Backcountry Beacon

Jean: Personally I love snowboarding in Taos because it’s brought in a lot of youth, a lot of young people. It rejuvenates the whole place, and that’s the way I like it. Lots of new energy, it’s really good. Everyone is enjoying the mountain.

Scott: There’s some serious extreme shit here; Taos is very challenging and is keeping me on my toes. I moved here from Mt. Baker, WA when the mountain opened for snowboarding. Last year I felt like kind of a renegade; I’d hike up to the top of Kachina Peak and skiers would look at me like, “What the hell are you doing.”

Jeb: What do you do for the mountain?

Hanno: I’m the events marketing coordinator, but this being a family business, I do a little bit of everything, as does everyone else who works for this company. I was also involved in the transition to snowboarding. This will be our second full season of snowboarding here at Taos Ski Valley.

Jeb: How do you feel the transition has gone for you guys?

Hanno: I think it’s been great. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find people who don’t think it was the right thing to do, and really at the right time for us. Things got pretty tough economically last year across the country. The fact that we opened to snowboarding really made a difference for us between having a good year and a bad year. So, economically it’s helped us a great deal, but the other benefit is that it’s also introduced a whole new group of people to Taos Ski Valley. In that respect it’s been really neat that we have a whole new group of people that have never been to this mountain that got to experience it last year, and coming into the second full year, we have a whole other group of people—maybe people who had a little bit of animosity towards Taos Ski Valley for not opening up earlier—but I think they’re realizing that the mountain is a really unique, vibey mountain and are beginning to join that group of loyal Taos skiers and boarders.

Jeb: And one thing that a resort always needs is a resurgence of young people. How has snowboarding been a part of that?

Hanno: It’s absolutely been a part of that in that the other part of what we were lacking was that we had a whole other group of kids too, who, whether they skied or snowboarded, weren’t coming here because they couldn’t come here with their friends. So that’s been a good change. We’ve introduced the ski area not only to snowboarders, but also to younger skiers, and you see it everywhere on the hill. You see it in the fashion and just a younger age group that brings a cool, youthful energy that is key to this sport.

Jeb: The ski school is respected as one of the best in the nation, are you guys taking the same care with the snowboard school?

Hanno: Absolutely. It was really key for us, with snowboarding, that it be up to the level of everything we do here. We like to think we have a pretty high level of operation. No question it was critical to maintain that level of quality. The mountain will always bring people back, but the other thing Taos has is it’s a really friendly mountain. People are really social here.

Jeb: Has the snowboard industry been supportive of Taos opening to snowboarding?

Hanno: For sure, you know, of course they were psyched to have a new market open, but the other thing I think they respect is the fact that we’re family owned and operated. I think that’s pretty important in the snowboard industry.

Hanno: You and I are up here on the ridgeline, and one of the things we hear from the riders here is that the vibe is that everyone is psyched to be up here. You can jump in with a local and they’ll show you a sweet spot, and that’s something you don’t always get in other areas. There’s a real sense of camaraderie and respect for the mountain at Taos. People are here for the same purpose, whether they’re here to ride or here to ski; the main this is they’re here with the same respect for the mountain. There was concern going into the snowboarding thing, that we’d get this group of young people—and not just snowboarders, but you get that young group of skiers too—that maybe don’t respect the sport as much. The one thing that Taos does, and I think it’s because the hill is challenging and demands a lot respect, is you get people that really love and respect the sport. In that respect, it’s been really cool.