Snow ranger program in Taos back to lend perspective to skiers, boarders
TAOS — The Carson National Forest’s popular snow ranger program returns this winter, offering skiers and snowboarders an opportunity to learn about the wildlife, landscape, culture and history tied to the public lands home to three popular winter recreation areas in Taos County.
Forest employees and volunteers will lead one-hour interpretive ski and snowboard tours once a week at the Red River Ski and Summer Area and the Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort and host twice-weekly tours at Taos Ski Valley, Carson National Forest announced in a news release.
Rangers, who will either ski or snowboard with visitors, will cover cultural and natural history, along with information about the special-use permits under which each ski resort operates.
The program is free and open to people of all ages and abilities. Participants must have a valid lift ticket, gear and the ability to ski or snowboard beginner slopes.
Wildlife biologists, archaeologists and firefighters will join some of the sessions and may cover geology, heritage sites, wilderness areas, water, sustainability, fire-adapted ecosystems, recreational opportunities, safety and “leave no trace” ethics. Repeat tour participants will have an opportunity to learn new information from different specialists who join the various tours each week.
Taos County is home to world-class ski resorts, in part because of the special-use permits the U.S. Forest Service issues. The interpretive tours let skiers and snowboarders see the slopes from a different perspective.
During a snow ranger tour at Sipapu last year, one man asked how old a large aspen stand was, for example. George Allalunis, prescribed fire and fuels technician for the Carson National Forest, estimated the aspen stand to be around 60 to 70 years old at least, and noted it likely sprouted after a wildfire. He told the tour group aspens grow as a colony from a single root system.
“A lot of times an aspen stand will all be the same age, because that happened from a certain disturbance that happened at that time,” Allalunis said. “And so they all reached out to get together, and they’ll grow to a larger size until there’s another disturbance that regenerates it, and the saplings all start fresh from the roots.”
Bethany Griffith, who volunteered as a snow ranger with the Carson last year, explained how snowmaking works.
“There’s not as much snowfall around here,” she said during a tour at Sipapu last year. “Humans have been making snow since the ‘50s. And they used to use a garden hose and dirt, over in Europe. I don’t know how effective that was, because you need a nucleus to make snow.”
Griffith also pointed out that Sipapu is the younger cousin to Agua Piedra, one of New Mexico’s oldest ski areas, which was located about two miles east of present-day Sipapu.
“Lloyd Bolander, the founder of Sipapu, learned to ski down there. His father actually worked for the Forest Service and he bought this land here in order to live a more sustainable lifestyle,” she said. “He bought this land for that, but two years later, in 1952, opened up Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort. It likes to pride itself on being one of the oldest ski resorts and also the longest open; they like to open first, and stay open.”