TAOS New Mexico....BETA.....?

I was climbing with two guys this summer at Dead Cholla Wall above the Rio Grande south of the Gorge Bridge. Buddy got his window smashed and the other guy's wallet was taken. Now I've parked my car there chock full of shit at least a dozen times, including that same day. Guess it's better if your car looks like a beater?

My friend who does forestry work all around NM has had guns pulled on him. I hear lots of gun stories and plenty of gun shots but I've never had any trouble. But it makes sense why Ray from Roswell gave me a gun way back when. I made a wrong turn one day on our way to the Brazos Cliffs and we drove through Vallecitos north of El Rito. There is a brilliant burnout there along with vehicles full of bullet holes and not-so-friendly dogs running the roads. It's a beautiful and strange country. Nobody here has explained what a burnout actually is, not sure if anyone wants to go there.

Had some incidents with terminally drunk-driving locals around Ojo Caliente and elsewhere on my way home from long weekends out of state. I hear New Mexico is famous for drunk drivers.

Has anyone mentioned the Earth Ships? I haven't actually talked to anybody who lives there but it seems like there must be some characters.

How about the drive through the hills from Tres Piedras to Tierra Amarilla? Anybody seen the ranch with the dummy hanging from a noose on the gate and the big sign that says "We do it the old way." And that's only like 20 minutes away from all the hippies and the Earth Ships! Only in NNM.

This is great stuff. Since it's turning into story time, guess I'll share mine...

This summer I worked as a clerk at the Allsup's in Mora. For the record, Mora is the poorest county in NM and also probably has the state's highest per capita rate of face and neck tattoos. The Allsup's there is the only place within half an hour that sells the holy trinity of booze, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. It is also along the route nearly everybody takes driving from Texas to Taos, so between those two things it stays pretty busy. One July weekend, the store was packed with a religious youth group caravan taking a pit stop, along with the usual bunch of locals buying Bud Light by the case.

I'm behind the register, ringing up some sixteen year old Texan bible beater's beef jerky, when I see two twentysomething girls in line behind him start getting fired up about something. One is holding an armful of groceries, the other is pointing to the white honda accord that just pulled up right in front of the doors, telling her friend, "Hey hey, there's that bitch." Both girls storm towards the door, and to her credit the one sets her groceries down before she goes outside. Me and the kid look outside and see sitting in the driver's seat of the honda is another girl about the same age and riding shotgun is this big fat dude. There are other cars parked on both sides. The two girls from inside run up on the driver's side of the honda, pull the door open, and start wailing on the girl inside. She gets out, along with a guy and girl in the back seat, and all of a sudden there are 5 people brawling in the space between two parked cars. Fat dude in shotgun is just watching for a minute, then he slowly gets out and walks around the hood. From three steps away, he takes a crow hop and then smashes one of the girls from the store with an overhand right. She staggers, but doesn't go down and keeps pounding on the other chick. Me and the kid at the counter both "Ooooooooh" loudly and kind of look at each other. He shakes his head and mumbles, "That's fucked up." I shrug. A minute after that, the brawl suddenly stops and they all scatter. I finish ringing up the kid's jerky and his hands are shaking when he hands over the money. He was traumatized, probably spent his whole retreat praying for their wicked souls, but to the locals it was just another Saturday afternoon at the Allsup's.

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Highly entertaining thread folks. Definitely the most interesting in the last few weeks. Keep the stories coming: I smell a Showtime pitch brewing.

We've gotten along way from skiing stoke.

One day we'd just walked up from the fields a of a family members farm in Pecos where we were irragating and along came a neighbor with a load of wood in the back of his truck. He stopped to say Hi and I start seeing all of this blood running out of the truck. I was really young and started asking my dad why the wood was bleeding. The neighbor found this hilarious. That night my dad explained to me that alot of our neighbors were not as lucky as us and couldn't afford meat. (both of my parents were government workers, which made us pretty rich by NNM standards of that time.) He explained that when they needed meat they would go get an elk and then cover it up with a pile of wood for the drive home. Now, whenever I see a beat up pick up truck with a pile of wood in the back, I look at it differently.

