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Still Nervy After All These Years: Reaction To Warren Miller
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August 08, 2005
The ski movie meister's comments in our last issue (IR 7/25/05) provoked strong reactions from readers.
Ed Ryberg, winter sports program coordinator for the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region wrote:
"Warren Miller creates the impression that the Forest Service is unwilling to allow the development of new skiing and snowboarding terrain and that this reluctance threatens the future of these sports. The evidence paints a different picture... In the last 25 years, the skiable acres under permit to ski areas on the White River National Forest, (home to Aspen, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone, Snowmass and Vail) have more than doubled.
"In Colorado alone, in just the last five years, over 2,300 acres of National Forest lands have been developed or opened for skiing and snowboarding and almost 7,000 acres have been added to ski area permit boundaries (for future expansion)...
"(But)...while the amount of developed skiing/snowboarding terrain has increased substantially, national skier/snowboarder visits have shown little or no growth...
"The fundamental challenge to the future viability of the ski industry is not the lack of terrain for expansion but rather a lack of skiers and snowboarders... Virtually all of the projected population increases in age groups most likely to take up skiing will be from racial/ethnic minorities who have historically been under-represented as participants...
"It would seem that the greatest opportunity to ensure a bright future for skiing and snowboarding is to focus on ways to make these sports more inviting to the emerging young multicultural majority..." Ryberg concluded.
Suzanne Elfstrom, a media planner in Bozeman, Mont., said she "was discouraged to read Warren Miller's viewpoint on the overcrowding occurring at some ski areas and his solution.
"There are plenty of underexposed ski areas ... that still have room for people. Montana has 16 of those areas... It would have been nice for him (Miller) to promote the 'exploration' of some of these undiscovered gems rather than to further diminish the scenic aspect of the mentioned overcrowded ski areas by cutting more trails."
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