Skiers in talks with forest over changes

TAOS — It’s the most popular trail to Wheeler Peak, the highest natural feature in New Mexico and one of the most popular trails in the state.

The ascent is an activity most hikers prefer in warmer months. But in winter, backcountry skiers rely on the trail to access “stunningly beautiful” ski-mountaineering terrain: hike-to-ski slopes on public land that require expertise and stamina but no lift ticket.

It’s a sport no one should do alone or without a local guide who knows how to gauge avalanche risk.

Several years ago, less than a mile of the trail upslope of the Bavarian Restaurant and the Phoenix Grill in Taos Ski Valley’s Kachina Basin was realigned to bring it off private property and onto the Carson National Forest. The forest advertised its intent to realign the trail in June 2018 as part of a larger trails initiative.

After a 14-day public comment period and agency review, then-Forest Supervisor James Duran determined there was no need for an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment and signed off on the plan in September of that year.

Since the trail was physically realigned a few years ago, however, backcountry skiers and other winter recreationists have expressed concerns the new trail is not only dangerous but thwarts a tradition that goes back seven decades or more.

“There was a move in 2018 — with good intent — to move the trail off those private pieces of property and onto public land,” said Rob McCormack, a member of the Taos Mountain Alliance, a group founded by backcountry skiers. “Unfortunately, the trail that was built is unsuitable for winter travel. It’s on avalanche terrain. It’s rocky, it’s steep and it goes up and down, so it can’t be skied out.”

The new alignment, just inside the forest boundary, runs along the bottom of the in-bounds Taos Ski Valley run El Funko, which is on terrain steep enough to pose an avalanche risk, something the resort controls with mitigation techniques throughout its ski area as necessary.

“It’s a good summer trail,” but undulating terrain and sharp, steep twists “ruins” backcountry ski activity along the new segment, McCormack said, adding he and others believe there’s an argument for a prescriptive easement — for a path or road that’s been in continuous use for over 10 years — to enable the old alignment to remain.

“The historical trail is a public right of way that’s been used for 75-plus years — leave the trail where it is,” he said, adding he is optimistic an ongoing dialogue with the ski corporation, the Carson National Forest and other parties will continue to be productive.

Patrick Nicholson, community development director for the village of Taos Ski Valley, said the village’s main concern regarding the old trail alignment is its proximity to critical infrastructure.

“None of that precludes a solution to the backcountry access question, but we’re leaving that to the Forest Service to work that out,” he said, adding there are examples within the village where public trails traverse private land under a formal easement, and examples of trails that cross private land thanks to “unofficial, neighborly agreements.”

The old Williams Lake Trail was an example of the latter.

Over a half-dozen years ago, a preliminary subdivision platte was approved for the parcels through which the old trail runs, but nothing came of it. The ski valley said “rumors about development plans are categorically false.”

“There are no plans for development uphill from the Phoenix,” the spokesperson said.

McCormack, standing amid ski tracks in the thinned forest along the old trail alignment, said if the ski corporation isn’t planning any development, “a conservation easement of some sort” might be appropriate for the land.

Darien Fernandez, program manager for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, a longtime Taos town councilor and local backcountry skier, said a conservation easement isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It isn’t the first time there’s been talk of putting the land in question under a conservation easement, which permanently prevents land from being developed.

“Twelve years ago, there was a push by the landowner and the Taos Land Trust and all the parties involved to put that land in a conservation easement specifically to protect that trail,” Fernandez said.

“Taos Ski Valley has really shown a willingness to listen to the community and engage with organizations” that would like to preserve access to the original trail alignment, he added. “I think there’s an opportunity to have that conversation with them again.”

A longer version of this story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of The Santa Fe New Mexican.