And yet it’s abundantly clear that solvency wasn’t the skeleton key to unlocking solutions to the plethora of issues with the former resort. Rather, financial instability was a symptom of divestment from the community. Mid-century skiing at Ascutney was a symbol of local pride—a service for, and by, the community. Seventy years later, opening day for the T-bar brought families of all ages and abilities—even a half dozen folks who didn’t ski showed up just to be part of the local operation. “It has come full circle, there’s no question,” Glenn said, grinning by the spinning bullwheel at the new T’s inaugura-tion. “It’s the size it should be, the size it needs to be to still be here 10 years from now. We’ve seen commercial ski areas fail here numerous times,” he said laughing. “So we’ve gotta do something different. And I think that’s why this will be sustain-able. Everyone involved recognizes that bigger is not better… and we need to be practical about what we can do and what we can do well, and not try to do the things we can’t.” That chorus reverberates across the continent among rural ski areas. While the dialogue predominantly provides architecture for other small ski areas to follow, it may also be a message to the ski industry’s biggest names: Help us help ourselves, and we’ll help you. IT’S NO SECRET that small ski areas act as feeder hills for larger resorts. They build skiers who outgrow local hills and move up a tiered system to bigger mountains. Often, in adulthood, they move back, raise kids in a more rural enclave, and usher in a new generation of skiers. The Vails, Alterras and Powdr Corps of the industry understand the cycle. But their methodology can be inherently flawed if their attempts to help reach into operations. “I think there will be a very big learning curve from the Vails of the world… to get to the reality of a mom-and-pop operation that’s been surviving on bubble gum and Shoe Goo for the last 30 years,” said Christian Theberge, manager of Shames Mountain Ski Area in Terrace, BC—Canada’s first nonprofit community service ski cooperative. “Suddenly they’ll inherit or purchase these places and they’ll go, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of work to do to keep these places going.’ And hopefully in doing that it doesn’t start driving up the cost of the rural ski areas and really change the experience of it.” Podunk Powder 043
The Ski Journal Volume 14, Issue 3: Page 43
