New Mexico?

[Than_Bogan]

In approximately eight years, I will be moving somewhere with better weather.

 

One of the many possibilities is New Mexico, because my wife has some close friends there. I was pretty surprised recently to see claims that there is little (or even no!?) water skiing happening in NM.

 

Anyone know anything? I haven't started any research at all, so feel free to include obvious facts in your response!

 

Are there lakes and I just need to install a slalom course?

 

Would it be practical to build my own lake? (In some places the land is crazy cheap, but perhaps there is no water!?)

 

-Than

[dthate]

Than,

 

Very little water in New Mexico, and much regulation. A friend owns a large ranch on the Pecos River, mostly dry with flash floods if ever a rain event.

 

You should come to Austin Texas, water, lakes, great skiing community and much employment for Geeks and engineers, not saying you are one or anything.....

 

If you would like to visit there is much I can show you.

[PBD]

Not to be a hater, but there is a reason there is very little water-skiing in New Mexico, there is very little of anything going on in New Mexico. I looked into moving to Albuquerque a few years ago and was surprised at how little was going on,

[jcamp]

In 2014 USAWS had two members in New Mexico, both of which were members of AWSA.

[Than_Bogan]

I LOVE Austin, and quite frankly it's my top choice. Also, THANKS for the offer! But we all know my wife will be the one making the decision, and she has a lot of trouble with both sun and heat. (I assume the higher altitude in much of NM mitigates at least one of those, or maybe she lets it slide because she has such a great time with her best friend whenever she is there!)

 

Austin isn't completely off the table, but we'd have to live somewhere else in July and August which could be complicated with actually having a job -- unless it is time for me to teach High School math/engineering and coach high school track, which it might be!

 

But thanks for the general info on NM -- much of what I was afraid of.

 

Quick search of BoS reminded me that Brenda Bullard (In-Tow) is in NM, so I dropped her a line to see what she can tell me.

[dthate]

I think Tom Brantly was from NM and skied on a river.

[klindy]

@dthate Saw Tom this past weekend here in North Carolina.

 

@Than_Bogan if your wife has trouble with "sun and heat" why the hell (pun intended) would you ever consider New Mexico? At least Austin has water, green grass and leaves on the trees all summer long. Unless you're going to pitch a tent on a mountain top I'd really like to know how you intend to escape the heat.

[dthate]

klindey

 

you are correct, NM is a hot dry wasteland unless you are up in the mountains near colorado

[DaveD]

If she has a problem with sun and heat, you should consider Michigan. Seems like all we have here is cold, cloudy, windy days.

[mwetskier]

if you move to new mexico you should move to ruidoso, nm. theres no water skiing so you will have to quit that but you can always bet on the ponies - thats a sport too. . .

[Hallpass]

Albuquerque is not particularly hot. Mid 80s to low 90s, tow or three months per year.

Sante Fe is a few degrees cooler in temperature, and way cooler on the social scale. Not familiar with the water ski seen there, but some great snow skiing. BKH

[gregy]

My mother leaved in Sante Fe for 25 years. Her house was on the east side of town on the mountain side, temps were very nice. Drive just a few miles and it would be 100 plus. I liked it, 20 minutes to the slopes and a free place to stay. Real estate is really expensive in Sante Fe. My mothers 2 bedroom house sold for $850 about 3 years ago, it was nice but not very big.

 

I think there a few public lakes but you would have to do a lot of driving to get to them. New Mexico also has state income tax, another reason to move to Texas as we don't.

 

You learn to deal with the heat in Texas. You can water ski year around. I'd much rather deal with summer in Texas than winter in up north.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@gregy, shhhhhhh! We don't need any more damn Yankees. There are enough of us here already!

[Wish]

Florida is also a bad choice...no really.

[aupatking]

What do you mean @Wish ? South Michigan is full? Or is it South Ohio, South Wisconsin.....?

[skidawg]

@Bruce_Butterfield = Yankee? I shoulda known!

[eleeski]

@Than_Bogan Doesn't Mew Mexico have the highest number of MIT and Caltech graduates outside of Boston or Pasadena? Per capita, maybe it has more. If that kind of thing matters.

Eric

[Marco]

Colorado...Best of all worlds!

[Chef23]

@Than_Bogan are you looking for year round skiing or just somewhere that the winters don't suck as much?

[Than_Bogan]

More the latter. Longer ski season would be nice though.

[The_MS]

Taos Rocks

[ALPJr]

The spirit of the sport is certainly there. I just received a new handle and rope from Brenda at In-Tow in NM.

[mbabiash]

I drove by your lake @Marco this winter while ice climbing in ouray.

If I had my choice of where to live, it would be Montrose.

So close to telluride, ice climbing in ouray and world class backcountry skiing.

Black canyon for stellar rock climbing.

The dessert around Moab is not far either.

Nice lake nestled north of town with a backdrop of mount sneffels.

 

[Marco]

@mbabiash - Western Colorado is a great place to live. Awesome deserts and mountains in close proximity. Snow skiing in the winter, water skiing in the summer, mountain biking, fly fishing, lots of other activities. Did you drive into our lake compound and check it out when you were here this winter? You can't see the lake from the road. You should come check it out in the summer and we'll go skiing!

