Wolf Creek, CO: 2/22 - 2/24/22

raisingarizona said:
Beautiful pics and tr T6.

The San Juan’s are a very special place.
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Thanks AZ! The couple we wound up skiing with were actually recent transplants from Flagstaff, giving us the whole spiel on the southwest. They had a hard time leaving AZ but couldn't beat 500+" a year at Wolf Creek Pass. It really is a special area of the country but very interesting how much more water is available in some places over others strictly because of the snowfall. If I could convince my fiance, the southwest would be the spot I think too. I would gladly replace ocean waves with river waves with that type of yearly snowfall as a tradeoff.
 
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Funny you mentioned the Griswald's cabin, at the entrance of Ghost Ranch there's a cabin that looks to be 100 years old. The ridge is curved like gravity had been pulling on it that long. Nope, was constructed for the movie City Slickers and they decided to leave it up.
 
Temp6 said:
@MarzNC I remember the kachina lift being fairly new during a 2016 trip there. Must have been built about a year or 2 prior. It's funny though even though the gapers can get up, they don't venture too far from the on-piste trails right under the lift. The side they ski at Wolf Creek remains chock full of untracked lines through awesome trees well into the afternoon while most powhounds focus on "better" stuff off other lifts
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Yep, the Kachina lift opened in 2015. My first trip to Taos was in Feb 2017. So the crazy season for ski patrol was 2016-17 when far too many people rode the lift who had no business ignoring the "Experts Only" sign.

Last Dec, my friends and I found all sorts of fun snow on the trails in the middle of the groomers off the Wolf Creek lifts out of the main base. We started skiing a day after a 2-day dump. It was the first days when Wolf Creek was 100% open because there weren't enough snowstorms in late Nov and early Dec. After another storm a couple days later, needed to be careful in the trees because high winds had blown down not only branches but also some really big trees.

Do need to be a bit careful of the cliffs when exploring off Coyote Park Trail. The addition of the Charity Jane lift as a well to get back up after wandering down to the bottom of the ski area made a a big difference. My ski buddy who lives in Albuquerque had skied Wolf Creek a few times before that chair was installed. It's a long way out without it.
 
Fantastic report, good for you. Blue Toes and I drive by Wolf Creek on opening day in November 2002. We had to skedaddle because there was a big storm coming in, we had no skis with us and nowhere to stay.
 
MarzNC said:
Do need to be a bit careful of the cliffs when exploring off Coyote Park Trail. The addition of the Charity Jane lift as a well to get back up after wandering down to the bottom of the ski area made a a big difference. My ski buddy who lives in Albuquerque had skied Wolf Creek a few times before that chair was installed. It's a long way out without it.
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We were taken through the coyote park area on several runs. We always wound up right at the Charity Jane lift thankfully, but not without a dozen yards or so of skating/walking. I can't imagine how difficult it would be without the connector lift. I mentioned to the couple we were skiing with that Wolf has an amazing setup for in-bounds touring. Ride the Alberta lift once and just tour the upper half all day instead of relying on lifts. There is so much terrain pretty far from the lift anyway. They said that's usually what they do once the storm snow settles.
 
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Temp6 said:
We were taken through the coyote park area on several runs. We always wound up right at the Charity Jane lift thankfully, but not without a dozen yards or so of skating/walking. I can't imagine how difficult it would be without the connector lift. I mentioned to the couple we were skiing with that Wolf has an amazing setup for in-bounds touring. Ride the Alberta lift once and just tour the upper half all day instead of relying on lifts. There is so much terrain pretty far from the lift anyway. They said that's usually what they do once the storm snow settles.
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I always thought it would be a cool place to be a tale skier. I think Harvey would really dig that place.
 
Dang, that one was more than neck deep.
It’s being under water, solid crystalline H2O.
No avalanche needed.
Kinda like tree wells.
 
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