Substrate is a downed spruce log. Pecos Wilderness, New Mexico, USA, ~9700 ft asl. Spore print in progress.
i regret that i don't know what this is, but this is definitely not a Chroogomphus - as they have distinctly decurrent gills, nearly as much as a chanterelle. Spore color on this one would help quite a bit.
On of the photos looks like it is growing from the ground near the log rather that growing on the log itself - is this the case? Looking forward to spore colour. Sticky cap and stem stains were taking me in Cortinarius direction, but overall look and gill attachment send me in Tricholoma direction. Any particular smell? Rest of trees nearby are Spruce? Danke! frog
I think they truly are growing on the log. I've attached a gimped (as opposed to photoshopped) image. In between the 2 yellow lines is the part of the stalk that was underground, extending from the buried log substrate. The point being that it can go a few inches through the soil from the buried log substrate to reach the surface. Spore print: nothing happened. Maybe it was too old. If I pass a Q-tip through the gills, I get a yellow-off-to-olive-green color. No particular smell. All trees were spruce. Tricholoma might be correct. From http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tricholoma_fulvum.html: ...Tricholoma nictitans in the sense of western North American Tricholoma expert Kris Shanks (1994) is a robust, long-stemmed species found under pines and other conifers (my italics)
