Visit Taos Ski Valley

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Taos Ski Valley, NM
Visit Taos Ski Valley

From mesa to mountain, NM’s world-class alpine village, food & lodging, European heritage Visit our site for details.

Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce is the Official Travel and Tourism Board for Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico. Visit our website, TaosSkiValley.com to browse + book lodging, find deals, and plan winter and summer activities in Taos Ski Valley and the Town of Taos. Be sure to download our free Taos Ski Valley Vacation Guide or email or call us and we'll send you a hard copy.

08/30/2026

PSA ⚡ MONSOON SEASON = LIGHTNING SEASON

It’s peak monsoon season in Taos and Taos Ski Valley, never too late for a lightning safety refresher. Afternoon storms build fast in the mountains. Here’s what NOAA and USDA Forest Service want every hiker, biker, and adventurer to know. 🏔️

🌤️ BEFORE YOU HEAD UP
• Check weather.gov before you go
• Storms typically build early-to-mid afternoon in monsoon season
• Plan to be off peaks and ridgelines by early afternoon
• Postpone if storms are forecast, or map out shelter ahead of time
• Carry a NOAA weather radio to check updates along the way; data service is unreliable in the backcountry

⚡ IF A STORM CATCHES YOU
• Hear thunder? Lightning is already close — move to shelter now
• Real shelter = a solid building with wiring/plumbing, or a hard-topped vehicle. Sheds, tents, and caves don’t count
• In the woods? Head for a lower, denser stand of trees of similar height — skip anything isolated or taller than the rest
• Get off peaks, ridges, and open areas immediately • Avoid cliffs and rocky overhangs
• Drop metal gear away from your body
• Get off bikes, horses, and ATVs
• Truly caught in the open? Crouch low, feet together, head down — never lie flat
• In a group, spread out at least 15 feet apart
• On the water? Get off it, then stay 100 yards from shore

✅ THE 30/30 RULE
• Can’t count to 30 between lightning and thunder? Seek shelter now
• Stay sheltered 30 min after the last clap — most deaths happen as storms seem to pass

🚑 IF SOMEONE IS STRUCK
• Safe to touch — they carry no charge
• Call for help immediately
• Start CPR if needed, stay with them until help arrives

Bottom line: check the forecast, start early, be off the peaks before clouds build.

📸 Last night’s storm: Every strike SW of El Prado, NM timelapsed from 9:07–10:20pm MDT.

Sources: National Weather Service

08/29/2026

Fall Not Quite Fall!

🌈⛈️

Nailed it 🎯 This is that special time in Taos! Monsoon season is putting on a show with afternoon storms roll through, virga hangs in the distance and rainbows light up the sky (🎥: Nicole Zinn via Tres Piedras this week!)

If you’re a local farmer in these parts, Taos Farmers Market (official) is where a life’s work and a dream become reality, from bloom to fruit. 🌱 If you’re a customer, just follow your nose!

And right now, these kind of market Saturdays are what we look forward to all summer, when the season really shows off!

Strings of marigolds signal harvest season to come, while the stalls glow with amber jewel tones: cosmos and sunflowers, colorful gourds, heirloom peppers and piles of beautiful late-summer produce. 🌻🌶️

Whether you’re local-local like hometown fave 🌸DeWolf Farm🌸 or a midrange commuter from Velarde, peak produce and buttery fruits of all the labors are happening now!

Homemade baked goodies, the best freshly-wrapped and steamed tamales you’ll ever have, full shopping bags and that cool weekend morning air. 🫔

There’s a little shift happening in the air around Taos. Summer isn’t quite finished, but the harvest is telling us what’s coming 😉🍁

Then it’s time to head for the hills! 🏔️

Open every Saturday through Halloween from 8am to 12:30pm WITH A BONUS last hurrah in November for the first three Saturdays (7, 14, and 21) from 9amto 12pm to make sure you’re set for the holiday season!

08/28/2026

Deep partial lunar eclipse over Taos. 96% of the moon swallowed by Earth’s shadow at peak, falling on the same night as August’s full Sturgeon Moon.

A thin cloud drifted across mid-eclipse, scattering the moon’s light into a soft halo around the reddened disk. Atmosphere doing its own kind of contrast work.

Peak eclipse composite (10:12pm MDT): 14mm wide paired with the 70-200GM + 2x tele for the close detail. Shot through a 16mph wind fighting us on tripod stability and focus, but brushing the chamisa with a soft sway at a 20” exposure and clearing the skies for the galaxy to appear later on. Milky Way core arcing over the Taos horizon, caught minutes later at 10:41–10:42pm MDT as the shadow began its retreat.

