Taos on IKON is very sad for me. It was inevitable and the place does need more traffic to be sustainable but still, damn it.
As you say, the business model after 2000 and before MCP/Ikon was not sustainable. The Blake family knew that more money for capital projects was needed for TSV to survive as a lift-served resort. TSV has become a destination resort in the last decade, perhaps with some help from MCP/Ikon but mostly because the Blake family sold TSV to someone with a long history with Taos and plenty of financial resources and management sense. A common statement used is "build better, not bigger." Worth remembering that TSV is an independent destination resort and an Ikon Partner. I doubt it's a resort likely to have a change in ownership any time soon.
According to the interview in 2021 by Storm Skiing, annual TSV skier visits were 350,000 in the 1990s and dropped to 160,000 for 2005-06. The reason TSV opened to snowboarding in 2008 was because some families stopped coming because the grandchildren wanted to board instead of ski.
Taos has been on the MCP since 2017-18 and Ikon from the first season, 2018-19. My friends and I went to check out TSV in Feb 2018 using the MCP. That was before Lift 1 was upgraded to a high-speed quad. It was pretty clear how far behind TSV infrastructure was if the goal was to become a sustainable 4-season business. The staff and managers we talked to in 2018 were clearly stoked for the improvements happening and planned under the new ownership. There were about 5000 MCP redemptions expected that season, with about 2000 already done by mid-February.
As someone who didn't ski ungroomed terrain until relatively recently, (after age 50), without Taos joining MCP/Ikon, I probably wouldn't have become addicted to Taos Ski Weeks. Without Ski Weeks, Taos probably wouldn't have survived as a winter-only resort. Personally, without Ski Weeks I'm not sure I'd be skiing double-black terrain in the Rockies anywhere. Alta remains my favorite out west. Taos moved into my Top Five list after my first Ski Week in 2019.
These days a long lift line at the base in February is common at TSV only on Saturday mornings. That's when local lesson groups and the children's teams are on the mountain. The other situation that leads to a long wait for Lift 1 is when upper mountain lifts are on wind hold and local folks show up because they are hoping to hike to ski fresh powder. During March spring break I heard the place is packed with Texans so that's another story.
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