Vail Resorts has bought an exorbitant number of ski resorts around the world in the last two decades. Local skiers that saw their home mountains bought out hold mixed opinions about the new ownership, which includes longer lift lines, pricier lift tickets, and more expensive food and lodging. New ownership also brings more investment and local economic development, which is good for local economies. Most arguments of whether Vail is good or bad follows one of these two sides. What’s lost however, is the new skier. Skiing is predominantly white and wealthy. More expensive resorts mean fewer low-income families can learn to ski, which stunts diversification efforts in the industry. This podcast analyzes this relationship between economic investment and barriers to entry and discovers how it came to be in the first place. As skiing faces an existential crisis in climate change, it could use all the new customers it could get. We’ll find out just to what extent the industry is shooting itself in the foot.
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Hi Davis,
My name is Tomer and I’m a current college student wanting to write an article about the history of ski resorts in Colorado and also touching on the corporatization that has happened. Do you think I could interview you about some of it based on the knowledge you’ve gained writing your article? Let me know. Thank you!