To be honest, from someone whos never been there, you guys are making it look like one of the few ski destinations I never want to go to.

That place just sounds so fucked up, no help from Yetis movie. An ode to weirdness.

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Originally Posted by buck_nasty

...This summer I worked as a clerk at the Allsup's in Mora.

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That right there would be a deep well of classic NNM stories.

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Originally Posted by buck_nasty

... it was just another Saturday afternoon at the Allsup's.

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Mora=keeping it real. ¡Salud!

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Originally Posted by AdironRider

To be honest, from someone whos never been there, you guys are making it look like one of the few ski destinations I never want to go to.

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Cool.

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Originally Posted by AdironRider

To be honest, from someone whos never been there, you guys are making it look like one of the few ski destinations I never want to go to.

That place just sounds so fucked up, no help from Yetis movie. An ode to weirdness.

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Yeah it's pretty terrible. One time when I was waiting in the lift line this dude rode up on a horse and robbed me at gunpoint. At first it was kinda funny watching him ride away on a horse in my steezy neon jacket and bad lieutenant helmet, but I sure wasn't laughing on my walk back to Mora... Save yourself the trouble and just go to Idaho

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Originally Posted by Meadow Skipper

That right there would be a deep well of classic NNM stories.


Mora=keeping it real. ¡Salud!

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It was a very entertaining gig. And to use what somebody else already said here earlier ... Yeah, Mora keeps it real. Really real.

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Originally Posted by AdironRider

To be honest, from someone whos never been there, you guys are making it look like one of the few ski destinations I never want to go to.

That place just sounds so fucked up, no help from Yetis movie. An ode to weirdness.

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The stories are pretty funny, I laugh...and there is truth in all of them. But it ain't that bad. I'm not saying i'd want to raise my family there, but for a ski destination...very little affected. I have spent 8 winters there and driven all over the state and never once had anything remotely like any of these stories happen to me (And i'm whiter than the wasatch in february). I know the issues exist, but if you're half decently smart about your travels and actions, there is very little to worry about...I have many friends there that have been locals for generations that are beyond inviting and are great people.

so then it comes down to the skiing: for me, it's the best in bounds terrain out there, hands down. There are a few places i have yet to ski that compare, but i've been to jackson, been to squaw, spend a ton of time at the bird....and i continue to come back to taos. The snow quality is what it is, deal with it. But it's the terrain that really is unmatched in my mind. On the other hand, some folks hate the rocky, steep techy, sidewall ending shit that is west basin....all comes down to personal preference. I'll take the shotguns over the momos any day for the terrain...although neither really bother me.

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Originally Posted by alTAos

I'll take the shotguns over the momos any day for the terrain

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Get up towards the Four Corners and you can have both, plus sick skiing in the San Juans.

Here's one of my NM weird stories, in brief:
One time I was backpacking from Truchas to Santa Fe and went to sleep in a remote meadow called Horsethief meadow. As we were getting dinner ready a kid came running out of the darkness and said he had just gone from Johnson Lake to Trailriders ridge in a day. This is about a 30 mile day and it was weird because we had just walked that trail and seen no one. Then he invited himself to supper and we fed him more than we ourselves ate he seemed starving. We had a book called Cuentos by Rudolpho Anaya about New Mexico folk tales. The random one we read that night was about many spirits coming to people's houses asking for food, and the one who fed the stranger was saved from some sort of spiritual calamity. Well he ran off into the darkness and said to meet him at Johnson Lake, Near Santa Fe Baldy, where he'd repay our kindness with lots of good canned food. He was super out to lunch and really weird. When he left my bro Code man said, "you know that was a ghost, right?" I said no he's just high as hell. Well we got to Johnson Lake where he said his camp was really early and there was no sign of him, or any recent campfires (he said he had no stove and was cooking by fire). He claimed to have tons of canned goods he barely was able to bring over the mountain. We would have caught him on his way out no prob, but never saw him. I pin this down as one of my 4 encounters with the Pecos Witch.

