Ski town culture in America is changing, and being a ski bum is not what it used to be. When I moved to Telluride about eleven years ago, fresh with dreams of scenes from Greg Stump’s “Blizzard of Ahhhs,” a big part of the draw was the culture of the people that seek out this sport.

Those people are now losing their foothold in American ski towns. It used to be easy to work a couple of jobs, go out at night, and attend one of the many themed parties from “the Loveboat” to “Ullr Bonfires.” These days it is seems that you really need an insider advantage to have a chance of survival.

What drew many of us to these places in the 80’s, 90’s etc, has now changed and is slowly, but surely barring others from entry. Being a ski bum is no longer what it used to be.

To survive now, you need to ditch your dog, get a real job, and be able to pay a high rent. Many of these resort areas claim to have “master plans” but somehow it was overlooked that affordable housing is a necessary component- and large component- of the land that is available.

In the continual, and important, fight for the preservation of open space, we are indirectly also closing the door on opportunities to allow these towns to be sustainable, as the economies are driven by locals and the working class.

As a young Realtor, and as an outdoors person, in one of these ski towns, I am between a rock and hard place in pointing out some of our current issues. Open space is extremely important but we also need community centers, housing, day care, medical facilities and more economic vitality for local businesses if we want these towns to continue to flourish, and to have people working in them.

The second round of ski bums is growing up, some are having families, and a lot of them cannot afford a place to live as the lack of supply is driving demand, and subsequently prices, sky high. Some friends have begun to move away and it is increasingly hard for friends with local businesses to find “good workers.”

As communities are losing sight of courtesy vs. control, the freedom of the laid back good times are becoming a more rare occurrence (e.g. no car camping, no noise on a Saturday night, “hug my turns,” “don’t boot in my skin track,” etc.).

As these towns, grow increasingly affluent, the communities seem to be giving up compromise. Some locals and second homeowners already inside are happy to close the door on those still coming, who crave the lifestyle that drew us all here in the first place. If we want the ambiance of these resorts to last, we have to keep the working class locals happy.

It’s a yin and yang; the yang are those with time, money and homes who have more power and influence. This has offset the already-precarious balance.

I would suggest that the balanced perspective means putting government and community funding, focus and efforts towards more towards affordable housing and infrastructure.

Using Telluride as an example, we voted to condemn our “valley floor” property from a private landowner, who had proposed a deal that would have protected over 90 percent of the land. In that exchange, we would have received land to build a medical center, daycare and affordable housing. The one unfortunate component was a proposed development of large trophy homes on another section of that same land, however a vast, vast majority of it would still be protected.

Those with much time, money and power in town did quite a bit to sway voters, and we have now fundraised the $50 million to buy the land. Our non-profits in town are all suffering as all donations were directed to this effort and even our emergency medical services (i.e. my search and rescue team) have stopped seeing the same level of donation, upon which we all survive. There was no compromise in this scenario and the vocal power minority felt we were getting a bad deal and must protect absolutely everything, while sacrificing a potential option for a valuable and scarce land resource for our town. We all wanted to see the land preserved but many felt that this deal would be a good compromise for all parties involved. It was not “perfect” enough for those in powerful positions, and so now we have lost a great deal in our fight for condemnation.

There are still plenty of ways to keep the ski bum dream alive, but ski town locals and visitors also have to have the vision of controlled growth so that the newcomers can enjoy the same fruits as those already here, and who want it to be the same as it ever was.

Telluride-based Kim Havell is a Cloudveil, CAMP-USA, Telski, and Volkl/Tecnica athlete.