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7 Responses to 'Issues facing Ski Resorts?'

1. tmpafford - August 23rd, 2010 at 8:48 pm

   One of the biggest issues today is balancing the use of the land with maintaining the land. Being good stewards of the land and still allowing people to use the land. Using the land without destroying the land or making it unusable for future generations.

2. Common - August 25th, 2010 at 3:49 pm

   I’d say one of the biggest issues facing ski resorts today is the whole environmental movement. In fact, Outside magazine just had an in-depth article on this within the past few months. You see, ski resorts have an amazingly adverse impact on the enviroment.

   First, you essentially have to clear cut the runs that will be your slopes, removing lots of trees and habitat for native animals. They usually feature large scale construction of condos, housing, parking lots, etc.

   Second, they have a major effect on the ecology of the mountain by changing habitats and storm run off / snow melt.

   Third, they use increasing amounts of fossil fuels to provide power for the chair lifts, rooms, entertainment options, etc.

   That all being said, there has been an increasing movement among the bigger resorts to start “going green”. A lot of resorts are now installing hydroelectic power (to catch run off and use it for power production), as well as solar and wind energy.

   Here’s a link to an online archive of a bunch of these environmental articles and how they impact ski resorts:.

   If you want to do something more traditional, then you can always discuss liability issues for ski resorts as it can be a very deadly sport.

3. Live to Ski - August 27th, 2010 at 9:46 pm

   I’ll call my answer the 3-E’s

   Economy, Energy & Environment.

   To summarize…

   with the current economic situation (at least in the US), the resorts are going to have to work hard to attract customers this year. This may mean reduced prices on ski & stay packages.

   with rising energy costs, ski areas have and will continue to explore alternative energy sources. Most common, wind & geothermal.

   any current or future plans to expand operations is going to mean addressing environmental impact to the surrounding areas. Ski areas already use a tremendous amount of water to make snow and if the current warm trend continues (whether this trend is natural or a result of global warming is another topic), they will need to use more water to make the same amount of snow.

   I’m sure there are more topics to address and I could expand on these topics, but they can be so far reaching as to warrant a separate category here in Y!A.

4. Adam C - August 30th, 2010 at 1:12 am

   Global warming, land use, declining economy. There are many issues facing the ski industry in general right now. There are quite a few good topics from the answers. Good luck!

   Have a sweet season!

5. Dan - August 31st, 2010 at 11:18 am

   Well since everyone is talking about environment you could touch base on the economy, Since the economy is not so great, you could talk about decrease in sales and people on the slopes as well as hiring people to run the resort.

6. wnlomas - September 3rd, 2010 at 9:48 pm

   one of the biggest issues out there for ski resorts is Global Warming. it means less snow and less snow means less customers and less profit for the ski resort. yet the gov. isn’t intervening all that much. some congressmen that like to ski are helping to fix this problem but progress is slow.

7. Deano7275 - September 6th, 2010 at 1:55 am

   A perfect topic for your paper would be to explain the consequences of global warming on the skiing industry, and specifically the effects of global warming on the migration and propagation of the Pine Beetle and what it is doing to the forests around many of the major ski resorts. There is a ton of info on the subject if you look up Grand Valley or Winter Park Ski resort. Every tree in that valley is dead because of a nasty Pine Beetle infestation, most likely caused by warmer winter temps and the beetles ability to survive in new places.

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