Taos Ski Valley
Founded 1955 By Ernie Blake; Kachina Peak At 12,481 Feet Is The Highest Lift Served Terrain In New Mexico, And The Mountain Is Known Nationally For Some Of The Steepest Inbounds Skiing In North America · Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico
Ernie Blake found this valley in 1955 while flying over the Sangre de Cristo, and built a ski area on terrain that most operators would have considered unskiable. Taos Ski Valley is still known for it: the view from the base is straight up at Al's Run, a wall of bumps directly above the lodge, and a sign at the bottom used to reassure arrivals that it did not represent the whole mountain. Roughly half the terrain is expert, much of it reached by hiking the ridge from the top of the lifts, and Kachina Peak at 12,481 feet is the highest lift-served point in New Mexico. Snowboarding was not permitted until 2008, one of the last holdouts in the country. The village itself is small, alpine and awkwardly steep, at the end of a canyon road from Taos, and the resort has invested heavily since 2013 without turning into anywhere else. Summer is quiet, green and largely about walking, with Williams Lake and the state high point both starting from the village car park.
116 Sutton Place, Taos Ski Valley, Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, 87525, United States
The ski season normally runs from late November or early December to early April, entirely dependent on snow, with lifts turning from around 9am to 4pm. Kachina Peak's lift opens only when patrol has the terrain ready and is shut far more often than it is open. In summer the village stays open for hiking, with some lift-served access on weekends, and several businesses close entirely in the shoulder seasons of April to May and October to November.