El Cajete Ski Tour

This ski tour is being postponed until Saturday, February 1st while we wait for more snow in the Jemez.  If there is no snow by that date, let's consider doing the trip as a hike instead.  This will give us a chance to see this new area without delaying other ski trips that are scheduled later in February.
 
This trip will start from the Valle Grande Visitor Center at 9:30 AM, and is open to members of the Mountaineers, the Southwest Nordic Ski Club, the New Mexico Cross Country Ski Club, and guests of LAMC members. Before departing, all skiers must pay the $10 access fee and sign the Valles Preserve waiver in the Visitor Center, and also sign a Los Alamos Mountaineers Club trip waiver.  A few of us should try to arrive early so we can take one or more cars to the end of the route for a car switch.
 
The route utilizes existing winter ski tracks up to Valles Caldera Road VC02.  Then we will ski west on VC02 through El Cajete to the end of VC02 at State Highway 4 just east of La Cueva.  The trip is a new one for the Mountaineers, and will give us an opportunity to see the El Cajete volcanic basin, the south side of Redondo Peak up close, and Redondo Meadows.  We appreciate that the Valles Caldera staff are allowing us to do this new trip, and we are asking all participants to take responsibility for assuring their own abilities to complete the trip. Part of the route goes through areas that were burned in last summer's forest fire.  The VC02 road is still in good shape for ski touring, but the road does pass through some areas with burned trees, which skiers enter at their own risk. This trip is roughly 10 miles, with an estimated 5 hours of skiing time.  It requires an intermediate level of cross-country ski touring experience, and MODERATE fitness. 
 
Advanced signup for this trip is required so we will know who to expect at the trailhead and what transportation arrangements we need to make.  Please e-mail Norbert at norbert.ensslin@gmail.com or phone at 662-1408 to sign up so that we can communicate back and forth about weather conditions, car-pooling options, skiing experience, etc.