The ‘ski highway’ that never was
In 1967, big plans were proposed to link Taos Ski Valley and Red River, plus a new resort
If you happen to look at a map of the area between Taos Ski Valley and Red River, it’s easy to see what appears to be a broken loop.
Follow NM 150 to TSV from Arroyo Seco–Valdez, then follow NM 38 to Red River. If you take a right at the far end of Red River you can take NM 578 to where it ends around Bear Canyon Lodge. Suddenly, there you see it. The ends of each road appear to be surprisingly close.
Back in the late-1960s, others saw tremendous possibilities in that apparent proximity, and so a plan was hatched for what was to be called the “ski highway.” If built, it was it would link the two highvolume business communities and possibly one more by closing that loop.
It was never constructed, of course, but on June 15, 1967, the Taos News ran a story that made it seem the highway — and the economic shot-in-the-arm it might bring to the area — was right on the verge of happening.
In those days, NM 150 leading to TSV was a winding, sometimesdifficult-to-maneuver dirt road alongside the Rio Hondo. Because the sport of downhill skiing was beginning to take off here, enthusiasts were more than willing to take the challenge.
The paper’s story ran with this lede: “Long-stirring plans for construction of a new paved ‘ski highway’ linking Red River, Taos Ski Valley (Twining, a former gold mining settlement) and Arroyo Seco came alive this week with the announcement by New Mexico’s congressional delegation that the Economic Development Administration has approved a grant of $677,600 for construction. In a telegram Senators Clinton P. Anderson and Joseph M. Montoya, and Representatives Thomas G. Morris and E.S. Johnny Walker announced the approval and noted that state and local sources will contribute $169,400 toward the total cost of the first phase of the project, estimated at $847,000.”
The first part of the plan involved building a 6.9-mile road “from Red River to the top of the ridge separating the two major ski areas.” But, one other asset to the plan was the 22.4-mile paved improvement of NM 150. “Approval by the EDA, the congressional delegation noted, came as a step towards aiding expansion of the ski resorts, and construction of an additional one, leading to creation of about 100 new jobs in the area,” the Taos News wrote.
The new ski resort they mentioned was a facility planned to be built at the top of the mountains between Red River and TSV. Forest Supervisor Don Seaman was quoted saying the site would be “over the hill” from TSV, “at about the same elevation — from about 9,000 to above 11,000 feet altitude. He noted that the terrain would permit a variety of slopes for skiers of all capabilities.”
All those plans sounded great, but ultimately the U.S. Forest Service — which controls the ridges on which the resorts might stand — had final say over how and where construction might take place. In the story, it is stated that the Forest Service, “which has played a key role in the project to date, will undertake a survey of the area and establish a road location through the undeveloped high country.”
The late 1960s and early 70s was a period of great expansion for the existing TSV and Red River ski resorts. Over the hill at Red River, it meant the town’s incorporation in 1971, but at TSV, it meant additional scrutiny as growing pains became all too obvious when the new paved road now brought large crowds of skiers up the mountain.
“We were at this time a true destination resort on the same scale as Aspen, only smaller. We were beginning to get the same
problems other areas were getting because of growth,” TSV founder Ernie Blake said in Rick Richards’ 1992 book “Ski Pioneers: Ernie Blake, His Friends and the Making of Taos Ski Valley” (Dry Gulch Publishing, Arroyo Seco, N.M.). “Our sewer problems became a real controversy in the valley [downstream]. It was what all ski areas were experiencing: growth and the opposition to that growth.”
On Sept. 27, 1967, not long after the initial announcement of the “ski highway,” a public meeting was announced in the Taos News “to gather information to aid in the location” of the road. Although the meeting’s purpose was to “explain the status of the project and what has been done to date,” according to Seaman, it seemed also to allay speculation about the scope of the project. In the story, he is quoted saying the highway at that point was “only a proposal” and that actual construction would probably be several years away.
Apparently, that meeting had the effect of sparking residents downstream from TSV to create the Twining Road Committee, which took the plan to task over its proposal to build a road over the mountain connecting Red River to TSV. On May 2, 1968, a Taos News story stated the committee said the road “would destroy the
ecology and aesthetics of that high mountain area, and be of questionable economic value. They contend that the Forest Service has not and will not discuss the plans with them.”
In the story, a kind of war of letters was reported which had been taking place between the anti-road committee, headed by a former TSV employee, and proponents of the plan. Blake, who was in favor, urged citizens to hold off criticizing the Forest Service because the plan was still so early in its planning.
Then on July 18, 1968, an Oklahoma company announced its $3.5 million bid to build a new ski resort at the top of the ridge. Once submitted, it was then up to the Forest Service to go over the details to determine whether to approve it or not by Aug. 15. “If the bid is accepted, the Forest Service by September 1 will issue a specialuse 30-year permit for the area,” the Taos News reported.
Then, in the Aug. 22, 1968 Taos News, the other shoe dropped. The Forest Service turned down the multi-million dollar bid to build the new resort. The reason was because the bidder was unable to “fulfill the financial requirements of the prospectus.”
The plan was dead, and neither the road over the mountain nor the resort were ever built.
On May 2, 1968, a Taos News story stated the committee said the road ‘would destroy the ecology and aesthetics of that high mountain area, and be of questionable economic value.’