View attachment 192860
The view from just above the top of the Kachina Lift, the highest point at the resort at over 12,400 feet.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone", he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't gotten to attend a bunch of Gatherings in Taos like you have."
OK - I stole/paraphrased that from The Great Gatsby... but I have been lucky enough to attend the Taos Mini-Gathering a bunch of times... this one was my fifth, and they seem to just get better. (Maybe it's because my skiing keeps getting better!
)
The view off the backside, out of bounds, from the top of Kachina. Wheeler Peak, center, is the highest peak in New Mexico.
View attachment 192948
History
The first Taos Mini-Gathering was in 2018, with very little attendance, and almost no snow. Basically me and
@KingGrump and family. I took some lessons, tried a few bumps (there were literally only a few on the mountain), fell a bunch of times, and started to get better
The second Mini-Gathering, in 2019, started to grow even more. Taos had a new high speed lift (their first), we had some legit powder, and almost 30 attendees.
In 2020, the third Mini-Gathering grew again, to about 40 attendees - more people, more lessons, more fun - though I think we might have overwhelmed the ski school a bit!
2021 was a bad year, only because we didn't hold a Mini-Gathering. I mean, some other bad and weird stuff was going on too, but it was mostly bad because of the missing Mini-Gathering.
The return of the Mini-Gathering in 2022 was pretty darn successful - so much that I've quit counting attendees... it's just a bunch of good people getting together to take lessons and/or ski!
Which brings us to 2023... It was a week later this year, in the hopes that the Kachina lift would be running. (And it was!) I again took some lessons with a bunch of other SkiTalkers, skied some new terrain I hadn't before, and as I like to say, generally enjoyed the hell out of everything.
Ski-week
As usual, many of the attendees took a Ski-week ... 6 straight days of group lessons from 9:30 - noon. You get sorted in a "ski-off" into groups of similar ability, and go from there. I wound up with the same instructor as last year (just by coincidence) which I was pleased with, as I had great lessons last year. And I did make some more progress this year I think - or will if I keep at it.
I also wound up with
@Woodsrider427 and
@aveski in my group, and
@MarkP 's friend Dave, so that was pretty good too. Several (all?) of the groups had multiple SkiTalkers.
Whitney (@nebraskawhit) and Caitlyn picking up their ski-week tickets
View attachment 192794
The ski-off! I went second... I always try to go early and watch everyone else come down
View attachment 192797
@Tex!!! We got sorted into the same large group, which then got divided further based on how aggressive with terrain and hiking each group wanted to be... I chose the lowest of those three, as I tend to get over-rated on the groomer, and don't have a lot of experience in steeps and bumps. Tex went with the middle group.
View attachment 192798
Some further sorting... @SKI-3PO and Tim Stolt and @MarkP visible here... probably some others I'm not seeing.
View attachment 192799
Getting some instruction early at the top of lift 2...Dave on the left, and Rick Baca was our instructor, former Los Alamos electrical engineer... probably why I can relate to him
View attachment 192800
More instrruction at the top of lift 4
View attachment 192803
@Woodsrider427, Mike, and Dave waiting at the bottom of a pitch
View attachment 192811
L-to-R, Mike, @aveski, @Woodsrider427, Dave, and Rick behind the tree, in Hunziker bowl, that we skied several times
View attachment 192812
@aveski in the bumps of Hunziker
View attachment 192815
Back at the top of Hunziker, with @Woodsrider427 and Dave
View attachment 192820
@aveski and the runout after the top of Hunziker on the one soft snow day we had (they reported 3" through the morning)
View attachment 192945
After doing Hunziker and a few days of instruction, we started to step up the terrain to the top of Pollux, and traversed to the lower part of Blitz, known as Chicken Blitz, since you avoid the steep trees above. Rick here with @aveski and @Woodsrider427
View attachment 192837
Wider view of the guys coming down Blitz
View attachment 192839
Rick showing how it's done... calm, steady, smooth... in Blitz. That's what we were going for - controlled speed and good turns all week.
View attachment 192840
@Woodsrider427 here pondering the start of this section
View attachment 192841
@aveski in Blitz
View attachment 192842
Regrouping further down
View attachment 192843
The last morning, a couple of groups decided to stop in the same place. From the left, Dave, @Woodsrider427, @Gary Stolt, and Caitlyn (blue/teal pants) in the shot here.
