Travel Uniquely

Starting at the bottom of the moutain at TSV there are four lifts, although one is rarely operational. Rueggli is the childrens lift, and takes you up a small short hill that is normally filled with small children going to ski school. Lift 3 is the traditional ‘bunny slope’ lift, and takes you up a steeper but still small hill for a run called ‘Strawberry Hill’. Lifts 1 and 5 are your first real stops to Kachina Peak, and after you’ve warmed up they are certainly where you should go.
As an eternal intermediate skier, I stayed on greens and blues during my weeklong trip to Taos. Greens are understandably crowded, but if you can manage a few blue runs you will be very happy with the empty slopes and they are only slightly more challenging.
Most beginners, once they are ready to get off of bunny hills, start with Whitefeather. This relatively long run (about 30min) takes you from the top of Lift 1 back to the bottom of the mountain. On the way you can go up lifts 2, 6 or 8 for more lengthy skiing and longer runs.

 
My favorite trip was to take Lift 2 or 6 to Kachina Peak- a beautiful vista and colder temperatures await you there. Take Honeysuckle down and admire the amazing view and huge bowls, and turn off at Lower Totemoff or Lonestar, or stay on Honeysuckle until you reach Winkelreid. Take Winkelreid down to Lift 4, then ride that up to go down Easy Trip, Japanese Flag and Lower Patton. Exiting Lift 4 can be a little confusing- you should ski all the way across the hill (get some momentum, you’ll need it!) to your left as you exit the lift. There you will find Easy Trip and some crazy skiers hiking to Hunziker Bowl.  Ski down Easy Trip, then all the way across the hill again under the lift to get to Japanese Flag. Lower Patton takes you to a lodge and a restaurant- a great place to stop for lunch if you don’t want to go all the way down to the base.

Kachina

To get back to the base, take Rubezahl Run, a very long, almost completely flat trail through beautiful forest. This is a very peaceful run, almost always empty, and I enjoyed it immensely. Don’t go to slow though- take advantage of the momentum when you get it because you don’t want to end up walking! Rubezahl will spit you right back out at Lift 1 so you can do it all over again!

Of course Taos is a haven for expert skiers as well, as there are plenty of black and black double diamond runs all throughout the mountain, often right next to a green or blue counterpart. As you ride Lift 1 you will be treated to the good, bad and ugly of skiers going down a hill of challenging moguls on Al’s Run. It makes for an entertaining trip up!