Wolf Creek as your "home mountain"

[MTN]

Wow, thank you for your response! I think you said exactly what I had expected, haha! It sounds like PS is treating you pretty well. Absolutely agree that the terrain here is way better than WC, but I think the other amenities of town may make up for it. (And no wind, still whipping like mad as I type.) Glad to hear that it has a good sense of community. We do enjoy our friends here and found that of all the places we have lived, TV has been the easiest to connect with people. Probably because you see the same small group of outdoor enthusiasts over and over again, lol. Anyhow, thanks a ton for the good info. Who knows, maybe we will end up there after all! Enjoy your new home and surroundings!

 

[snowave]

"Absolutely agree that the terrain here is way better than WC, but I think the other amenities of town may make up for it."

That's the way we looked at it... it's tough to have it all. Gotta prioritize and look at the big picture.

Good Luck, and again... feel free to PM me for any more questions!

Todd

 

[snowave]

Yes that map confirms my impressions but it's not the entire story. Seasonal maps would be useful. The eastern half of WA,OR gets as much PV solar radiation as SoCal/Arizona in the summer (some of that is for having longer daylight) but has some degree of the winter gray season. That's why eastern Oregon has the best August clear skies track record on next summer's eclipse path.

Most of AZ/NM see more clouds/rain in summer than winter.

You are correct. I was lazy and just got the annual solar chart.. And yes, those areas do indeed tend to have a moderate to severe gray season as well, as living in Leavenworth WA for a year showed me. I actually felt it was worse than Whitefish, partly due to more trees and lower/stronger inversions.

Those areas are all part of the Columbia River Basin, which is notorious for being a big bowl of gray in the winter... or at least about 3/4 of it. Inversion hell as I called it.

 

[snowave]

Well, after riding a season here I can confirm the place is indeed FLAT. Yes, there are some short, steeper sections around, but many of those areas require a hike (sorry, I just don't enjoy doing that very much anymore), then you have to focus on bombing those areas so you can make the runout/flat sections. Being on a board only magnifies the problem, as Tony mentioned earlier in this thread. I suspect learning the area even more will continue improve those things a bit, but it's not going to make that big of a difference.

I don't hate the place, but it bores me pretty quick. Thankfully, good snow quality and quantity, along with generally light crowds makes it almost tolerable. It's obvious to me now why this mountain is so popular for Texans and Flatlanders! Good thing we love everything else about Pagosa, and that it's not ALL about the mountain!

I did make it to Purgatory (decent mountain, IMO with a much better variety) and Taos this year. (Taos is good, but it has it's flaws as well- snow variability... again, a lot of hiking, slow lifts and poor management of Kachina). I bought the wife and I the Mountain Collective Passes for next year, so while I will still get an overpriced season pass to WC, I will also try to spend some time traveling to Telluride, Taos and some other places that I can use the pass.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I think snowave needs to give up the board and take up skiing if he's going to live in that area long term. It's a killer for the "benchiness" of Wolf Creek. And liking Purgatory better than Taos is surely a function of equipment.

Taos is plenty steep but as at Alta lots of the good stuff is at the end of traverses/short hikes. I'm sure that topography influenced some of the resistance to allowing snowboarding at Taos. And as I predicted when they did allow boarders, it was a non-issue because boarders don't like that topography and would be unlikely to make up a large proportion of Taos' overall visits in the long run.

 

[snowave]

I'm right here, you don't have to keep talking to me in 3rd person (or whatever it is).

I didn't say I 'liked Purg better than Taos... It just met/exceeded my expectations better. Sorry if that' the way it was interpreted.

And while I get your comment about switching to skis, it's pretty unlikely that is going to happen. 25 yrs on a stick, and 2 days on skis.

Lastly, I will readily admit my style of riding has changed in the last 5 yrs or so. I still go after the powder, but once it's tracked or cruded out, I prefer doing bomber runs on the groomers. So that undoubtedly has an impact on what type of mountain I prefer, which I realize is generally different than much of the crowd here on this forum.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I generally use third person on ski forums in case threads wander so it's easier to track for future reference. No offense intended.

I'm not dogmatic at all about one's snow riding equipment. After my younger son Andrew had a couple of years of chronic foot pain in ski boots in adolescence with the his 12EE feet, I told him to switch to snowboarding in 2008 even though he had more ski experience. He was immediately more comfortable and soon progressed his snowboard ability beyond where he had been on skis. Andrew enjoys being out in the snow much more since the switch though he hasn't gotten out much since he moved to Eureka.

You have made it clear that many factors besides the snow influenced the move to Pagosa Springs. Since most of those factors have lived up to expectations it seems likely you will be there for a while. If so, skiing is likely to be more versatile and enjoyable than snowboarding at the mountains you will be visiting most often. My impression is that snow riding skills (edge control etc.) are quite transferable. If you're advanced at one sport the learning curve for the other one tends to be fast. I observed this with Adam when he dabbled in snowboarding from ages 12-16.

 

[snowave]

The 3rd person reference wasn't offending as much as it was just annoying to me. Do what you please, obviously.

The couple times I have put on skis, I actually did quite well from what I have been told. I just didn't like all the apparatus, and horribly uncomfortable boots (although, I'm comparing to rental boots, so...) I also felt like it was much more work on skis having to worry about 4 edges, instead of 2, (not to mention the poles) but I'm sure that can be said for anyone trying something new.

I agree with you in that it would likely be me much easier to get around the terrain in these parts on skis. I'd also probably enjoy it more too, since sliding thru crud or other off piste terrain seems to be less work than on a snowboard (except in the pow, of course), which tends to a not absorb the snow inconsistencies nearly as well. I have a couple friends that do both (tend to ride on powder days and ski on others- or when they plan to hike/traverse), so maybe I should look into it.

We are getting horses this week, so that may be the inspiration to try out skiing more, so I can dabble in skijoring around the property.

 

[ShiftyRider]

Wassup with the horses? They live a long time FWIW...

 

[Marc_C]

Wassup with the horses? They live a long time FWIW...

They're a requirement in Pagosa Springs.
Just like mandatory dog ownership in Boulder.

 

[EMSC]

Just like mandatory dog ownership in Boulder.

Ahhh, but there is no dog ownership in Boulder; you are merely the dog's guardian (look it up, that's the law for City of Boulder). 20 square miles surrounded by reality.

 

[snowave]

Wassup with the horses? They live a long time FWIW...

They're a requirement in Pagosa Springs.
Just like mandatory dog ownership in Boulder.

we were talking to someone yesterday that told us they herd \/ there are more horses than people in Archuleta County. Not sure I believe that (the county is up to ~20k), but there are a lot.

As far as why horses, Shifty... we have 35 acres, and access to National Forest from our ranch. We hope to do some riding into places that my lazy ass normally wouldn't get to. Plus, I've gotten to really enjoy being around them since I moved here.