Winter travel to North New Mexico

[Slopijom]

We are planning a trip To Angel Fire, New mexico for Christmas. Looking for snow as we are from Louisiana. It will be our second experience pulling at high altitude and cold weather. We have already started planning for expected cold conditions by ordering snow chains for the Tow vehicle,but, Should we also add them to the 5th wheel? We have heated water hose,foam to wrap hoses,heaters,Checked antifreeze in vehicle,etc... We have made alternate plans incase weather is unsafe to drive. Any winter advise would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[RoadJunkie]

Man, it gets cold up in Angel Fire! Really cold. When we have stayed in cold weather, we fill, and only use, the fresh water tank. We only use the hose for that purpose and don't connect to City water. Keep the furnace running, as opposed to all electric heat, to warm the under belly. Consider using insulating material on windows, especially if you are single pane. How long you staying at Angel Fire?

 

[TravelTiger]

We are planning a trip To Angel Fire, New mexico for Christmas. Looking for snow as we are from Louisiana. It will be our second experience pulling at high altitude and cold weather. We have already started planning for expected cold conditions by ordering snow chains for the Tow vehicle,but, Should we also add them to the 5th wheel? We have heated water hose,foam to wrap hoses,heaters,Checked antifreeze in vehicle,etc... We have made alternate plans incase weather is unsafe to drive. Any winter advise would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hello from Texas! We love Angel Fire and have been there the last two Christmas seasons for vacation! We love to go skiing, and hubby has about 2.5 weeks at Christmas so that's when we usually head for the mountains!

I doubt you will need the chains. The terrain from West Texas to Angel Fire is not so extreme that chains are required, and the weather usually has not been such that the journey is treacherous. NMDOT keeps the roads fairly well maintained. That said, we've altered plans to not travel if the roads are icy or snowy or in high winds. Only tow on clear roads.

We did see/experience some icy/slick spots in shady areas in the last few miles on Hwy 64 into Eagles Nest.

Angel Fire RV Resort requires you to disconnect the hose and run off your on-board water if the temp is below freezing, (to avoid busting their supply lines) which was basically all the time for us. We just filled up our tank after we arrived and used it the whole time, refilling after a few days, rather than stress about hooking and unhooking hoses constantly. We made sure to leave a light on in the UDC to keep things warmer in there, and run the furnace regularly to keep the underbelly pipes warm.

There is a propane dealer nearby, you will likely go through a tank of propane every 2.5-3 days if the temps are in the 20s-30s. We take an extra tank with us to make sure we have enough, because they will have some limited holiday hours.

Make sure you have some kind of snow shovel and/or broom to clear snow around your rig and your roof/slides, just in case you get a lot of snow while there. Clear snow regularly off roof and slides if it can't melt completely in one day. If you let snow sit and then slowly melt/refreeze/melt refreeze on slides, it becomes ice at the roof and very hard to remove later when you need to pull slides in for travel.

Be sure to drink lots of water all the time, the altitude will make breathing difficult and you can get dehydrated much faster.

Try to arrive in the middle of the day so you are not setting up after 3pm. As the sun gets behind the mountains, the temperature cools rapidly and "setup" in the cold/altitude is MUCH harder than when it's not cold.

If you don't have dual pane windows, your windows will "fog" or get condensate on the inside. A dehumidifier may be a good idea.

Hope this helps! We plan to go to Durango, Co this year.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

You may find our owner-written Water Systems Winter Usage Guide helpful. If you have a residential refrigerator, you'll want to evacuate water from the ice maker water feed line. See the Residential Refrigerator Guide for help on that.

 

[Slopijom]

Thanks for all the info and advise. will definately use it.. We plan to stay 7 days, but no hurry to leave so may stay longer. We will be there December 22nd, and plan to leave around 29 or later.Looks like a really nice place.

 

[Lynn1130]

You mention snow chains for the RV. Chains work only on "drive" wheels. Your rear tow vehicle wheels and if you have 4 wheel drive, then the front axle wheels but not chains for those. They make a "cable" type set up for the front. It would have to get pretty bad before I would suggest those and if it is that bad, park somewhere.

Another issue to keep in mind is altitude sickness. If you are not acclimated to those types of elevations that can become an issue which can ruin a stay and/or become life threating.

 

[TravelTiger]

You mention snow chains for the RV. Chains work only on "drive" wheels. Your rear tow vehicle wheels and if you have 4 wheel drive, then the front axle wheels but not chains for those. They make a "cable" type set up for the front. It would have to get pretty bad before I would suggest those and if it is that bad, park somewhere.

Another issue to keep in mind is altitude sickness. If you are not acclimated to those types of elevations that can become an issue which can ruin a stay and/or become life threating.

Yes that altitude can get you and quick! The best way is to drink more water than you think you need. We start drinking more water on the road the way there. It helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shortest Straw]

You mention snow chains for the RV. Chains work only on "drive" wheels.

You can put drag chains on the trailer as well to help keep it from sliding, especially sideways.

 

[Slopijom]

We do plan to stop if weather conditions get bad.I think if it got to where we would need tire chains, we would just stay where we are or head south. We will stay hydrated, and also plan to spend a few days in Amarillo to hopefully start acclimationg to Higher altitude. Thanks again for all the advice and info.

 

[TravelTiger]

We do plan to stop if weather conditions get bad.I think if it got to where we would need tire chains, we would just stay where we are or head south. We will stay hydrated, and also plan to spend a few days in Amarillo to hopefully start acclimationg to Higher altitude. Thanks again for all the advice and info.

We have relatives in Amarillo, so we usually stay there on our way. I don't think that will acclimate you to Angel Fire. Angel Fire is at 8406 feet, Amarillo is at 3605 feet. Drink more water on the way between Amarillo and Angel Fire, even if you have to make lots of rest stops.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lynn1130]

Yeah, I can jump as high as Amarillo .

If you want to adjust to the altitude try Albuquerque, or something in the surrounding area. 5K is not going to give you problems and should help some.

Altitude sickness is strange. I have seen some get it right away and others go days before having problems and then some (like me) have never had an issue. Something else that you can use as a safety net is canned O2. I think Amazon and some other sell it. At the first sign of trouble start using it.

https://www.amazon.com/Boost-Oxygen...pID=514L17C-0SL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[trading-time]

Over passes are tricky in Winter, most times OK, but every once in awhile --- SLIPPERY !!!

 

[TNT]

The Angel Fire Resort is one of our favorites. Stay there 3 or 4 times a year for a quick getaway. The manager is great and very helpful. The weather here is supposed to be much milder this year so you should be fine. Have a great stay and let us know how it goes!