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Originally Posted by skieurmalade

...When he left my bro Code man said, "you know that was a ghost, right?"

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That was a good story. All these stories have been great, but that one really did it for me.

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Originally Posted by skieurmalade

I pin this down as one of my 4 encounters with the Pecos Witch.

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Three more to go then.

Awesome brook trout fishing!!

As far as New Mexico sounding horrible, it isn't. It is just very different. It beautiful scenery, beautiful people. Great out of doors. It is just rough on the edges. If you went there to ski, you wouldn't encounter any of this unless you went looking for it.

Also, the fact that sense I left half of California has relocated there probably has changed it alot.

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Originally Posted by Lani

neckdeep: is murder rate a big concern of yours? Keep you awake at night? .

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No. But constantly sky high crime rates say a lot about the sort of shitheels you'll have to keep as neighbors. I lived in chicago for almost 10 years and had my fill of that shit. I hope I never see another fuckup loser wannabe gangbanger again as long as I live. Again, why would you want to live in the sticks but keep the city problems? You like meth or somethin? I think its a huge plus that I never have to lock my doors and just leave my keys in the ignition. I got a buddy who keeps 30-40k in tools scattered about his place unlocked because we can trust our neighbors. That is as laid back as it gets. My neighbors, for all their religious and social conservativism, are fairly polite live and let live types who leave me alone. I guess its nice for you to live in the Los Alamos enclave (I spent a week there once and its an ok town)....sort of like someone from Hyde Park/U of Chicago extolling the virtues of the south side of chicago. Meh, enjoy your green chili... and come up and visit if you ever want to know what 500+ inches of snow looks like.

I spent ten years living in Seattle and Vancouver - 500" of snow doesn't sound like all that much. There are many parameters to optimize and snowfall is only one.

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Originally Posted by neckdeep

... and come up and visit if you ever want to know what 500+ inches of snow looks like.

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It's not always about the size of the weapon...

Can't top Yeti, but here's some of mine.

Yes Taos is a shithole, but i've never had any trouble. However, ain't been down there in years, and i grew up around people not much deferent, so maybe i fit in?

Me and a ski bud were the first ones to test out the guardrail to keep you from rolling all the way into the lake at Eaglesnest. I was a passenger, and holded a half gallon of Scotch like a football so it wouldn't get broken. Hit the guardrail so hard it threw me into the rearview mirror and damn near scalped me. Nice little ambulance ride into Taos, remember looking down at the filthy floors in the hospital and being glad i wasn't injured worse.

Broke my leg (fib) in the bumps, put my skis back on and skied down to the bottom. My ski Buds declared there was now way i could ski with a broken leg, so my dumb drunken ass didn't go to the doctor for a couple days.

Another ski bud had a Ferrari and no license. Got a wild hair to take a road TRIP and have me drive. I drove over 700 miles of NNM at a 150 plus and never seen a hog. Pretty sure i hold the Land speed record for Taos to Sante Fe, and maybe to Abq? Anyways, he finally got boozed up enough he decides he wants to drive! He doesn't get 5 miles before we get a cop on our ass. We completely smoke the NM trooper and are headed towards Texas, right before the Texas line we hit a pheasant a bust the front window. As we cross into Texas we meet a Trooper in a Mustang and he turns around and trys to keep up, actually doesn't do too bad. My bud looks at the fuel guage and we're on fumes so he gives up and pulls over. Pulling over ended up saving our lives, we were just a mile or two away from a road block were the claim they would have blown us away. From the guy in the Mustang going postal on us with a shotgun when he caught up to us, I've no doubt we lucked out there.

enough for now, got to work.

my story isn't so much about NM as it is about leaving the place...

