pirate ski runs cut in the Pecos?

[Bob]

http://www.outsideonline.com/2023291/sk ... -fe-forest

Interesting article about pirate backcountry ski runs apparently being cut in the Pecos Wilderness near the Santa Fe Ski Area. While the legality is certainly questionable, the forest service spokesperson seems prone to overstatement by calling it "logging." And this quote is certainly open to questioning and debate: “You’re supposed to leave [the forest] as it was a hundred years ago,”

[JBella]

Haha yeah, logging is the process of felling and removing trees to sell/use for commercial purposes. And leaving the forests "as they were a hundred years ago"... Does he mean we should clearcut everything and leave a bunch of mining waste to contaminate the watersheds? And these people are supposed to be experts regarding forest management!

[Bob]

I got to thinking about this and it sounds like those runs in the article are off the west end of Raven's Ridge (which runs east-west along the north boundary of the ski area, and on the south side of the Nambe' drainage). I can't really see why anyone would go to the trouble of doing that - there are a ton of great chutes on the north side of Raven's, farther up to the east toward Deception Peak. The west end is flatter and pretty heavily wooded. I guess the west end is closer to the Winsor trail, but...sack up and do the hiking, is what I think.

[scotthsu]

Never would have occurred to me to cut my own bc ski runs, but then again I rarely understand human motivation (to quote my friend PJ). Some of the comments to the article linked by Bob are an interesting read.

[sody]

I think this article is a little better describing the problem:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/l ... 68aeb.html

[MarkM]

We have been on the north side of Ravens (Elbow Macaroni) between the fence and the Winsor a couple of times in the last week and did not see any of the cuts - although one small area looked like the trees had been limbed. The bigger cuts must be further skiers left (west) than where we go.

[MarkM]

There is a cut run that goes from the powerline above the upper parking lot (behind the base area) almost all the way to the overlook where the wilderness boundary fence ends. That has been there for at least 3-4 years. The first year there were even hand made signs (done with a wood burner) that directed climbers to stay on one side and downhillers to stay on the other.

[LTskis]

I found one of the runs that was cut and it was super lame. But not as lame as trying to get back to the A-Lot from Raven's Ridge in the clusterf#$% of trees surrounding it. There was a posted sign for downhill traffic calling it 'Home Run'. I found it by skinning up through the second vein of aspens after the Nambe creek on the way out of the wilderness. It was right there past the big meadow, around the fence line going up Raven's. I am thinking the renegades made the trail as an alternative to hiking all the way to the wilderness fence on the Windsor Trail. Not worth the legal risk IMO. I would rather burn calories on the Windsor. The local news made a big deal of it as did the Forest Service. If anything there is at least a fire line if the area goes ablaze. Home Run is on par with Easy Street in difficulty. And full of post-holes from unaware uphill traffic. Maybe there are more interesting new runs but I didn't find them. The photo below is an approximation of where it is located...

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