NEW DIRECTION FOR TAOS SKI VALLEY
Billionaire owner undertakes serious upgrades for European-style resort
TAOS SKI VALLEY— Amid whirring saws, pounding hammers and the clanking of heavy equipment, an army of construction workers is completing a luxury hotel here, the centerpiece of a vision to take this venerable, Europeanstyle ski resort into the future with upgraded amenities under the auspices of its new billionaire owner.
The valley’s plans began with the opening last year of the Kachina Lift, one of country’s highest ski lifts, built at a cost of about $3 million with cash pumped into the valley by hedge fund founder, outdoorsman and environmentalist Louis Bacon. The new lift allows expert skiing on terrain which previously had required a 45-minute hike.
Plans to make this resort a four-season destination follows a nationwide trend for ski areas. But Taos, under newly hired CEO David Norden, is vowing not to stray far from its roots — roots planted by German emigre Ernie Blake, who founded the resort in 1954 after scouting the location from a small plane.
“So if you are talking about the vision or the future, it is not to become a mega-resort, it is not to become the glitz and glam center of the mountains. Intimacy is always going to be important,” Norden said.
Norden is a resort/realestate executive who has been involved in upscale developments, some at ski areas, in Vermont, Colorado and elsewhere, including La Estancia de Cafayate, a residential vineyard estate and boutique hotel with golf, horseback riding and polo in Argentina. Norden takes over from Gordon Briner, who is now chief operating officer for TSV.
Norden, 56, wants to tap into the cultural and artistic DNA of Taos as he shepherds the enhancements.
He has skied Taos before and worked on real-estate development there with the Bacon group before Bacon purchased the resort in 2013 from the Blake family. Norden was recruited for the valley’s CEO job via telephone.
The essence of that conversation with a Bacon associate was, according to Norden, “Taos is ready to move from a ski area to a little bit more of a well-rounded resort,” with the increased services and amenities that visitors were looking for.
“We talked about a very strong environmental ethic, all the while doing our best to retain what is known as the Taos mystique. It’s a very soulful and spiritual place … so it’s that balancing act of trying to bring a place forward while trying to maintain a lot of the roots and history of it,” Norden said.
The Blake, the new hotel, will be a four-story, 145,000 squarefoot building in the center of the TSV base area with ski-in, skiout access to Lift 1 that takes visitors to the top of famed Al’s Run.
The hotel is being built on the footprint of a building that formerly housed ticket sales, the ski/snowboard school and retail space. A heated, plazalevel area will connect it with the Resort Center, the valley’s main building.
The Blake will have 80 rooms, a heated year-round outdoor pool, two hot tubs, a spa and wellness center and a restaurant. The pools will overlook a new river walk along the valley’s Rio Hondo.
The lobby will contain Native American art and works by Taos Society of Artists’ founders Oscar Berninghaus and E. Martin Hennings.
Construction of the hotel began in April 2015, and guest reservations are being accepted for stays starting Feb. 1.
A ski valley spokesman declined to say what it cost to build the new hotel. Jaynes Corp. of Albuquerque is the contractor and Zehren and Associates of Avon, Colo., is the architect.
The hotel is expected to employ 75 full- and part-time employees, including a guest services ambassador, or hausmeister, who will greet visitors, manage their check-in and arrange for lift tickets, lessons, child care and dining reservations. TSV overall expects to employ more than 800 people during the upcoming ski season.