[Marco]

@scotchipman Definitely a lot of similarities between the 2 states. Our lake is in Montrose, just north of the airport. We used to be pinned on the Google Earth file, but seemed to have fallen off the map on the latest version. Here is the location on Google Maps.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.5351633,-107.8918868,2982m/data=!3m1!1e3

[The_MS]

I would bet you get a bit of afternoon glare at 1-3-5.

[mbabiash]

@Marco I did pull in on the north side of the lake.

I missed the lake the first time because I didn't see it.

I turned around in someone's driveway.

I had some time before my flight took off so I made a detour.

I've been trying to convince my wife to look into a job there.

She is an anesthesiologist but unfortunately

She is happy where she is now.

I'll contact you if I'm in the area this summer.

 

[Marco]

@MS- Definitly some evening glare, starting around 6:00 in the middle of the summer. Skiing blind helps my skiing- If I can't see those pesky orange balls, I won't ski straight at them:)

 

Thanks @scotchipman . Your'e not too far away. About 5 hours or so to Salt Lake from our lake. We're hosting a tournament July 18/19 if you feel like making the road trip. Each day is a separate tourney so you get 2 scores.

 

@mbabiash This place looks much nicer in the summer than winter. We lose some water after they turn us off in the end of October. Its really green now after all the rain Look me up if you get out this way.

[shyskier]

@Marco how often do you get a evening that is not blown out?

Almost always windy p.m. & evening here in Kremmling.

[Marco]

@shyskier -Once the spring winds stop, our normal weather pattern is light and variable winds out of the northwest, which makes for flat water for us. We typically don't get big evening winds here unless they are associated with thunderstorms or other major weather systems.

[foxriverat]

@Marco Small world isnt it. My buddy brings his friend Bret out to ski with us sunday morning. We start talking and he tells me he bought property on a ski lake in Montrose Colorado. I remember reading this thread. So I look it up on my phone. He says he has met you.

[Marco]

@foxriverat = Small world indeed. Brett will be coming out to visit in a few weeks. He plans on moving out here permanently in a few weeks.

[mile_high_slalom]

I know I'm like 3 years behind, but thought I'd post. I've been in Albuquerque for 3 years now, moved here from Denver. Albuquerque get's a bad rap, but It's actually a very up and coming city, reminds me alot of Denver 10 years ago. Great craft beer scene (79 breweries now), good places to eat, etc....And real estate is SO much more affordable than Denver.

 

Anyways, back to waterskiing. Between living in Denver and now being in NM, I have never had as much glassy water to ski on until moving to NM. I don't, and never have had access to a private lake, so I'm speaking about public waters here. There are many options in NM, you just have to know where to look. Santa Rosa Lake, about 85 miles east of Albuquerque is our absolute favorite. Great little lake that is never busy, and has an awesome canyon section that is always glass, no matter what the wind is doing. Navajo Lake in the north area of the state is a mini Lake Powell, with the best water I have ever had on a public lake. If you're into more than just recreational skiing, stay away from Elephant Butte. Its the most popular lake in the state, and granted it a nice lake with a fun social scene, but it's not conducive to skiing during the busy summer months. I typically ski from early March to late November here in New Mexico without any issues.

 

If you're still thinking about NM possibly, its been a great waterski state for me, and wanted to pass that along to you!

[6balls]

Dude even the rivers are dry river beds in New Mexico....though @mile_high_slalom is more knowledgeable I've only been there for b'ness meetings. Cool post from him above.

 

I hear Austin is a great city. Like you will be looking in 3-5 years to go warmer and will be looking at not only warmer but bigger pop'n, more diversity, cool cultural/music scenes and of course would love to keep skiing. Austin is someplace we may investigate as an option.

[Than_Bogan]

@mile_high_slalom INTERESTING!

 

You didn't specifically mention slalom courses. Are there slalom focused sites or clubs? Do enivonmental regulations and conditions allow the possibility of building a ski pond?

[Horton]

@mile_high_slalom Wow a Baller from New Mexico. You are like a Unicorn to me!

[rawly]

I am in Montrose on part of a dirt bike safari trip . I pulled up on a hillside and was looking down on a beautiful ski lake. Figured if I hit up this sight I’d find a baller who skis there. Too bad riding is consuming my life and my waterski that hasn’t been ridden this season is 850 miles away from here. Might have to hit you up @Marco if I get back this way. Will trade you for rides if you ever make it to Arvin. Heck this is about the time frame that @Than_Bogan is supposed to be moving west , any progress on that  ??

[Than_Bogan]

Wow it's 2023!  My kids have all graduated high school.

But I haven't!  A few years after I started this thread, in late 2017, I began a new adventure as a high school track coach.  This is the true passion of my life right now, and a reason I am less involved with waterskiing than I once was.

Sure, there are high schools in every town in the country, but part of the addiction of coaching is working with people all the way from "what is the high jump?" to competing in the All State Championship.  And that means there is always a group that I "owe" three more years.  Just yesterday I was working with a freshman of each gender who have a real shot to someday break our school records in the PV -- [brag alert!] both of which were set in the last two seasons by my athletes!

So I think I'm far less likely to move now.

That said, if anybody ever gets a ski site going in New Mexico, DO let me know! 🙂