By Mikey Blake presented by the TAOS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Mickey Blake grew up in the New Mexico ski business. At the age of 5, in 1949, Mickey was with his father, Ernie Blake, who had become manager of Santa Fe Ski Basin. 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 to start a new ski area at Taos Ski Valley.

Mickey is quoted as 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. Mickey and his wife had four small children in Taos.

His experiences with his wonderful employees, 85% who were local, helped him manage as president of Taos Ski Valley from 1989 until it was sold in December of 2013.

This talk will take place in the Kit Carson Coop Board Room at 118 Cruz Alta Rd, Taos, NM 87571 at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 2. 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.