For Fitness, Albuquerque, New Mexico is Number One.

by Jamie Rhein on

Albuquerque, New Mexico has hit number one in Men’s Fitness magazine’s top 10 list for the city where the people are the fittest. I’m not surprised. I used to live there and it seemed every weekend there was some charity race, bicycle ride, swimming event or another enticement to get one’s body in motion. This Sunday is the Sweetheart Run to benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters, for example.If you go to the Albuquerque Roadrunners website you’ll find a calendar that lists each month’s local, area and national runs.

One organized cycling race I found is the Lobo Classic, March 3-4. For other cycling events, check out New Mexico Cycling. There are also mountain-biking trails a-plenty.

With the Sandia Mountains to the east and the mesa to the west, in the winter it is often possible to go cross-country or downhill skiing and golfing on the same day. The east side of the mountains stays snowy at the top often well into March while down in the city, the temperatures are generally warm enough to comfortably run and bike ride year-round.

Hiking in the Sandias is as easy as grabbing a water bottle and a snack and driving to the edge of Albuquerque where some of the trail heads are. Try the Pino Trail. In minutes, after a couple of switchbacks, the rush of life is left behind. I seem to remember that this trail will link with another one that heads to the top, and once there—what a view! For a list of Sandias hikes try this link from the Great Outdoors.

One of my friends suggested one summer that we hike up the mountain before dark and hike down by the full moon. Neat idea but we didn’t take into account that the moon has to crest the mountain before it lights up the trail. We had to wait at the top until well after midnight before it was light enough to see to hike down. Luckily, the guy who managed the gift shop let us hang out there after we bought T-shirts since the ones we had on were soaked with perspiration. After dark the temperature does a nosedive-another small factor we forgot.

If you are in Albuquerque and want to get fit, be warned, the city is a mile high and the top of the Sandias is a mile more. Drink plenty of water and take time to get acclimated to the altitude.

Here’s a guide to more outdoor activities that Albuquerque has to offer.

Cross-Country Skiing at the Enchanted Forest- a yummy option

by Jamie Rhein on

If you love cross-country skiing and you love desserts, not a bad combination since cross-country skiing is a great calorie burner, head to the Enchanted Forest XC Ski and Snowshoe Area near Red River, New Mexico for “Just Desserts” Eat and Ski, February 24. (to get there from the Enchanted Forest website, click on events then click on the Just Deserts link.)Tables laden with homemade desserts from Red River restaurants will be set up at various spots along the trail for skiers to sample. Tequila Lime Pie, Black Forest Cheesecake and Mountain Berry Cream Flan will be among the 18 different options.

If you can’t make it to this event, consider another time. I’ve been cross-country skiing at the Enchanted Forest three times myself-once on a solo weekend vacation and twice with friends. Each time was as good as the next. With trail names like Jabberwocky, Little John and Cheshire Cat, this is perfect place for those who have never cross-country skied before and those who are experts who don’t mind company.

Because the trails cover 33km of the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, there are opportunities to take in vistas, tucked away places and loads of mountain scenery. Trails are well marked with their level of difficulty so you don’t go wandering off into treachery if you’re a beginner or waste your time with a ho-hum feeling if you’re looking to try out your technique. If you don’t have your own equipment, rentals are available. Red River is a neat town to enjoy for a night or two. It looks a bit like a tourist town-which it is, but that ensures good places to eat and stay and things to do when the day’s skiing is done. I like Red River because it’s not as crowded or polished as Taos or Santa Fe. There’s a more down-home, casual feel that made me feel comfortable, particularly when I was on my own.

Jackson Hole’s Most Harrowing Run

by Neil Woodburn on

Warren Miller ski films always seem to be shot on some remote mountain accessible only by helicopter. Mere mortals can never make their way to those slopes.

There does, however, exist, a spectacular Warren-Miller-like run that is easily accessible to the general public, yet braved by only the very few.

Corbet’s Couloir in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is a 4,139 foot drop of which the first 25 are nearly vertical. It is one of the most challenging and rewarding slopes in all of North America according to a recent article in Forbes Magazine.

Forbes writer Christopher Steiner decided to check it out himself by doing some participatory journalism and tackling the harrowing chute. To do so he enrolled in Steep & Deep Camp, a four day course specializing in pushing the limits of experienced skiers and training them for monsters such as Corbet’s Couloir.

So how did the Forbes reporter do? You can see for yourself by clicking here to view the video.

Snow tubing: winter time action that packs a thrill

by Jamie Rhein on

According to an article in today’s New York Times, Punxsutawney Phil and Charles G. Hogg of the Staten Island Zoo have predicted an early spring. With that said, here’s a winter time action option while there’s snow to enjoy.

For anyone who wants the thrill of whizzing and spinning down a hill without the hike back up, tubing is it. Instead of strapping on a pair of downhill skis and forking over the price of a lift ticket, pay to tube instead. It’s cheaper, and you can do it as a group activity. Last weekend, when my five year old and I headed to Snow Trails near Mansfield, Ohio for a tubing outing, I was delighted to see the conveyor belt contraption that transported people back to the top. I had no idea. I also didn’t expect the various lanes with built up edges to keep tubers from crashing to each other. I expected a free-for-all.

First, we started out with him in one lane in his child-size inner tube and me in my adult version in another. Next thing I knew, there he was hanging on to one of the tubes of a group of older boys. They good-naturedly let him join their pack. Group tubing is allowed in certain lanes. I saw groups of four people barreling towards the bottom.

While Ohio’s hills are–well–hills, there are other places where the terrain might be steeper. Steep or not, if there’s a way you can get up the hill without walking, go for it. Also, because tubing hills are connected to ski resorts, you can enjoy the comfort of their lodges. Here are 10 of the tubing places I found. There are more.

Skiing Silverton

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s one for backcountry fanatics. I caught a story about Silverton ski area in an article in National Geographic Adventure, and then hunted it down online. Silverton recently enhanced its size with some leases of government land, and apparently has ample coverage right about now due to the storm out West. The area is all about backcountry skiing, hitting the Virgin snow and finding fresh tracks. But you get up the mountain with a lift, which differs a bit from your traditional backcountry experience.

You still have to do a lot of hiking, but the lift gets you a lot of the way there. This is a place that scoffs at grooming and disdains the Disneyland real estate developments that have sprung up around place like Mammoth. Oh, and the skiing is superb. But mostly for experts, so if you’re just learning, you should probably go someplace else.