The name "Snowmass" has, at this point, become synonymous with quality in the alpaca world, and for good reason -- their decades-old program is, at this point, producing some of the most consistent alpacas in the world. This consistency was achieved, among other things, through the careful use of line-breeding to "lock in" the hereditary traits of interest in the animals' shared ancestors. Not all Snowmass animals are equivalent, of course, and a name does not automatically confer quality, but the reality is that this breeding program is recognized around the world because they are, by and large, doing something right. This little male is an extremely nice example of the phenotypic (physical) and genotypic (genetic) traits that have made Snowmass animals so successful. He is compact in stature, with absolutely perfect conformation. I am truly a conformation stickler, and this guy is perfect. His lines are straight and his proportions are square. His breed type -- that which defines him as a "Snowmass-style" Huacaya -- is ideal: he has excellent substance of bone, a beautiful head with a short, square muzzle, and full fleece coverage on his legs. His fleece is very dense and very fine, with a long staple and lovely hand. ... This is all because of his pedigree. Ray's dam is Beauty's Finale, who we are thrilled to have added to our foundation herd. She is a Snowmass Matrix daughter who is, at the time of this writing, the only one of our five Matrix daughters that is positively NOT for sale (read: she's awesome). Matrix, the $675,000 alpaca, likely needs no introduction to most alpaca breeders, but I am quite certain that it is Finale's dam, Haiku's Beauty, who truly cements her excellence. Beauty was a daughter of the incomparable 4Peruvian Legacy, unquestionably one of the greatest alpaca impact sires to have lived, whose blood runs in the veins of nearly half of our herd -- and a very good proportion of Snowmass's as well. Beauty's dam, Haiku, was a true impact dam, producing consistent, exceptional quality with dozens of descendents to her credit. It should be little surprise, then, that Beauty's Finale exhibits such excellence, because not only were her descendents rock stars, but her breeders used a careful line-breed on 4P Legacy to "cement" that excellence in her line: Matrix is a Legacy grandson, making Finale line-bred on Legacy. Ray's sire, Judge's Choice winner XXXTreme Legacy XXX, is a son of Conopa XXX and out of Snowmass Chiribaya -- both great grand-get of Legacy. This makes Ray 4x line-bred on Legacy. He also boasts impact sire Hemingway twice in his pedigree, and impact sire Bueno three times. This thoughtful use of linebreeding -- on these particular impact sires -- is the hallmark of Snowmass's program, and Ray shows it. He's a nice boy. Why is Ray for sale? ... Well, I'm honestly not all that eager to sell him, but the fact is that we are a grey and harlequin program, and Ray is fawn, and I'm keeping his dam, so

This is a SOLID female. Ruby is of average height but extremely robust build. She has outstanding conformation -- straight and faultless -- as well as great substance of bone. She has terrific muscling with an excellent spring of rib and body depth, to translate to a very good body capacity. She has outstanding presence in the field, and poses constantly; it's tough to take a bad photo of this one. She also boasts a lovely head with square muzzle and good breed type, and good coverage, to her toes. Ruby's fleece is very uniform, with no evidence of primary extension beyond the blanket. She has very good density and a lovely brightness. Ruby's lineage represents a group of animals that are almost complete outcrosses to the majority of the national herd. As the bloodlines of the most elite alpacas get tighter and tighter -- not a bad thing in itself -- these total outcrosses will become rarer and more valued. This is especially so when they are proven to produce in the way that Ruby is. One of the things that so impressed me about this female was the fiber sample from her 2015 cria (her third). It is not only fine -- well <20 micron AFD -- and uniform, but it boasts a staple length of approximately 6". Staple is a trait that we feel is too often forgotten in alpaca breeding, so animals who express and throw a dramatic staple length are most valuable to us. This, combined with Ruby's impeccable conformation, presence, and outcross pedigree make her an ideal foundation dam. Ruby is priced only as she is a female that I would consider letting go of; however, I'm also more than happy to keep her here. She has been bred to our bay black son of El Duro's Principio for a spring 2017 cria. He has just sired a silver grey female who is out of sight!

OO LALA This boy is out of one of our favorite Harley dams - Firecracker Disco. Disco is a fine and wildly expressed harlequin who is also a ribbon winning reserve champ. She has never had a solid colored offspring which means her propensity for throwing the gene is HIGH. And his Sire? One of our favorite and currently restricted boys Lakota (who we believe is homozygous). Lakota has an extremely well organized and fine fleece and he has consistently brought forward color, spots and gorgeous fleece. We haven't tested Ulysse's fleece yet but you can see his organization and density from across the room. And he is bright and fine.