LECTURE FOR AUGUST 2nd, 2025
2:00 PM - Kit Carson Coop Board Room

 

The Early History of
Taos Ski Valley

by Mickey Blake
Former President
of Taos Ski Valley

Mickey Blake grew up in the NM ski business.  When he was 5 years old, he was with his father, Ernie Black, when he became manager of Santa Fe Ski Basin in 1949.  The installation of the famous red chair lift there caught his attention more than the other facets of the early Santa Fe development.
In 1954, against advice of others like Pete Totemoff, the Blake family moved to Twining and lived in a 16 foot travel trailer there to start a new ski area at Taos Ski Valley.
Mickey is quoted saying, “My father was a marketing genius.”  “I’m not, so it’s a good thing, being already interested in the mechanical side of things.”  He advanced his lift engineering skills during a year spent installing lifts from the ground up in Switzerland under the guidance of Mr. Walter Staedeli.  Eight of Taos Ski Valley’s first lifts were manufactured by Staedeli.
In order to handle non-mechanical responsibilities as the business grew, Mickey earned an MBA in 1979 from the University of Denver.  Commuting between Denver and Taos outside of the ski season, because he had four small children and wife in Taos.
His experiences with his wonderful employees, 85% who were local, helped him manage as president of TSV from 1989 until the sale in December 2013.




The Taos County Historical Society is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1952 and dedicated to the recording and preserving of the irreplaceable in Taos County.
Membership is open to anyone upon payment of dues.
For additional information on the programs, activities and history of Taos visit the Society's website at www.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

The Society encourages support through membership.
   

AYER Y HOY
2025 Summer
Issue #58

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Summer 2025 issue:

•The History of the Taos County Fair
by Monica Wilder

• Josefa Carson & Ignacia Bent
by Elizabeth Cunningham

• Exploring Vaquero Culture
& La Idomia de Los Norteños de Rio Arriba
by Michael Miller

• When It All Began for TCHS
by Paul C. Figueroa

• Very Intersting History
by Dave Cordova

AYER Y HOY
2024 Winter
Issue #57

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Winter 2024 issue:

•"The Duran Chapel"
by Fr. Juan Romero

• Ceran St. Vrain
"A Gentleman of the Frontier"
by WB Francis T. Cheetham
(edited by Dave Cordova)

•Tradiciones y Historias
"Las Cabanuelas"
by Michael Miller

AYER Y HOY
2024 Summer
Issue #56

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Summer 2024 issue:

•"Carson Colcha"
A Graves Family Legacy
by Lisa Graves-Cordova

• Taos-The Sacred Valley" and
"Ranchos de Taos Mystery"
from the Book:
Living Legends of the Santa Fe Country
by Alice Bullock

•History of the Archives & Library-TCHS
by Paul C. Figueroa

•2024 TCHS HONOREES
"The Taos News"

AYER Y HOY
2023 Winter
Issue #55

Browse the Ayer Y Hoy's Winter 2023 issue:

•Don Diego de VargasExpeditions to Taos
by Helen G. Blumenschein

• Marc Simmons - 1937-2023
by Dave Cordova

• Twin Taoseños In The Civil War
by D.F. Arguello

• From "The Taos Massacres"
by John Durand

• Why History Is Important
by Dave Cordova
The Taos County Historical Society was formed in 1952 for the purpose of "... preserving the history of the Taos area...". It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Monthly meetings, the first Saturday of the month are held at Kit Carson Electric Boardroom with a featured speaker are open to the public and supported through memberships. These are also open to anyone upon payment of annual dues. For more information visit the Society's website, ww.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

Taos County Historical Society
has successully launched
"TAOS: A Topical History"

320 pages, 26 chapters and contributors.

Mil Gracias, A THOUSAND THANKS, does not begin to cover the many, many individuals to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. This debt is not only the living but also to those men and women who long ago began to preserve the journals and documents we now depend upon for knowledge of the past: the chroniclers who accompanied the explorers and settlers and who, dusty, tired and hungry, sat in the light of a candle to record in their journals the events of the day and the Franciscan clerics who made detailed reports of their canonical visits to the mission churches of Nuevo México.

Corina A. Santistevan
Acknowledgements in "Taos: A Topical History"

If you would like to order a copy from the
Taos County Historical Society
please send a check for $40 (book+shipping) payable to
Taos County Historical Society and mail to:

Taos County Historical Society
PO Box 2447
Taos, NM 87571



Email us

Phone: (575) 770-0681

PO Box 2447 • Taos, NM 87571