So I finally managed to get out of town with the intent of enjoying a nice long week of snowboarding and relaxing in New Mexico. Myself and a few friends flew into Albuquerque and drove for three hours to the resort town of Angel Fire which is home base for the week (fortunately one of my travel companions has a friend with a house there). Our place of lodging is located about 9,500 feet above sea level which makes for a tricky time of acclimation.
Today is technically the fourth day of our trip and I started feeling a little “off” on the evening of day two. The morning of day two was spent slaying the groomers (no pow at this point). It was nice to be on real snow and lay down an edge that wasn’t going to let loose. We all had a great time getting warmed up but decided not to overdo things.
The next day conditions were poor and so was I. The group decided to go for a hike and spend the better part of the day in Taos with its reasonable elevation (comparatively speaking). The plan for day three was to ski Taos. When I woke up I wanted to die. My head felt like it was going to explode and I was a bit short of breath but didn’t want to miss the trip. When we got to the resort they only had one lift open because of the wind. We decided to grab some lunch and see if conditions improved. It was a great decision because they opened almost the entire mountain and there was plenty of terrain and fresh powder to go around. It turned into a bluebird day with spectacular conditions.
When I woke up this morning I knew things weren’t right. I had a wicked headache (for the third day in a row) but today my breathing was a bit labored. I figured I should go to the clinic and see what was wrong. As it turns out I managed to get myself a nice case of Altitude Sickness and bronchitis. That explained a lot of how I felt but also made me realize that I wouldn’t be hiking for many turns the rest of the week.
Tomorrow we plan to head back up to Taos because it’s completely worth the drive and they’re expecting to get dumped on tonight. I’d like to add some pictures in this post, but they’ll have to wait until later. Fortunately I have some good meds to get me back in check and plan to ride the hell out of my board the rest of the week, just a bit more subdued than I’d like.
Today is technically the fourth day of our trip and I started feeling a little “off” on the evening of day two. The morning of day two was spent slaying the groomers (no pow at this point). It was nice to be on real snow and lay down an edge that wasn’t going to let loose. We all had a great time getting warmed up but decided not to overdo things.
The next day conditions were poor and so was I. The group decided to go for a hike and spend the better part of the day in Taos with its reasonable elevation (comparatively speaking). The plan for day three was to ski Taos. When I woke up I wanted to die. My head felt like it was going to explode and I was a bit short of breath but didn’t want to miss the trip. When we got to the resort they only had one lift open because of the wind. We decided to grab some lunch and see if conditions improved. It was a great decision because they opened almost the entire mountain and there was plenty of terrain and fresh powder to go around. It turned into a bluebird day with spectacular conditions.
When I woke up this morning I knew things weren’t right. I had a wicked headache (for the third day in a row) but today my breathing was a bit labored. I figured I should go to the clinic and see what was wrong. As it turns out I managed to get myself a nice case of Altitude Sickness and bronchitis. That explained a lot of how I felt but also made me realize that I wouldn’t be hiking for many turns the rest of the week.
Tomorrow we plan to head back up to Taos because it’s completely worth the drive and they’re expecting to get dumped on tonight. I’d like to add some pictures in this post, but they’ll have to wait until later. Fortunately I have some good meds to get me back in check and plan to ride the hell out of my board the rest of the week, just a bit more subdued than I’d like.
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