Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Depths of winter in Taos

Meet....
Frick and Frack...or....Yin and Yang.....or....Heckel and Jeckel......their names are actually Jack and Lily--brother and sister.  One of our big (and hairy) responsibilities while house-sitting here in Taos, NM.  They are two of the most lovable cats I've ever met....
there's never enough lap-time for their liking.....and Lily will often take the shoulders when there is no lap.  Black clothing becomes hairy-white....and white clothing becomes hairy-black.  Ya gotta love 'em....it's not a choice.




Frodo and Pippin--looking for the ring?
We left the boat (on the Florida brokerage dock) at sea-level in mid-December and returned to the icy-snowy depths of Taos at 8000ft, it was like Frodo crossing from his homeland in the Shire to Caradharas (snowy mountain-pass of Lord of the Rings).  

We celebrated our first family Xmas together in 2 years with Krista in from Vermont. 





It snowed....and snowed....and then some more.
Orcs? or dwarves?


And we loved it. Afterall, this was home for 25 years. It made for lots of shoveling....but really awesome skiing.  And since we work up at the Taos Ski Valley---it's called job security.  It's the first time we had crossed over from the recreational skiing to actually working on the mountain. We are part of the crew of 40 in the Guest Services department ----the friendly greeters, ticket checkers  and tour guides on the mountain.  We carry radios, so we can communicate around the mountain and/or call for ski patrol-medical assistance as well.  It's actually a lot more skiing than we had originally thought.  We hit the floor running at 5:30am to commute 1/2 hour up the mountain and don't stop until we get back home around 6pm..... dragging our butts....wiping out our footprints.  
Thank god for the star-lit hot tub here 😅





Ya gotta understand---we haven't worked for 2.5 years--and now we're standing on our feet (or skiing) for 9 hours a day (4 days/week) in the snow and cold temps....for $10/hour....yep, it's good to be humble.  (I can hear the groans coming off the Snook Bar at the marina...yeah, have another sunset beer for me Ron and Brian---miss you salty guys)


1/30 of Taos Ski Valley

Malia hunting for dud bomb ~~~ 😟




We also get to work around Malia, our oldest daughter--28 yrs.  She is in her 3rd year on the ski patrol---one of 3 women out of 40 patrol.  She loves her job----with avalanche bombing her personal fav.  
On our mountain radios, we can hear patrol say,  "Fire in the hole!"  followed by a huge kaboom!!  One guest skier said to me...."sounds like the boys are having fun"  and I proudly say, "yep, that was my daughter."

Avalanche rescue dogs, Hattie and June ready for duty





















Injury rescue out of big steep bump terrain--Malia on left

















Leslie has tele-ski-luv :)  Free-heeling fun!!  




Three years ago the Taos Ski Valley was bought by an environmentally minded billionaire (who also owns several islands in the Bahamas that we visited last winter on Fiesta), and he immediately added a new lift up to a previously 'hike-to' only terrain called Kachina Peak.  It has added a lot more lift-service terrain to our backyard playground---and we love it.
New Kachina Peak chairlift


Riding up to heaven...up to 12,481ft
(thanks to Alain at Cold Smoke Photography for this  action photo of me)











Tim capturing Roswell-UFO cloud on video 

Dos Amigos
One of the best stories to come out of the season, is a small-world tale.  Part of our job is to scan lift tickets before skiers can take the chair lift up.  It's not one of our higher purposes in life, but it can be fun.....or monotonous.  One day, Tim was scanning a season pass card and the last name read Mutchler.  He asked the young woman if she knew of a Dwight Mutchler---and she pointed to the fatherly figure standing next to her.  
"Dwight!  It's Tim Reeves!!!"  
Holy guacamole.  These two had not seen or talked for over 40 years...since they travelled together as young men in South America in the '70's.  Dwight is where Tim had originally learned about the skiing in Taos, NM.  
Long lost traveling friends reunited.  
(note Tim's hat---hand-painted by Malia---they're popular, so she's back-logged on orders)












Long lost friend found us again---JT!!
Throughout the last 4 months we had old friends from the past drop back into our lives....as well as crazy nephews to remind us not to take it all too seriously----thanks guys for 3 days of deep belly laughter----it will cure anything that ails. 



Loco relatives (nephews) to prove our own insanity....
Tim's trademark---who needs ski poles?


Tim's video production creativity has continued from the warm water world into our winter world.  Here's a link to his latest----an imagined perspective from Ernie Blake, the founder of the Taos Ski Valley, revisiting the massive changes to his beloved ski valley.  It's 4 1/2 min.









We have had so much snow, that our season has been extended an extra week---closing date set at April 9th----one more week on the clock and then it's into our next phase.....which is ???   We still don't know.  We're tired of worrying about it, so we will just take it as it comes.  Ya know.....it just always seems to work out for us anyway.  
After all, who needs ski poles?

Little guys are baaaaack!!!
So......friends and family and lovable blog followers.....hang in there with us, as we continue our mid-life wandering and wondering.  


And remember.....we're all here....cause.....
we're not all there.   Cheers!!    



Paid to smile----and ski :)
Laundry day.....is this the north pole?