Who Gets To Ski?

I grew up skiing at a mid-size mountain in the middle of Idaho. I wasn’t ever an athletic kid, but skiing — it made me feel fast and really good at something. I loved it: the routine, the long slog to the mountain, the Cup of Soup for lunch, the crappy hotels, the freedom. But the ski culture that I grew up with is largely gone, at least in the U.S. — and I’ve spent the last few years coming to terms with how industrial shifts, climate change, conglomeration, the explosion of the unregulated short-term rental market have changed not only who can learn to ski, but who can keep doing it.

Heather Hansman, author of Powder Days, is the perfect co-host to grapple with your questions about the future of skiing, ski towns, and ski culture, including all the business nitty-gritty (and a frank discussion of what can make ski people so annoying). This is a ski conversation, but it’s also a conversation about housing, and class, and city planning — and the commodification of hobbies. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Show Notes:

• Find more about Heather’s work and buy Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns, and the Future of Chasing Snow

• (Here’s a great review)

• I mention the movie Ski Patrol — for real ones, here’s my favorite scene (and a pretty great encapsulation of the two stereotypes of ski culture)

• Heather’s really thoughtful piece on picking where to live

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• Celebrity feuds, past and present, with Joel Anderson!!! (Yes this will come out around the time Kendrick headlines the Super Bowl halftime show)

• HISTORICAL ROMANCE (will neither confirm nor deny that we have a co-host whose confirmation made Melody faint)

• By popular request, all things fan fiction!

• Pre-teen influencers

• Budget Culture + Specifically Budget Advice You Find Dubious

• Dark Academia

• Getting into old movies!!!! Tell us why you want to get into them, why you find it difficult, and a few recent-ish movies so we can hand-pick recommendations for you

• Dad culture, whatever that means to you

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

For today’s discussion: What’s your relationship to skiing? Did this episode shift or cement any of your thinking about skiing?