Taos Ski Valley's Locals Calendar Peaks Before December 26

The resort opens on November 26, which is Thanksgiving Day. For people who live in the Village of Taos Ski Valley, the season starts two weeks earlier, and most of what it offers them comes before Christmas. That stretch holds the $75 early-season lift tickets, the first half-price ski week and the one free weekend built for Taos County residents. From December 26 through January 2, the Taos County Program's discounts are suspended.

After New Year's, the discounts return on eligible days, and a second discounted ski week runs January 3–9. Still, the weeks around opening day carry more of the offers built for people who live here than any other part of the winter. They are also the weeks when the village government plans to start checking something inside many of those homes.

Sutton Place Opens First

DALEEE TSV at 105 Sutton Place lists November 11 as its opening date for the 2026/27 winter. This is its second winter in the space that used to hold the Taos Ale House and Stray Dog Cantina. The Taos News reported the satellite location was opening at the start of the 2025–26 season. That puts a place to eat in the village more than two weeks before the lifts start.

Two doors down, Cottam's Ski Shop at 101 Sutton Place opens with the mountain on November 26. It posts hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Bluebird Mountain Sports at the Edelweiss Lodge lists daily ski-season hours of 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The rest of the base area's regular stops are still filling in their winter schedules. The Bavarian, Hondo Restaurant, The Blonde Bear Café, The Blonde Bear Tavern and Bumps Market and Sandwich Bar all have 2026/27 winter-hours sections in the Taos Ski Valley Chamber's dining directory. The resort says The Bavarian, 192 and Whistlestop Café will have enhanced menus and service this season.

The Early-Season Prices Are Set by the Calendar

The resort put about $3 million into work behind the scenes this summer. That included more tower and fan guns for early-season snowmaking, more trail work and glading, and a satellite snow-depth mapping system to guide grooming. The snowmaking matters most to whoever skis in late November and early December, and the prices for those weeks are set accordingly.

The ski weeks are the program Taos is known for. They are six-day programs with six half-days of instruction, and skiers are grouped by ability. The resort has run them since the 1960s and calls them the only weekly, week-long ski program in North America. The December session ends on a Saturday, and that is the first day of Community Weekend.

Families with younger skiers will also see Shredders on the schedule. It's a five-week, once-a-week program focused on local skiers and riders, and this year it comes in two versions. Mini Shredders is for ages three to five. Shredders Xtreme is for ages 11 to 13 who are ready for the mountain's steepest terrain.

Community Weekend, December 19 and 20

The Taos County Program page describes Community Weekend as a thank-you to the resort's neighbors. Locals get free beginner lessons for adults and children, rentals, novice lift tickets, kids' lunch and ice skating. Registration is required.

Saturday's schedule fills the whole day:

1. 8 a.m. Free snowsports lessons at the Rio Hondo Learning Center
2. All day Free skating at the Eis Haus, plus a photo scavenger hunt and bingo at Lake Fork
3. 10:30 a.m. Community yoga in the Taos Tent
4. 11:30 a.m. Hungry, Hungry Hippos on Ice at the Eis Haus
5. 3 p.m. Community booths on the Upper and Lower Plazas
6. 4 p.m. Free hot cocoa and cookies on the Lower Plaza
7. 4:15 p.m. Santa arrives on the Lower Plaza
8. 4:45 p.m. Holiday kickoff and tree lighting on the Lower Plaza

Sunday repeats the 8 a.m. lessons, the skating and the 10:30 a.m. yoga. It adds a community craft at the Eis Haus at 1 p.m. and a Lego competition at Tenderfoot Katie's at 4 p.m.

Eligibility depends on where you live. Residents with a Taos County address and valid ID qualify. Accepted IDs are a New Mexico driver's license or state ID, a Taos Pueblo Tribal ID, or a Taos County school ID or report card. The payment card has to match the name on the ID. That means a second-home owner whose license and billing address are in another state may not qualify, even with a house up the road from the Lower Plaza.

The Blake is offering Friends & Family rates to Taos County residents for the weekend, and resort fees are waived. Standard king or queen rooms are $150 a night, one-bedroom suites $250 and two-bedroom suites $350. Guests need a valid New Mexico ID at check-in and a Taos County billing address on the reservation. Bookings go through Central Reservations at 800.776.1111, subject to availability.

December 26 Is the Line

The same Taos County Program gives qualifying residents discounts all winter: free tickets on the Pioneers Lift, free skating at the Eis Haus, half-price rentals at Taos Sports, and 10% off food and retail at the resort's own outlets. The discounts don't apply on Saturdays or on these dates:

• December 26, 2026 through January 2, 2027
• January 16–17, 2027
• February 13–14, 2027
• March 13–18, 2027

The holiday blackout is the longest. Before it, the week of December 21 has the Cookies for Santa event on December 24. The blackout starts on December 26, which is also the date of the first Full Moon Uphill Tour. These tours are new and will run monthly. Each is led by a member of ski patrol at an easy, social pace, ends at the martini tree, and is limited to ten guests with uphill gear required. The year ends with the New Year's Eve fireworks, which the resort's September announcement pairs with a new Winter Market on December 31.

For a Taos County household, the free Community Weekend, the $75 tickets and the first discounted ski week all come before that blackout. The January ski week and the eligible-day discounts pick up again once it ends.

The Meters Behind the Walls

While the resort prepares the mountain, the village is preparing its own systems. The Taos News reported that at its October 16 meeting, the Village Council voted 4-0 to spend up to $350,000 with Johnson Controls. The company will assess the water and wastewater systems, test customer meters, add flow meters to the distribution system, look for leaks and set a baseline for water the village produces but doesn't bill. At the same meeting, the council accepted a $1,515,550 grant from the New Mexico Finance Authority's Water Project Fund to design and build replacement water lines and improve fire suppression. The village's match is $267,450.

Frost depth and rocky ground mean the village's meters sit inside homes, and staff can't reach them unless someone is there. Village Administrator Henri Hammond-Paul said about half of the meters are more than 15 years old. He told the paper that digital meters reporting continuously could catch a leak in an empty second home before it showed up as "50,000 gallons of water" on a monthly bill.

The agreement also includes staff workshops on remote disconnect. According to the Taos News, Mayor Chris Stanek said the phrase "might be scary to some residents." Hammond-Paul answered that remote shutoff is "not something that's guaranteed" and said, "Obviously we'd work with residents before shutting off people's water."

The council doesn't agree on how much water is being lost. Hammond-Paul cited a 75 percent unaccounted-for baseline from the 2021 water master plan. Councilor Tom Wittman said that figure is out of date. He pointed to leaking lines the village has since replaced on Phoenix Switchback Road, Chipmunk Lane and Coyote Lane. The schedule runs past this winter. Johnson Controls is expected to price its recommended improvements around April, the council would decide in May whether to go ahead, and the October agreement doesn't commit the village to that work.

Updates from the village are posted on the Village of Taos Ski Valley news page.

If you own a home in the village and want to talk through what an inside meter, a long stretch away from the house or a winter on Sutton Place means for your property, the brokers at Mark & Chase Rochester (Summit Group) work across the Ski Valley and the rest of Taos County, and we're glad to sit down before the season gets busy. Contact Us.