Skiing & Winter Sports

The resort has remained the same size for nearly 25 years, and its beauty makes it a dependable filmmaking locale: Valley of the Sun (1942) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) are among the movies made there.

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Ski areas are certainly more natural than cityscapes, but they still create significant environmental impacts through logging, erosion and damage to wetlands. The Ski Area Citizens Coalition (SACC) encourages patronage of environmentally friendly resorts, based on thorough exploration of the sites’ policies and practices. Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Utah was awarded SACC’s first prize in 2001.

Taos Ski Valley received only a “cautious recommendation” that year with a mediocre “C” grade, gaining points for limiting development, but losing them for intense snowmaking and a failure to provide mass transit. Snowmaking can strain water resources, and Ski Valley operates the Southwest’s largest system.

Mickey Blake questions the objectivity of the SACC survey, and points to the resort’s re-vegetation, recycling and expansion-limiting work as proof of its green commitment. “We destroy our environment and we destroy our livelihood,” he explains.

An Artists’ Enclave

The city of Taos lies on the edge of the high desert in the Carson National Forest, amid squat juniper trees, prickly scrub grasses and towering evergreens. “A mix of trendy galleries and native honesty,” according to First Tracks Online Ski Magazine, Taos, where the number of artists per capita is higher than anywhere else in the world, offers a decidedly different experience than most ski towns. The historic Taos Pueblo, home of the Tiwa Indians since at least 900 AD, now enjoys a rich mixture of Anglo, Native American and Spanish cultures.

Dining and lodging opportunities are diverse and plentiful in Taos. For special green accommodations, the Dobson House Bed and Breakfast offers rooms for $110 per night in an Earth-ship, which is a self-sufficient dwelling made from recycled clay, rubber and glass. It’s equipped with its own solar cells, water collection facility and sewage treatment system.