After two years up on the hill by Pajarito we had gotten used to the constant barrage of "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" signage, the TV commercials, the minimum sentences, had a few run-ins with drunk drivers in the middle of the night and had just gotten to thinking that this kind of shit must now be commonplace everywhere else. on the way back north when we were done with the place it was a surreal feeling to watch the DWI signs slowly be replaced with "First offence means jail!" in Colorado and Wyoming, and finally to disappear and give way to "Meth: Not Even Once" in Montana. (if you know the campaign you'll know which ones i'm talking about, scary stuff). Driving through Montana we were getting worried that we are moving in the wrong direction, and what exactly had happened up there in the past two years... until we reached the border -- the first sign across depicted two friendly-looking mounties instead of a horror story and simply said "Welcome to Canada. Please don't drink and drive". It felt like one could breathe again...

edit: i effetively killed this thread, didn't i? yay me, i guess :nonono2:

yeah the neighborhood watch signs around victoria are a bunch of cartoon houses hugging each other...

I had the exact same feeling.

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Great thread with some great stories. My in-laws are from Denver and bought a place down there a few years back. My wife and I had been living in Central America and never made it down there. Looks like this weekend will be our first trip. Looked into making some turns and the lifts won't run until T-giving weekend. Any Mags around that might want to poke around the hills a little looking for turns? For that matter any observations about the snowpack? I've heard they got hammered with a few of these storms but I know it only takes a sunny day or two to rot out. Worth bringing boards? What's the TSV's take on uphill traffic? Any help appreciated. I'm certainly writing down a few of the restaurant and sightseeing rec's from this post. We'll be leaving Sat. morning to head down and leaving Tues or Wednesday to head back if anyone wants to ski, hike, etc. Cheers.

too fucking surreal... As part of the centennial celebration...

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Be a part of New Mexico Prison History!

Join the "Old Main Centennial Tour Poster/Photography" Contest (Click Here)
This event is sponsored by the New Mexico Corrections Department, an Agency Partner with the New Mexico Centennial

The New Mexico Corrections Department will be hosting tours once a month at the New Mexico State Penitentiary "Old Main" prison in Santa Fe, beginning February 2, 2012.
The "Old Main" is known for the prison riot that occured on February 2, 1980.

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http://www.corrections.state.nm.us/G...Main_Tours.jpg

http://www.corrections.state.nm.us/news/centennial.html


I'm so going...

for the uninformed...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mex...itentiary_riot

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Originally Posted by skieurmalade

Here's one of my NM weird stories, in brief:
One time I was backpacking from Truchas to Santa Fe and went to sleep in a remote meadow called Horsethief meadow. As we were getting dinner ready a kid came running out of the darkness and said he had just gone from Johnson Lake to Trailriders ridge in a day. This is about a 30 mile day and it was weird because we had just walked that trail and seen no one. Then he invited himself to supper and we fed him more than we ourselves ate he seemed starving. We had a book called Cuentos by Rudolpho Anaya about New Mexico folk tales. The random one we read that night was about many spirits coming to people's houses asking for food, and the one who fed the stranger was saved from some sort of spiritual calamity. Well he ran off into the darkness and said to meet him at Johnson Lake, Near Santa Fe Baldy, where he'd repay our kindness with lots of good canned food. He was super out to lunch and really weird. When he left my bro Code man said, "you know that was a ghost, right?" I said no he's just high as hell. Well we got to Johnson Lake where he said his camp was really early and there was no sign of him, or any recent campfires (he said he had no stove and was cooking by fire). He claimed to have tons of canned goods he barely was able to bring over the mountain. We would have caught him on his way out no prob, but never saw him. I pin this down as one of my 4 encounters with the Pecos Witch.

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Awesome story! I believe. I tried to get some thoughts on the Utah thread about possible Alta ghost stories but no one bit. Oh well. The four corners region is filled with all kinds of wild stuff, love it here.

So far this season NM get's my vote for best threads! It's much more then just skiing in here, I think it says something about the cool and funkiness of the scene out there. PLEASE keep the stories coming! Good shit.

I think the "New wild west" is New Mexico.