“The new skier, we are told, comes for four or five days, even a week, and wants a wide choice of ski trails, accommodations, and activities for his off-the-slope hours. The ‘destination’ ski resort being designed by Sugarbush is a resort for this new skier.” – Vermont Life Vol. 35 Iss. 2, “The Mad River Valley: Facing the Question of ‘Acceptable’ Growth”

In the 1980’s, Vermont’s ski industry was at a crossroads between traditional values, technological advancement, and economic development. The ski industry was growing rapidly and had changed much since its inception at the beginning of the century, but much of the rest of Vermont was struggling to keep up with these changes. Vermont Life Magazine offers a look at both sides of this issue through several articles about the ski industry in this decade.

One such article, “Closing an Open Winter,” talks about the multitude of benefits that come from machine-made snow. In the piece, writer Paul Robbins mentions how if it weren’t for snowmaking, ski mountains would have suffered greatly the year before due to the lack of natural snow. Although snowmaking wasn’t a new invention in the 1980’s, it was being adopted at a fast pace by mountains big and small. Resort executives such as Foster Chandler, Vice President and Director of Marketing at Killington and Mt. Snow, realized that “Snowmaking has become a ski area’s insurance policy…The snowmaking which we’ve installed in the last couple of years is our guarantee that we’ll have snow for our skiers.” (Closing an Open Winter, pg. 8) The fact that ski resorts were finding ways to beat Mother Nature at her own game is pretty impressive, but not everyone in Vermont was thrilled about it.

Around this time, Sugarbush was looking to make some major infrastructural improvements, and not everyone in the area was happy about it. Many residents in Mad River Valley had gotten tired with the crazy development going on in the region, and yearned for the days when it was a quaint Vermont community. As detailed in “The Mad River Valley: Facing the Question of ‘Acceptable’ Growth,” there’s a constant back and forth between Mad River Valley Residents who believe that the increase in skiing and tourism is ruining the traditional way of life and those who say that it’s good for the economy and wellbeing of the community as a whole. Vermont Life does a good job at showcasing different perspectives without leaning one way or another, which makes sense given that their readers are both Vermont locals and tourists.

Sugarbush Resort’s proposal describes the difference between skiers in the early days and at the time the article was written well. The old fashioned skier “drove up the valley from New York or Boston every Friday night and headed home Sunday afternoon after hitting the slopes, a few bars, and a cheap pillow.” On the flip side, the 1980’s skier “comes for four or five days, even a week, and wants a wide choice of ski trails, accommodations, and activities for his off-the-slope hours.” (The Mad River Valley, pg. 13) This contrast between the ski industries in these different eras shows just how much skiing had changed and how much skiing had subsequently changed Vermont over the course of the century so far.