“It’s a foreign country in America,” Angelisa Espinoza Murray, founder and CEO of Heritage Inspirations, an immersive, educational New Mexico tourism company, says of the state. “It’s timeless.”
Taos is the rare ski destination that doubles as a cultural experience: the historic town of Taos, thirty minutes down the mountain from the Ski Valley, is a mix of Native, Mexican and Spanish influences, home to the more-than-1,000-year-old Taos Pueblo and an artists’ sanctuary that wooed Georgia O’Keefe, D.H. Lawrence, and Julia Roberts, who bought a ranch in the halcyon days of the 90’s and never left. Taos, as Murray says, “gets into your soul.”
Read on for where to stay and ski, what to eat, and how to soak up the culture of Taos.
Where to Stay
Photo: Courtesy of The Blake
Apart from Taos’s wild beauty, the ultimate luxury is staying at its signature hotel, a high-end hearth steps from the lift with a valet that stores your skis and warms your boots overnight, penthouses that feel like standalone condos, and two outdoor jacuzzis to soak in at magic hour.
The Blake’s name is a nod to the founding father of Taos, late Swiss bon vivant Ernie Blake, who spotted the steep peak from the pilot seat of his Cessna in the fifties. The Blakes owned Taos for the next five decades, creating an intimate, ski equivalent of Dirty Dancing’s Kellerman (in the early days, the Blakes had a pet deer). In 2014, recognizing Taos needed extensive updates, the Blake family sold the resort to hedge fund manager, conservationist, and avid Taos skier Louis Bacon.
The Blake, born three years later, continues Ernie’s European-style hospitality: 24/7 ”hausmeisters,” like super-concierges, are available for guests’ every need, including stocking your fridge with groceries pre-arrival—a perk that dazzled me and my family after a long travel day—or arranging a private art tour of the hotel’s museum-quality pieces, including an O’Keefe and antique Navajo blankets from the 1800’s hanging in the lobby. True to Taos’s spirit, The Blake manages to be luxe but not stuffy, with vintage photos of the Blakes lining the walls.
