Unlike yesterday’s video, this one goes beyond mountain towns in its Going Green scope.

Some questions I have: How detrimental is “green washing?” How discerning does the average consumer need to be when buying green? How effective are “offsets?”

And, most importantly, if we can neither buy our way out of energy consumption nor buy our way into environmental consciousness, what is the average American consumer to do? (That is, if the average consumer wants to do anything at all. …)
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Rampant resort development has been an increasing concern in ski towns across the country. We’ve blogged in the past about the effect this has on our communities. (See Telluride: A Mountain Town’s Future & Thinking of moving to Jackson?) But what are the “real costs” these development practices cause to our small communities?

Did you know that if you rate all of the counties in the US according to the increase in housing prices during the 1990s, eight of the top 10 are home to ski resorts: Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Telluride, Breckenridge, Sun Valley, Park City and Jackson Hole?

Have you noticed the cookie cutter “villages” that are popping up in your favorite resorts? Or how about the slow decline of local businesses, which are being replaced by larger corporate shops?
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Like almost all winter migrants to Jackson, I began with house hunting. After one week, through the melting pot that is the local homeless shelter (Teton Library), I had a housemate and a place to call home. A large and practical unfurnished condo on the east side of town. Read More »

…and the infamous 26 hour bus ride lined with coolers.

While answering emails this afternoon I came across one that particularly fed my nostalgic tendencies. The email came from a college-aged gentleman, eloquently written (surely in APA style) and proposed a request for a partnership to help his college ski club make their annual trip in December: to Telluride.

Reading his carefully chosen and extremely well presented proposal brought back memories of ski club drenched “academia.” … Read More »

Back in September I wrote about the Anxiety of waiting for winter. Well, the time for the snow to be here is inching closer and closer, wait … shouldn’t it be here already? In fact, it should be dumping by now! But alas, it is not.
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As Ryan and I drive towards Castle Valley, Ryan plucks a string or two on his mandolin then skillfully picks his way through the song my iPod deemed appropriate for the moment: the Last of the Mohicans movie theme. Read More »

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. Read More »