be open.

 

[Tony S]

I advocate moving it a week later, reducing the gap between it and the main from 4 to 3 weeks.

FWIW I'd be okay with that. But as I recall some voices were actually talking about moving it way out to March or something. No?

 

[dbostedo]

NOTE: I moved these posts to a new thread from the current season's thread. It's probably too soon to actually plan, but not to discuss if folks want to.

 

[dbostedo]

But as I recall some voices were actually talking about moving it way out to March or something. No?

Yes... some folks want to move it to ensure the most terrain is open. Which would probably mean later March.

 

[TheArchitect]

How about this: NEG in late January or early February, national Gathering in it's normal spot and Taos late March?

 

[skiki]

Hmmm, New England March conditions (whatever that might mean) vs. January/ Feb weekend crowds (we do know what that means.)

 

[Near Nyquist]

The current gathering time frame is perfect
For what it is …..

Early season instruction before the major gathering happens

Dodging rocks is a part of that extremely effective training coupled with unique taos terrain.

Fact is a majority of attendees take a ski week to improve their skiing, Those that don’t are a distinct minority

Most of the date complainers do not show up regularly to the taos gathering due to fact they always got an excuse for everything including the bumps they can’t ski

I would keep Taos at its current scheduled position in front of the other major gatherings

 

[TheArchitect]

Hmmm, New England March conditions (whatever that might mean) vs. January/ Feb weekend crowds (we do know what that means.)

A good point about the crowds. I don't expect this idea to get a lot of traction but wanted to throw it out there.

 

[TheArchitect]

The current gathering time frame is perfect
For what it is …..

Early season instruction before the major gathering happens

Dodging rocks is a part of that extremely effective training coupled with unique taos terrain.

Fact is a majority of attendees take a ski week to improve their skiing, Those that don’t are a distinct minority

Most of the date complainers do not show up regularly to the taos gathering due to fact they always got an excuse for everything including the bumps they can’t ski

I would keep Taos at its current scheduled position in front of the other major gatherings

I'm not a date complainer and I have no right to weigh in as I've yet to attend the Taos Gathering. I came close this year but work intervened. In any case, my suggestion was just an idea that popped into my head after reading other posts. The NEG can be questionable with conditions in its current time slot and some Taos folks said they'd like to see more coverage by going later in the season. It seems like swapping them, at least on the surface, makes sense. I plan to hit Taos this year if at all possible so I don't care where it lands in the Gathering schedule.

 

[KingGrump]

The current gathering time frame is perfect
For what it is …..

Early season instruction before the major gathering happens

Dodging rocks is a part of that extremely effective training coupled with unique taos terrain.

Fact is a majority of attendees take a ski week to improve their skiing, Those that don’t are a distinct minority

Most of the date complainers do not show up regularly to the taos gathering due to fact they always got an excuse for everything including the bumps they can’t ski

I would keep Taos at its current scheduled position in front of the other major gatherings

You want my crown?

 

[dbostedo]

Early season instruction before the major gathering happens

That's my #1 reason to want the Taos Gathering earlier rather than later. Well, instruction early in the season, anyway - not necessarily specific to the national gathering. I've had 3 trips taken and 1 more planned since Taos this year (in addition to a few local days), and it's been helpful on all of them for Taos to have been earlier in the season.

 

[aveski]

Just to agitate a little....
I can't envisage a major reshuffling of dates. But I think the Taos times are on that cusp where a week can make a difference in coverage and open terrain. So I advocate moving it a week later, reducing the gap between it and the main from 4 to 3 weeks. The big issue is how hard most people's employers will squawk.... I think for most its "what, 2 weeks off in the same winter and you're not even going to Florida?", not "what, less than a month back between trips?".

But that's a question for the people whose bosses are in question. (... and what they expect of their boss vs the bosses really caring).

Work? I don't understand.

 

[mdf]

If things go as planned, I'll be retired by then. I'll probably start at the gathering and extend a week or two past it. But I still think 1 week delay increases the chances of Kachina being open.

 

[Tony S]

PART I

The post above from @TheArchitect got me thinking.

The timing of the New England Gathering was historically designed to thread the needle between "too close to the national gathering" on the one hand and "too deep into spring to have a reliable natural snow base" on the other. This goes back more than 10 years. Typically the gathering has been over the last weekend in March, give or take. @KevinF , do you agree? An additional consideration was that local instructors (Timmerman, Matta, James, others) started to free up late in the season.

Ten or fifteen years ago that timing made sense. I have loads of pictures of great skiing off-piste skiing at Sugarloaf and Saddleback from that time of year and, indeed, well into April. However, I've realized that I don't have many RECENT pictures of that sort. This could be a statistical anomaly or it could be The New Way of Things in the era of climate change. Certainly in the last 5 years or so the skiing in New England on April 1 has been pretty crappy on average.

Bottom line is that I think we need to move the NEG to an earlier weekend. Does that mean mid-March or does it mean early February? Dunno.

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PART II

Meanwhile, people want to move the Taos gathering from late January into early February for similar reasons - more reliable cover for the runs we all want to ski.

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PART III

There does not appear to be immediate appetite for moving the main national gathering from its traditional spot on the cusp of February and March.

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PART IV

When you take in Parts I, II, and III, you can see that everyone wants to ski between Feb. 1 and March 15 because that's when conditions are likely to be best in most parts of North America. Is six weeks enough time to hold three gatherings in a way that is satisfying to people who want to attend all three? (Consider that for many of us a "week-long" gathering consumes two entire weekends plus the intervening week, once continental travel is factored in. So two week-long gatherings plus a weekend gathering means five weekends in a six-week period.) If so, I guess we are good. If not, something has to give. Right?

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PART V

At the risk of getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me, I'm going to toss out a strawman idea. What if we decided to hold the main national gathering at one of several places known to have very reliable late-winter conditions? What if we decided to hold it at the end of March? I'm not Tony Crocker, but I think there are several areas in the NW, BC, and California that qualify. Also some in Colorado and Utah. If we did that, there would be more space left over earlier in the season for regional gatherings in places with a narrower "known-good" snow window.

Edit: There is also a handful of areas that consistently have good cover - even if not "the best" cover - in late January. In my experience LCC falls into this bucket.

Just thinking aloud.

 

[James]

Well this year you could’ve had crappy conditions almost any month in the NE. Just the crowds would’ve been insane. Kton is bad enough when we were there, I'd hate to see it crowded.

 

[Tony S]

Well this year you could’ve had crappy conditions almost any month in the NE. Just the crowds would’ve been insane. Kton is bad enough when we were there, I'd hate to see it crowded.

Good point.

 

[KevinF]

@Tony S you hit the historical timing of the NEG "on the head". In the New England region -- with its wildly inconsistent snowpack -- I was going with the "later is better" theory. Spring conditions = soft bumps? However, any timeframe we choose will be a crapshoot. My "best day of the year" has come in every month from December through April.

That said, the NEG has been held at "more northern" resorts -- Stowe, Mad River valley, Sugarloaf. Speaking from experience -- reliable Spring comes to Stowe sometime in May, long after the lifts have closed. Tony, you've commented many times on the affect the Atlantic Ocean has on Maine's "spring" (i.e., the ocean is cold and it's going to take a long time to warm up). Those realities are an argument against the current timeframe of the NEG (i.e., early April is not spring).

I'm up for moving the NEG to an earlier timeframe in the hopes of having the "whole mountain" open, but it would require a reshuffling of the whole gathering schedule as I'm hoping to capitalize on this year's huge NEG turnout. That is, we can't have two gatherings "close together" in the calendar.