Next total lunar eclipse isn’t until December 2028. This deep partial was as close to a blood moon as we get till then.

📷:

08/27/2026

3 MONTHS TO SNOWGIVING

❄️❄️❄️🧚🏻

The countdown is on to Opening Day Taos Ski Valley, and isn’t taking its sweet time choosing a line to get here!

Buy your Winter 27 pass now and put it to work at the Taos Bike Park 🚵‍♀️ for another month of summer savings. PLUS Save up to 40% on your winter getaway at The Blake when you book by August 31.

Kachina Plus, Kachina, and Value Passes include summer access, while Weekday and High Noon Passes get 50% off summer access.

SnowBrains, SKI Magazine, and Unofficial Networks are already calling us one to watch. So… what’s your snow prediction? 👀

Find useful 🔗s in Story for season passes, how to get here, and we’ll see you Thursday, November 26!

08/26/2026

King of the Hills

🍄‍🟫♥️👑

Summer storms bring buried treasure that we always feel lucky to stumble upon no matter what kind of weather year it is. In 2026, it’s a sign of good things to come and high time for Super El Niño to enter the picture!

In the high country of northern New Mexico, pulses of monsoon moisture combined with soil conditions and temperature trigger fungi growing underground to send their fruiting bodies up to break through the forest floor.

Taos Ski Valley is home to a diverse mushroom landscape and here, Boletus rubriceps, the Rocky Mountain red-capped king bolete aka the Ruby Porcini, is high alpine royalty and choice eating. B. rubriceps was officially described as a distinct species in 2014, after molecular analysis showed it was different from other porcini it had been mistaken for, including B. edulis and B. pinophilus. It is endemic to the Southern Rockies of the American Southwest and classic to the mixed conifer forests of the Sangre de Cristos, forming mycorrhizal relationships with the spruce, pine and fir that grow here among the aspen stands.

🌲Mushroom 101: What we call a mushroom is actually the fruiting body of a much larger organism. Its living network, mycelium, extends below ground and forms relationships with plant roots. We see its reproductive structure above soil, producing spores that help the fungus continue its life cycle.

🍄 Responsible mushrooming matters. Proper 🆔 takes multiple characteristics, not a photo or one visual match. Wild mushrooms should only be collected or consumed by an experienced handler who can confirm species and knows to only cut with a knife what’s above the soil, never pulling from the “root”. The underlying mycelium must be left undisturbed for the fungus to continue reproducing and contributing to the forest ecosystem.

For everyone else: enjoy the find, take a photo, and leave it behind!

Rock Mountain Red photographed 8.25.26, Long Canyon Trail
🔬 Field macros Sony | Alpha A1 + SIGMA America 105mm prime, 24-70mm (wide) 180 focus-bracketed frames Jackie Sayet
📸 Studio macros (flash) Eric Ottosen

08/25/2026

FALL FOR TAOS SKI VALLEY

🍂🥨🍁

Leaf peeping, Oktoberfesting and the colorful cadence of the change in seasons. It all begins in September!

🔗 in Bio for lodging, activities and fall events.

08/23/2026

EARLY BIRD GETS THE BERM

🚵‍♀️🌲☀️

It’s Sunday, and a morning at the Bike Park = a pretty great way to start the day.

🚵🚡 Roll in before the afternoon storms. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed is the way to ride downhill! Taos Ski Valley Bike Park is open Thursday–Monday, 10am-4:30pm. Our August pro tip: get your laps in early to avoid lightning holds.

🛒 First things first: arrival procedure! Park up high by Kachina Sports to grab your lift ticket and pick up any gear you’re missing or want to add — they have rentals if you want a full-face helmet just for the day. Browse other equipment and accessories for sale from bike-friendly packs and hoodies. (Open Thursday–Monday, 9:30am-5pm)

🦌 Spot the neighbors! With all the recent rain, our alpine terrain is lush, green, and bursting with life. And yesterday, we got an especially fun glimpse of it: a doe and fawn galloping beneath Lift 4. Pay attention to the trail ahead, important for minding other riders and the wildlife we share the mountain with! 💦🌲

🆕 The Bavarian has a new way to do lunch. Step up to the host stand and take your pick! Some tables on the deck now have table service, while others are order-at-the-bar and delivered right to your table like usual. Bar seating is available, too. (Open Thursday–Monday, 11am-4pm) 🍺🥨

🏖️ Summer’s a Beach. Take a break by the Baci Lounge and you might find a hummingbird working the catmint.