View attachment 192856
Moguls/Terrain/Scenics
Lessons at Taos generally involve a lot of mogul skiing, and working on skills to ski moguls even when you're not skiing them. This year was no different... I skied some of the steepest mogul runs I've skied, and really started to enjoy them more this year - especially jumping into the shorter and easier pitches and just skiing them without too much thought. (Bumps that were daunting when I first started going to Taos.) I also got up Kachina lift for the first time ever this year... that's pretty great on a bluebird day. It would be really great with a lot of soft snow.
Then again, everything looks good with soft snow... but Taos can be pretty scenic in general - some folks were comparing it to the Canadian Rockies. I just love it every time I go!
Chair Pics!
I tend to take a bunch of pics on the chair... it's something to do, reminds me who I got to ski with, and is fun to review... though I didn't take nearly as many this year as other trips...
@aveski, Dave, me!
View attachment 192802
Jess, Lucky, @Pasha, me!
View attachment 192805
@MattSmith, Steve, Jess
View attachment 192808
Me, @MattSmith, @nebraskawhit, and Steve!
View attachment 192825
Jess, Lucky, Caitlyn!
View attachment 192826
@Woodsrider427, Dave, Rick, me!
View attachment 192857
Riding up Lift 4, Mike, @Woodsrider427, and Rick
View attachment 192801
Industry Demo Day
There was an industry-only demo day held for a couple of days while we were in Taos. We couldn't demo any skis, but I took a couple of pics and thought it might be of interest to some which companies were there.
Lodging/Roommates
Some friends drove down from Colorado, and came out from Rhode Island. And we (as we've done before) rented a house in Arroyo Seco. This puts you about 15-20 minutes drive from both Taos Ski Valley and the town of Taos itself. It's a nice location as long as you don't mind the drive, especially given that the Ski Valley village is relatively small.
The house was wonderful, with a great patio area, hottub, and 4 bedrooms, and worked great for our group of 7.
View in the back yard with fire pit going... and Lucky walking into the shot.
View attachment 192787
We had a huge fancy hottub, so had to get a few robe pics... @MattSmith, @nebraskawhit, Me, Caitlyn, Lucky, Jess, Steve.
View attachment 192788
Last day, last run - Steve, Caitlyn, Whitney, Matt, Jess
View attachment 192865
Food/Drink
Since we had a nice house rental, and people driving in after a Costco and Albertson's run, we ate in most of the time. But we did get out to a couple of favorite restaurants... In Taos, we went Taos Taproom (
https://www.taosmesabrewing.com/taos-tap-room)... it's a pizza place with a lot of nice beers on tap, and not too expensive. Get the house focaccia loaf as an appetizer if you're a bread fan. In Arroyo Seco, we went to Aceq (
https://www.aceqrestaurant.com/), which I really like. It's a bit pricier, but everything is always really good. And the whole group really liked it I think.
At the resort, lunch was at the cafeteria, or at the Bavarian sitting outside if the weather was nice. That's my favorite - unfortunately, one of the days we planned on it, it was closed for a private event. Good thing we also went earlier in the week.
And après was at a few different locations... Taos Ale House, Rhoda's, Hondo, or a new one, the Rolling Still Distillery. The Distillery is tiny, but has good cocktails and local liquor, if that's your thing, that can incorporate green chile, like everything in New Mexico.
Odds and Ends
Flying from DC, you can sometimes get some nice views
View attachment 192943
This is the sign at the top of Kachina if you hike up from the lift
View attachment 192861
Requisite SkiTalk sticker shot
View attachment 192817
Afternoon skiing... lots of big/random groups... here you see @Unpiste, Steve, Jess, @aveski, @SKI-3PO, @Tony S, @mdf, Caitlyn, @MattSmith, and @nebraskawhit far right on snowboard... probably a couple of others hidden behind them that I can't identify
View attachment 192819
Caught this group from lift 8... I believe when there's a group like this, we call it a "quiver" of SkiTalkers
View attachment 192816
Conclusion
Well it was another fantastic Gathering... and it went way, way, way too fast. My skiing continues to improve, I had a great time with friends, we had terrific snow (despite what some of the spoiled westerners might tell you), and I can't wait to do it again next year!
