Clear skies and upper 40-degree temperatures were hardly what Michael Frey expected for "the day hell froze over."
"I thought it would be a lot colder," he said with a smile.
But Frey was not complaining.
The 18-year-old freshman at Texas Tech University made the seven-plus hour drive from Lubbock to be among the estimated 2,000 snowboarders on hand Wednesday for the official lifting of Taos Ski Valley's ski-only policy.
As one snowboarder shouted from the lift line prior to the first run of the day at 9 a.m.: "Free at last."
Class of 1997 Sandia High graduate Phillip Broadbent, 28, made the trek from his home in Venice Beach, Calif., for a day he thought would never happen in his lifetime.
"I waited 21 years for this," he said. "The last time I was here, I was seven and skiing with my family. ... I came back just for this day— it's monumental.
"After the advent (of snowboarding), this is the next biggest thing."
While Frey doesn't ski, this wasn't his first trip to Taos Ski Valley.
In December, he and a group of friends were willing to pay any price to be among the first to shred the pristine snowboard-free slopes of the resort— that and possibly earning $5,000 from Burton snowboard company through its "Sabotage Stupidity" campaign.
The company offered the reward for the best video footage of snowboarders riding through the four American ski areas that have been the final hold-outs against snowboarding— Taos; Deer Valley, Utah; Alta, Utah; and Mad River Glen, Vt.
"I was actually caught here trying to poach it," Frey said about his attempt at illegal snowboarding. "All the people were real nice (when they caught us). They let us go, and said see you on March 19. Now I'm here, and this is awesome.
"I just called those guys I got busted with asking, 'Guess what I'm doing?' ''
But not everyone was so enthusiastic about sharing the slopes.
Skier Duprelon Tizdale, who was one of 40 raffle winners and only one of 10 skiers to be the first on the mountain Wednesday, protested the event by skiing down with a sign that read, "Ernie (Blake) weeps, keep Taos free from snowboarding." Blake, founder of Taos Ski Valley, died at age 75 in 1989.
While Tizdale doesn't believe in the rumors— long denied by the Blake family— that Blake made a deathbed plea to his grandchildren to keep Taos ski only, the 40-year-old from Taos simply doesn't want the ski valley to lose its identity.
"I love snowboarding, just not here," he said. "This is a very unique niche that has catered to those of us who don't want snowboarding. ... This is what made northern New Mexico and Taos unique, and they're giving it away."
Even members of the Blake family greeted opening day for snowboarders with a degree of trepidation.
"(Taos Ski Valley) was a magical place growing up— it was like a small European village," said Marcia Blake, one of Ernie Blake's grandchildren. "I have mixed feelings about it. ...
"I guess I'm just feeling a little nostalgic because it's the end of an era. We all generally feel positive about it, but, at the same time, we understand that things will never be the same again."
But events coordinator and another third-generation Blake, Alejandro Blake, doesn't believe the addition of snowboarding at Taos will change that much in the long run.
"Today is the exception," he said. "We'll have more snowboards on the hill today than we ever will again. When it all shakes itself out— we're thinking about an average of about 15 percent ratio of snowboarders— everyone will find that the changes aren't that dramatic."
So, in time, the only concern may be: What to do with the old "Free Taos" bumper sticker?
That's simple. Alejandro Blake smiled and displayed the new bumper sticker: "03.19.08 the day hell froze over; Ride Taos."
"We took that quote off a blog and adapted it to the bumper stickers," he said. "We thought it was pretty funny."
Taos Ski Valley has about two weeks left in this year's season. The final day is April 6.
