Downhill slide: why the corporate ski industry is bad for skiing, ski towns, and the environment

301 Pages·2002·1.56 MB·English

by  Hal Clifford

DOWNHILL SLIDE

DOWNHILL SLIDE

Why the Corporate Ski Industry

Is Bad for Skiing,

Ski Towns, and the Environment

Hal Clifford
sierra club books
san francisco
The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by John Muir, has devoted itself to
the study and protection of the earth’s scenic and ecological resources—
mountains, wetlands, woodlands, wild shores and rivers, deserts and
plains. The publishing program of the Sierra Club o ers books to the
public as a nonprofit educational service in the hope that they may enlarge
the public’s understanding of the Club’s basic concerns. The point of view
expressed in each book, however, does not necessarily represent that of
the Club. The Sierra Club has some sixty chapters throughout the United
States and Canada. For information about how you may participate in
its programs to preserve wilderness and the quality of life, please address
inquiries to Sierra Club, 85 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94105,
or visit our website at www.sierraclub.org.
Copyright © 2002 by Harlan C. Cli ord
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Sierra Club Books, in conjunction with the University
of California Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clifford, Hal.
Downhill slide : why the corporate ski industry is bad for skiing,
ski towns, and the environment / Hal Clifford.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57805-071-5 (alk. paper)

1. Skis and skiing—Environmental aspects—United States.
2. Skis and skiing—Economic aspects—United States. I. Title.
GV854.4.C55 2002
796.93—dc21 2002070570
Jacket and book design by Frances Baca
Printed in U.S.A.
Sierra Club, Sierra Club Books, and the Sierra Club design logos are
registered trademarks of the Sierra Club.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Lou for her patience, Anne for her presence,
Simon for his companionship

CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

CHAPTER 1

From Rope Tows to Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

CHAPTER 2

Skiing’s Self-Defeating Arms Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

CHAPTER 3

Wall Street Comes to the Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

CHAPTER 4

What Is Land For? A Theological Schism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

CHAPTER 5

Selling the New Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

CHAPTER 6

Potemkin Villages and Emerald Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

CHAPTER 7

Smokey the Bear, the Ski Industry’s Best Friend . . . . . 129
CHAPTER 8
Resort Roadkill: The Environmental Price Tag . . . . . . . . . 159

CHAPTER 9
Commuters or Communities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

CHAPTER 10
Back to the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

viii Contents
PREFACE

I took up skiing about the time I entered first grade, and it has
been a lifelong pleasure. My love of the sport led me to attend
college in northern New England and to seek a home, and a
life, in the Colorado Rockies. I have lived in or near ski towns
since I was eighteen years old. It’s hard to imagine any other
existence.
Much of my career as a journalist has been focused on
chronicling these two things, skiing and mountain towns, and
they are not faring very well. The unavoidable reality is that
alpine towns that have risen around the sport of skiing—once
full of heart, soul, and character—increasingly resemble the
crowded, polluted, sprawling, and undistinguished landscapes
that characterize so much of modern America.
An old colleague, Amory Lovins, is fond of repeating the
aphorism “If we don’t change the direction we are headed, we
are likely to end up where we are going.” Where many ski towns
are headed today is toward a future in which they lose the very
elements that made them attractive, a future in which they are
a ordable to a smaller portion of society—and have less to do
with skiing—than ever before. Many ski industry executives
seem mystified that skiing is not growing. They evidently are
unwilling to consider the possibility that skiers may not want
what they are being o ered.
ix