I have only been cross-country skiing once before. My friend Brian is a cross-country ski enthusiast and had some extra equipment so he invited me to go with him and his dog Penny. I did not intend to get a mountain peak, but when we saw that it could easily be part of our journey we decided to get Sandia Crest, elevation 10,679. This is a repeat peak for me. I have gotten it several times. This peak is part of the Sandia Mountain Range which is the beautiful backdrop east of Albuquerque. We started cross-country skiing, Saturday February, 15, 2020, at 8:40 AM, at Ellis Trail Head. Our starting elevation was 10,300. We hiked up then dropped down to our lowest elevation 10,250. It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice snow depth everywhere. Penny was in dog heaven. We hiked over to the top of the Sandia Peak Tramway. (This is a must for any out of state visitors. Also take them to the new “Ten 3” restaurant, named after the elevation.) This was the point we decided to cross-country ski over to Sandia Crest. It took about 2 hours and 3.5 miles to get to the top. We stayed on the top for about 20 minutes and enjoyed the views. This is the mountain top in New Mexico with some of the greatest views in all of the state. We could see Sierra Blanca to the south, and the Latir Mountain Range to the north. I believe that on an absolutely crystal clear day one could see the southernmost mountains near the Colorado border. We headed down. This was more difficult for me than going up. The skis were older and did not have edges so it was difficult to stop. It took about 40 minutes to get back to the car. Our total up-down elevation gain was 600 feet. We hiked 4.8 miles total, in about 3 hours including our stop at the top. My first cross-country ski peak!