“Dennis Stevens, the owner of one of the two drugstores in Lyndonville, is loquacious in his bitterness towards the developers of the local ski area… Investors in the Ski Burke Stock Company now own worthless paper. The predicted boom in land prices and real estate sale lurks stubbornly around an as yet unturned corner.”- Vermont Life Vol. 32 Iss.2, “High Status…High Expectations”

The 1970s see a sharp departure from past coverage of the ski industry in Vermont Life. There is a striking absence of articles on ski tourism and ski area promotion. The magazine also only features only about one article per issue to do with the ski industry. These articles, in strong contrast with those from the 1940s to the 1960s, are much longer and detailed and more adequately engage with the nuances, developments, and challenges within the ski industry. Rather than the barebones promotional profiles of ski mountains and poetically-written tales of larger-than-life figures behind the sport’s growth, the articles from the 1970s gather a range of perspectives on a variety of aspects of the ski industry from failing ski areas to clothing manufacture and the sport’s cultural impact.

The only basic promotional profiles to be found in the decade are “Burke Mountain”, “Norwich University’s Ski Area”, and “It Happens Once in a Lifetime”, all falling in the mold of past articles about new ski areas that feature great ski terrain. However, these articles all were featured in 1970 and 1971 winter issues. After 1972’s winter issue, which did not contain any articles on the ski industry, the magazine only focused on the narrative pieces described above. For example, “C.B. Vaughan, Proprietor” details how a former Vermont ski racer founded a successful ski apparel brand. “Skiing Without Seeing” shines a light on the BOLD program at Madonna Mountain that facilitates ski lessons for the blind. “The Other Side of Skiing” profiles Vermont’s growing presence in the manufacturing of ski apparel and equipment, with brands beginning and basing themselves in the state.

However, the most interesting of these long narrative articles in the context of Vermont Life magazine’s portrayal of the industry is 1977’s “High Status…High Expectations.” This article examines Burke Mountain, which was featured positively in a 1970 promotional article, and its failure to live up to expectations. This article grapples with local opinions on ski areas, investor confidence, mismanagement, and concerns about over-development. This is a sharp departure from the overwhelmingly positive profiles of ski areas seen in the past, which contain no mention of hardship, failure, or tension with locals. In a far cry from the “by skiers, for skiers” vision peddled by the magazine for over 30 years, this article opens with a statement by a local business owner and investor in Burke Mountain: “I’ve been burned too many times. Put money into it to get it going and watched it all go down the drain with the snowballs.” This article exemplifies the more well-rounded approach Vermont Life has in the 1970s to covering the ski industry in the state.