TSV Inc. has a duty to respect public land, water and our community

Ijust want to take a minute to clarify a few issues in Don Mooney’s My Turn, “Grateful for Taos Ski Valley.” Louis Bacon owns the business Taos Ski Valley, Inc., which operates the ski area. Taos Ski Valley, the land the business operates on, is made up of land almost wholly owned by the people of the United States via the U.S. Forest Service. That, in fact, makes all of us “shared owners.” Louis Bacon operates TSVI under a Forest Service special use permit, which requires him to operate the resort as a public ski area, not as a private ski club.

Regarding rising prices, we might compare a Subaru with a Taos Ski Valley ski pass: The cost of a Subaru Legacy has increased by 9 percent in the past four years. By my calculations, the Kachina Plus season pass at Taos Ski Valley has increased by 25 percent in the same time period — from $1,595 during the 2021-22 season, to $1,995 in the 2024-25 season.

“No one asks us to pay more,” Mooney claims. Actually, Taos Ski Valley,

Inc. has been regularly asking us to pay more for years (see above), and not just a little more. Passes have become so expensive that the resort is now offering to finance them.

And those “seasonal and full-time workers?” The resort imports scores of out-of-town workers to fill their open seasonal positions because many locals don’t want to work there. Most of the temps live in the ski valley, and when they get sent home in the spring, they take their money with them.

As a 40-plus-year skier at Taos Ski Valley, I also am grateful Louis Bacon bought the business and has invested in maintenance and upgrades. I am very grateful Vail Corp or Alterra didn’t buy the resort.

But that doesn’t mean Mr. Bacon should be allowed to do whatever he pleases with the land, water or community. Solid business practices dictate he shouldn’t disrespect his customers. I truly hope Louis Bacon and the resort soon realize it is in their best interest to respect their customers, the community, the land and the water.