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View Full Version : SB mentioned in article about ski industry at Salon.com



gratefulskier
01-26-2007, 09:14 AM
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/26/skiing/

To read the article for free, you get re-directed through a commercial, but just ignore your browser for a minute and you'll never even see the commercial.

The article isn't very in-depth, IMO, and focuses primarily on Vail in a discussion about environmental issues and the ski industry.

GS

Tin Woodsman
01-26-2007, 09:57 AM
Just an awful, awful article replete with erros, omissions, and just bad reporting. I would expect nothing less from a national media outlet. Let's look at one of their main premises - that the ski industry offers the govt a comparatively lousy return on the acreage they manage. The article states that ski areas collectively manage 190 million acres. Wow - that is an amazingly bad editing job by Salon. This would imply that the 300 members of the NSAA each manage an average of over 633,000 acres. Oh rearry?

For every quote from an industry official, you have three from an environmental organizations or various kook jobs. Interesting how they decry the allegely relentless expansion of ski terrain yet they fail to mention how most of the terrain from the 500 resorts that have gone out of business in the last 30-40 years is reutrned to its natual state. The net growth in skiing terain is a LOT smaller than this would lead you to believe and is probably close to flat. Like any other industry, the skiing business is consolidating around the scale players. The individuals in tis article are either wilfully ignorant of this fact, or are just plain not to bright.

ScoobySnack
01-26-2007, 12:02 PM
Also, I'll point out that the comment about the carbon pollution output of ski lifts is a lot less impactful when looked at in relative terms. The 200k pounds of yearly carbon emissions from each of the 2k ski lifts in the country really just about equals the yearly carbon emissions from a one-twentieth of a percent of auto emissions in the US.

BushMogulMaster
01-26-2007, 12:24 PM
Also, I'll point out that the comment about the carbon pollution output of ski lifts is a lot less impactful when looked at in relative terms. The 200k pounds of yearly carbon emissions from each of the 2k ski lifts in the country really just about equals the yearly carbon emissions from a one-twentieth of a percent of auto emissions in the US.

There is barely any direct carbon outputs from ski lifts. They run on electricity (except the Single at MRG, of course). The auxiliary engines are diesel, but unless there is an equipment malfunction, these auxiliary engines should only be run for about an hour per week. That's not a whole lot of carbon pollution. Now, if we start talking about the electric plants that make the electricity for the primary motors, that may be different. But I think that complaining about ski lift carbon emissions is absolutely ridiculous at best. There is a much more substantial argument for snow cats producing carbon pollution. But that's another conversation entirely.

BushMogulMaster
01-26-2007, 12:35 PM
Also... the way they word their lift pollution claim is highly misleading. They say that a "high-speed quad" outputs 200000 pounds, and that there are 2000 lifts. Well... I know for sure that all 2000 of those lifts aren't detachable quads. So the impact is even less than 200k x 2k. Doubles, triples, and surface lifts would produce significantly less pollution.

Bottom line, they're fishing for some way to make the industry sound like it's single-handedly ruining the environment. I'll bet the author of that article is driving around in his oversize strech Hummer getting 4 miles to the gallon, and he's got a huge smile on his face because he's convincing people that skiing is what's killing the environment. Warm weather loving idiot! :evil:


Ok, ok... maybe I got a little carried away :wink: He did say some good things about the industry. Sort of. Kind of. :?

sugarboarder
01-26-2007, 05:27 PM
What about the Methane emmisions in the ski area rest rooms?? Now that is gonna be the end of us for sure...but I am not part of it - I DRINK BIO-diesel.

BushMogulMaster
01-26-2007, 05:28 PM
What about the Methane emmisions in the ski area rest rooms?? Now that is gonna be the end of us for sure...but I am not part of it - I DRINK BIO-diesel.

:lol:

POTD