Taos

The moguls on Al’s Run look awesome from the lift and are not to be taken lightly in the early morning before the sun softens the snow somewhat. The real challenges lie off the ridge, on the Blitz, Oster and Stauffenberg trails—but with more than half the trails graded expert, a really good skier will be totally spoiled for choice here. The super- difficult skiing is not physically tortuous, just a logical progression of what founder and developer of Taos Ski Valley, Ernie Blake, wished to exploit.

Fifty-one percent of the trails are advanced and expert. Basically you hike to any part of the Ridge to take advantage of nature’s extreme chutes. There are over 20 trails to sample off the Ridge, either from Highline or West Basin, and plenty of off-piste scope. It’s a hike, but worth every turn. Probably the best skiing for experts is West Basin Ridge. Begin on lift No.2 and spend the entire day there (or as long as you can handle), hiking the ridge and end with Longhorn. The route through Lorelei Trees onto Lorelei is another long challenging trail and again you can finish off on Al’s Run with its mogul fields heading straight down the mountain under the ski lift back to base.