Director of Sales

Taos, N.M.

Six-word bio: "Endless winter, endless life, what else?”

Director of Sales

Taos, N.M.

Six-word bio: "Endless winter, endless life, what else?”

The top of Taos' Kachina Peak is cold and windswept. Usually, it is the kind of place where you take in the views and then head down, out of the wind, to the warmth of the basin below. But Travis Weber doesn't head down. He's up there, in the wind and the cold, running the start gate for the Salomon New Mexico Extreme Freeriding Championships. It's a cold, nasty job, especially because down at the bottom, it's warm enough for t-shirts and the party is starting to go off.

That doesn't matter to Weber. He runs the start for the duration of the event, even though he's not even part of the race department.

“It's fun working here,” says the 26-year-old director of sales for Taos. “Because we are a small mountain, there is a focus on doing everything. I've learned about everything from running events to day mountain ops.”

“He is always available to help with whatever is happening, from parking cars to busing tables and starting competitions,” says Adriana Blake, manager at Taos. “He is always cheerful and enthusiastic, no matter how onerous the task.”

According to Blake, Weber has thrived when it comes to multi-tasking—particularly in the sales department, where he does everything from attending trade shows to visiting college campuses to working with groups. It's a multi-faceted role, where Weber's enthusiasm and hard work have been key to attracting a younger crowd to the mountain.

“He has been instrumental in helping Taos refocus both its sales and marketing efforts toward a younger market,” says Blake. “Before we opened for snowboarding in 2008, Taos' average guest was over 40 years old. With the opening, we started having to really think about how to attract a younger market. Travis is helping us succeed in spreading the word about Taos, and we are definitely seeing the results.”

“It's funny, most of the shows I go to, they see a young guy and they assume I snowboard,” notes Weber. “Between convincing people that you can ski in New Mexico—and that we're not in Mexico—and that Taos, while being a tough mountain, has terrain for everyone, it's a challenge. I've focused on telling people that there is a green and a blue off the top of every lift, and that's an advantage. Even beginners can ski the entire mountain here.”

Weber knows the mountain well, having grown up in the nearby town of Taos. After departing for Texas and a stint working in marketing for the San Antonio Spurs, Weber returned to the Taos. “I worked in the rental department when I is was a teenager and kept in touch,” says Weber. “One day Alejandro Blake called me and said there was an opening, so I applied for the job.”

Currently, Weber is focusing on developing Taos' visibility in Texas and Arizona, where his homegrown knowledge of Taos is paying dividends. “It's really special to be selling home,” says Weber.

—Tom Winter

SEE ALL YOUNG GUNS 2011