rubbertoe

The road to Pagosa Springs is a good one and usually very well maintained in the winter. It is around a 4 hr drive from Alb to Pagosa. Depending on the driver. From Santa Fe to Espanola there is about 40 miles of 35 mph with a cop every 1/4 mile. Ult got stopped here on his Taos trip. It has been years since I have driven to Alamosa so the route to South Fork is questionable with me, but NM has greatly improved their roads in the last 12 years, so I would not be too worried about it. The road from South Fork to Wolf Creek does stay open through the winter. South Fork is really not a town but more of a summer tourist resort. Pagosa is like the rest of the Southern Rocky towns and growing way to fast, the road to Wolf Creek does get closed from time to time. Last year it was closed 3 times I Know of for close to a week each time. Last year the resort went from its normal 400 to 500" of snow so the road probably will not be closed as much next year. Night driving from Chama to Pagosa is a little hairy at times due to the large number of Elk. I would suggest staying in Espanola versus driving this at night. Lots of Casinos in Espanola and about a 3 hour drive to the slopes.

killclimbz

^^^The pass closure is the one stitch with Pagosa. If that did happen, Durango Mountain is close enough to go hit, though not as good it would work. 90 minute drive though. I don't remember the Pass being closed for around a week except for that one big ass storm they got. My buddy was down there at his cabin by Pagosa when it was closed one of the other times. It was two days lost for sure, which sucks. Pagosa is just such a better town from the perspective of drinking, eating, and generally finding so after hours entertainment. Not that it's a huge party scene, but there is a scene.

rubbertoe

The increase in snow last year is really not indicative of what was going on. It didn't start snowing until after Thanksgiving and usually the slope is open the 1st day of November. When it did start it was a continuous nuking. I know of two partys that went at different times and lost the whole trip. The closures were due to avalanche dangers. For the life of me I can't think of where they couldn't clear the snow out quickly enough to open the road but it was closed. If we had mountains that steep in New Mexico we would have left it open until it broke loose and then said "ee wessoo we should closed it" Pagosa is by far the better place to stay.

Mr. Right

Here is a little reading with some real world experience. Seems like NM would be the way to go airport-wise http://www.colorado4x4.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=121181

Also Simply_Ride I will be planning it to not be on Spring Break (no offense but I don't like being surrounded by morons in jeans on the mountain lol) so you would indefinitely have to take the time off school. Too many Texans in Colorado on Spring Break, they come with their carharts, cowboy hats, wranglers and 10 screaming retarded children. I'm glad we didn't get any snow this season during spring break, maybe they'll start going to Utah lol.

__________________
When the fuck did we get ice cream?

Simply^Ride

Well spring break in Florida schools is weird some schools start the first week of march and other start mid april. I am not sure Texans have it. Either way it doesn't matter, ill figure it out.

Mr. Right

Well I am for sure going to be avoiding anything after the first week in March. I would probably prefer to break up the last week of Feb and the first week in March for a total of 5 days. We still aren't sure of where we are going yet either but just keep checking back and posting your thoughts. If we wanted to do it in December or January we could all crash at KillClimbz place and do Loveland . That would make travel easy

__________________
When the fuck did we get ice cream?

killclimbz

Is spring break really a shit show at Wolf Creek? Somehow I doubt that is the case. It's just not a major player like Crested Butte, Steamboat, Summit County, etc. I've been down there in March a few times. Grant it, I was riding on the pass, so no Texans there, but even in town it didn't appear to be full of gapers.

I kind of like the out of towners on the slopes. They make themselves so easy to spot. Sporting jeans, stupid hats, and my favorite, ski blades. You never see a local on ski blades. I love to roll up to the lift with them and ask them what state they are visiting from...

mpdsnowman

Well last night I saw twinplanks. Me, him and bigjoe(who has been there) are in for both meets.

__________________


M P D S N O W M A N

Mr. Right

The first time I ever went to Wolf Creek it was spring break and it was definitely busier than usual -but- it still didn't compare to any of the larger resorts as far as gapers goes. Another thing I noticed is the closer we got to the waterfall area the less of them we saw. I'll probably be spending the entire meet in the waterfall area if they have deep snow anyway so that's fine with me haha.


It's looking like it will be a 4-6 hour drive from any airport to where we would be staying so everyone try to think about whether or not that would be too much after getting off an airplane.

__________________
When the fuck did we get ice cream?

Simply^Ride

Like I said I have done it before, personally I don't think is too bad as long as your are driving for the best conditions available. When I drove from Newark, NJ to Jay Peak I know it was the best decision I could make. Granted Wolf creek almost always gets great snow and in abundant amounts we should be in a good conditions for the drive (looking forward for this conditions). Now of course car polling would be a great idea to split costs for the us that are flying into NM or Denver.

This is my opinion so people might feel different, I personally love traveling and viewing new scenery, this would be all new for me.