Alain Veth
Vocation Ski and race instructor
Location Taos Ski Valley
Age 58
Roots
Alain Veth is fast – he skis fast (Al’s Run in a 1’ minute 25” seconds), talks fast and thinks even faster.
Veth was born in France and raised in Grenoble since the age of 2 years old. He is a member of the French National Ski Team, and a winner of hundreds of races from childhood to a pro circuit in Canada and the World Pro Tour in the U.S.A. He’s a certified ski instructor and coach (since his teens!), having skied and raced all over the world.
With all this, he literally brings the world to his family-owned and operated shop Le Ski Mastery in Taos Ski Valley.
He says it was Jean Mayer, famous developer and technical director of the Ernie Blake Snowsports School at Taos Ski Valley and hotelier of Hotel St. Bernard, who died in October 2020, who was his mentor and idol.
The ski shop’s world-class tuning comes from Alain’s three years working as a ski tech with Dynamic Ski of France for the U.S. Ski Team on the World Cup circuit.
He’s so busy getting things done, he says, that when he wakes up in the morning he’s already behind. Beside the ski shop and teaching skiing all winter, he is a licensed contractor and an off-season homebuilder.
He attributes his success to his wife, Peggy Veth, without whom he says the business would not have survived. He told one reporter, “There are highs and lows and she keeps me centered in both the lean and the good years.”
They have two children, daughter Amanda and son Nicolas, born in Taos and raised in the home Alain built in Arroyo Seco.
“I moved to Taos, not because of the money, but because of the spirit of the mountain,” he said, “as well as the warmth and the diversity of the community – including Jean Mayer, who made me feel welcome and alive.”
For more on Le Ski Mastery of Taos Ski Valley, call (575) 776-1403 or visit leskimastery.com.