🥾 During the Aug. 21–28 annual closure of the Williams Lake and Wheeler Peak area, there’s plenty more highland to explore… alternative trails including Yerba, Manzanita, Italianos, Gavilan, Long Canyon and Gold Hill are open!

Get here early. The mountain biking is calling and so are the après brewskis!🤘

08/20/2026

SLIDING INTO THE WEEKEND

🥶🍺🔥

It’s the height of summer, and here in Taos, fire is best left to the pizza and the amphitheater, with cold beers to wash it all down!

Taos Tap Room, Taos Mesa Brewing’s downtown brewpub, the dough is made fresh, shaped by hand and fired in the wood-fired oven for those irresistible, blistered Neapolitan-style crusts.

Taps rotate regularly, with flights available if you want to sample your way through the lineup. Keep an eye out for favorites like Kachina Peak Pale Ale, Koenig Lager and our summer favorite Kölsch, to pair with the BLT Pizza 🍕 and 5-bite Italian Slider with all the cold cuts to keep it chill 🍔.

The Taproom is open daily, 12–9PM, with Happy Hour 3–6PM every day!!

Then make it a double feature with tribute tomorrow 🎶 when Friday, August 21, the party moves to Taos Mesa Brewing’s sister venue Taos Mothership for Steely Dead with Jubilingo — bringing together the music of Steely Dan and the Grateful Dead. Doors are at 6PM, with music at 7PM.

📍 Taos Taproom | 201 Paseo del Pueblo Sur
📍 The Mothership | 20 ABC Mesa Rd., El Prado

For the rest of the summer and into fall, check out the full lineup at taosmesabrewing.com through the 🔗 in bio!

VisitTaos

08/18/2026

THE TRAILS LESS TRAVELED 🥾⛰️

Every August, the Wheeler Peak area takes a brief pause for tribal traditional and cultural purposes.

Beginning this Friday, August 21 through 28, Williams Lake, Wheeler Peak Summit, and Wheeler Peak Trail #90 between La Cal Basin and Wheeler Peak will be closed.

The mountains are still calling, and there are plenty of new ways to answer!

Consider it an invitation to explore somewhere new. Try Gold Hill, Lobo Peak, Frazer Mountain, or venture into the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness on Gavilan, Italianos, Manzanita or Yerba Canyon trails. You can also swap hiking boots for climbing shoes, hit the trails for a run, or find a new way to experience the mountains.

🥾 Check trail maps, current conditions and closure details through the 🔗 to our Hiking page in Story where you can also find our latest blog post “Rock Climbing and Trail Running in Taos Ski Valley” for even more ideas on getting outside!! 🧗‍♀️

08/14/2026

Paint the weekend pretty in TSV!

Whether in the lovely light of day with a brush 🖌️ or stars at night and a headlamp, there’s plenty to do, see, eat and explore. 🌲

Start with 🆓 Taos Ski Valley activities including 🎨 Plein air painting and 🧘 yoga, 🥾hiking and 🌌 dark-sky viewing after sunset with New Moon week residuals!

Plus:
🚲 Mountain biking
🚡 Scenic lift rides
🏓 Pickleball

And a few more reasons to make the trip:
⛰️ Don’t forget🤞it’s the last weekend to enjoy the Wheeler Peak and Williams Lake area before the temporary forest closure begins next week for traditional and cultural purposes. Plenty of other Kachina Basin activities remain open with The Bavarian Restaurant, so there are still lots of ways to get outside.
🥪 Pack a picnic without packing the kitchen. Stop Cid’s Mountain Market or Bumps Market for sandwiches, snacks and cold drinks, then spend more time outside and less time prepping.

Bonus rounds on Saturday:
🎶 Live music with Jamy Woodbury DALEEE TSV
🎉 Field Institute of Taos turns 30! Head to Base Camp in El Prado Saturday from 10am–4pm for a free community celebration, with lawn games, outdoor activities, food, music and more. There’ll even be free Taos Cow ice cream while supplies last!

Check Stories👆for the full weekend activity lineup, plus our shopping, dining and trail guides.

MountainWeekend

Address

10 Thunderbird Road, Ste B
Taos Ski Valley, NM
87525

Telephone

+15757761413

Website

http://www.taosskivalley.com/

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