I learned to fly in Albuquerque in Cessna 150s and owned a TriPacer. Santa Fe was a regular destination. No problem coming in from the south or southeast. The thing I got sloppy on after moving to flatlands was leaning for takeoff. Don't forget that.
Just avoid flying east of mountains (like Sandia) with westerly winds. Otherwise any route is fine.
The good news is that you don't really have to cross any significant mountainous terrain. Personally, subject to the usual cautions, I'd be heading toward OTO VOR and straight up the valley if the winds are very light (east of Sandia can be a bear). Or, ACH VOR where you can cross into SAF at a lower altitude (basically following V82).
Yep, part of the "usual cautions."
That's a good thing to remind people of. Density altitude not only saps power, but it also reduces the efficiency of airfoils. That means that your wings don't create as much lift and your prop doesn't create as much thrust. Takeoff runs are longer. Vy increases with altitude and pitch attitude in the climb is going to be lower than at sea level. There have been accidents in which pilots have rotated too early ("normal" to them) or have climbed at their "normal" pitch attitude, only to find it produced a stall. It was always something to watch out for when I did a Colorado lesson with transients even if we went nowhere near a mountain.
My experience conforms in part with your opinion. Twenty years in Colorado and and I never noticed more shaking than in Florida. But the higher ground speed, especially combined with the unexpectedly long landing roll, definitely.
So, just enrichen from cruise by a turn or two instead pushing to the firewall?
Depends on how high you are cruising. Bui as a number have pointed out, the manuals talk about 3,000 and 5,000 feet, the breadth of which tells you (a) this is not rocket science and (b) we're talking about ballpark numbers. So there's a couple of tings you can do. One is guestimate and twist a few turns. Another people use is to note your lowland takeoff power EGT and duplicate that number. Some, to play it safe, will level off at, say, 2,000-3,000' and lean for best power. The other kind of hint is that in this case, a bit too rich is probably better than a bit too lean. Remember we're not leaning for the landing as much as we are leaning for the go-around where we need both full power and excess fuel for engine cooling.
FIFY
Thanks Mark, fixed.
