Bigger and Better  Vermont Skiing?

The role of the ski industry in Vermont is being debated again. Should Vermont resorts become like others in Colorado, British Columbia and Quebec? Is bigger necessarily better? What has happened to the old style Vermont ski experience? One that doesn't require ``carpeted slopes" and ticket prices in excess of $50.00?

Vermonters have a love-hate attitude towards the ski industry. On the one hand, out-of-state skiers help support the Vermont economy, but at a price. Successful ski resorts are communities unto themselves. Look at Whistler, Killington and Mont Tremblant. They don't depend upon the local communities in which they are located. Very often, they cause plenty of local resentment.  Jay Peak and  Smuggler's Notch are examples.  The resorts do provide jobs - 11,000 - according to Bill Scheer, Public Affairs Director of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. But, Mr. Scheer concedes that some of these jobs are entry level and ``similar to those of Jamaican apple pickers who come to Vermont in the fall."

Ski resorts are big consumers of natural resources, with water being a prime requirement for snowmaking.  Killington prides itself on its huge sewage treatment ability (it is emblazoned in every toilet stall). And then there is electricity, mostly courtesy of the Cree in northern Quebec who had their land flooded by the Quebec government to generate electricity for urban America. One wonders what would happen to the Vermont ski industry if the Cree suddenly decided - in a fit of pique over sovereignty -  to pull the plug on Hydro-Quebec!

It is no wonder that this back drop sparks alarm.  ``Will Vermont be one more stop off the Great American Interstate of pre-digested fun?" asks Ron Powers in a an October commentary on Vermont Public Radio. Mr. Powers wonders if ``Corporate ambition is turning Vermont's ski slopes into vertical theme parks," and warns that the state may be facing a ``recreational arms race" as the Okemos and Strattons attempt to compete with the even bigger corporate giants. Powers fears that the Vermont skiing experience will turn into nothing more than a ``high speed crawl through a mall that's tilted at a 70-degree angle.

Timothy Palmer-Benson
Scenes of Vermont