One of the reasons to start out early on your way to Angel Fire, NM is to spend some time looking at the Pallasades. It’s no fun trying to drive the curves at night and it’s a gorgeous drive in the daylight. Richard, Margaret, Thea and I started out from OKC at 5 a.m.and got here at 2 p.m. Mountain Time. The new Chile Express detachable Quad-chair lift will get you to the top of the mountain in nine minutes. The back basin needs two double-chair lifts and closer to twelve minutes. Richard and I were actually skiing down in about half the time it took to get back up. But it was a real workout. The snow wasn’t the greatest in the world this year. In fact, they had not had any natural snow for about six weeks. But they really take good care of the mountain with their snowmaking equipment. There are signs along the trails to help you find your way and to remind you of the obvious. There are some unexpected signs as well. At the end of I-25, we curved around and found the mapped trails of Pinky, Ring, Middle, and Index and an unmapped trail, Thumb. There’s a reason I’m not in these pictures: I’m holding the camera. And you can tell from the other pictures, we pretty much had the entire mountain to ourselves. But that’s why we go skiing on weekdays between New Year’s and Spring Break, anyway.