Santa Fe & Nambe

[rittersam]

Figure I would kick this thread off too.

[sody]

well, coverage is more than the total of last season. Lots of people out today skinning, probably packed powered by the end of the day.

But the amount of dogs, off leash is just ridiculous. almost ran over one coming down. Put them on a leash or leave them at home.

[JBella]

Dogs are a part of the backcountry culture here, and skiing in general. Anyone who isn't cool with other trail users and their dogs should consider going to places that aren't so crowded, where it's less likely to encounter them.

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[Dorman]

Wow! Salty. ^^ There is plenty o' pow left up there! Also, a dog chased after me growling yesterday and the owner called out, "Just pet him, he's nice!" North Burn in November! I can't remember the last time that has happened.

[lobojasper]

Perhaps a seperate thread under community for griping about dog behavior? It’d be nice to keep this one on snow conditions in santa fe and nambe.

[Dorman]

Did Raven’s Ridge yesterday. Dug a pit. Made a video. Doing sciencey stuff is challenging when it’s windy and cold and I’m no expert, but here’s some data.

Northerly aspect
Snow depth ranged from 55-65cm
There was a thick layer of hoar at 30 cm.
From 15cm to ground was solid ice.
Here is a link to a video of the isolated column test.

https://youtu.be/s8XZSNRKk5A

[Bob]

Did Raven’s Ridge yesterday. Dug a pit. Made a video. Doing sciencey stuff is challenging when it’s windy and cold and I’m no expert, but here’s some data.

Northerly aspect
Snow depth ranged from 55-65cm
There was a thick layer of hoar at 30 cm.
From 15cm to ground was solid ice.
Here is a link to a video of the isolated column test.

https://youtu.be/s8XZSNRKk5A

That video looked more like riding early November.

[Dorman]

Yup. This is the proper link.

https://youtu.be/RZq2sPMJQpU

[Bob]

Nice. I haven’t been out of the ski area yet, but in undisturbed places like where you guys dug I noticed a distinct crust when I pole-probe, right about where you found it.

[trevdog]

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Yesterday I went out ravens ridge, down to the Windsor and then up toward Nambe lake. I was hoping to get a closer look at the basin, but didn't get that far. While skinning there was obvious collapses, weighting of a ski pole would break through the supporting layer and create cavernous openings in the facets below. I dug around a little bit in a sheltered area below the cliffy part of Raven's, I can't call it an ECT, because isolating a column was nearly impossible. Nearly the entire snowpack was a mix of loose grains and facets, topped with about 4" of consolidated powder with some surface hoar. Zooming (way) in to a picture I took of the Nambe chutes, you can see slide activity that was not apparent to the naked eye.

[Dorman]

We rode Big T on Sunday. There are still logs to look out for at the top and the luge is definitely not ready for boards. Lots of pow at the top if you don't mind doing some walking at the bottom.

I'll post a video on my Instagram account.
danger_dorman

[sody]

Skinned up to Deception on Sunday. Many people skiing/skinning/snow showing Raven's. Also Deception skinnable from the hikers hut all the way to summit. Found some deep powder just above the trees going down towards millennium lift. 50 feet or so, fun turns.

There were two tracks skiing into Nambe and climbing back out. Only one lap. Wondering if that means it wasn't worth it yet since they did not repeat the run. Looked still a little thin and heavily wind affected the top third.

[Jr]

Skied Big T today. Slow going with all the new snow. Enough coverage to ski all the way to the parking lot if you don't mind bumping the occasional rock and/or log.

[sody]

Santa Fe area got about 10 inches from this storm. Lots of winds created pockets of much deeper snow, to the point where it was almost too deep to ski/ride.

Raven's skied really nice all the way to Windsor. Still have to be careful with buried logs.

Also checked out Heaven's hill. Hard to follow older skin/ski tracks since they were blown in a lot. Hip deep unconsolidated snow made trail braking rough. Where we could follow the older skin track, boot deep trail braking necessary. Also close to Windsor, it was too much snow to ski/ride efficiently. Hard work to get out of the low angle slopes and flats, snowplowing a lot.

[jpurcellrd]

I was going for an after work skin yesterday up the ski area. Ran into a solo guy who was coming down. He stated that he "kicked an avalanche" dropping into Nambe Basin from Raven's Ridge. I skinned up to Deception and did not see any signs of somebody dropping in. It was dark though...real dark. I'm not sure where he dropped in, but if you see an avalanche in Nambe Basin you know where it came from. He was fine, but "hungry".

Lots of good stuff out there that doesn't require skiing the steeps! Stay safe. LOTS of new snow in the last week.

Jared