Remember after 9/11, when George Bush advised America to go shopping? For the good of the country and the economy. Because purchasing power is power, after all. And power should be exercised. Against the terorists.
(Sidebar: You don’t need Don Draper to sell this message; most Americans accepted it intuitively. If your way of life is intractably linked to consumption, going to the mall must be an act of patriotism. It meant jobs, many of them not in Mexico and China. It meant community, because Target is where we see each other. It meant neon lights outside posh clubs except when it meant shiny electronics and a latte macchiato, or barbeques and young love in the back of a new pick-up while the sun set over a field of burnished gold wheat. Cue the Sousa music.)
After everyone did as they were told, and went shopping, the mix of good times and bad credit took us into the recession. And everyone felt bad for a while, but that’s over. Almost. And now we need to look around and ask, where can we train the big guns of our purchasing power? Who needs us now?
Ski resorts, that’s who. They were hammered not so much by the recession but clearly by last year’s terrifying lack of snow. By some accounts it was the worst year for riders and skiers in 20 years. And sellers of ski and snowboard equipment are finding their sales down by 50 percent, because of all the unsold inventory.
A number of eager resorts have already opened. Proving that it’s an ill superstorm that blows nobody good, you can ski in North Carolina. Maine and Vermont have runs open. A handful of resorts in Colorado, California and elsewhere have opened a handful of trails. And at least one, Keystone, is trying to gin up business with a big pitch to families: this year, the resort will let children under 12 ski and snowboard free with a two-day stay.
So get out there. Help America by spending money. Don’t expect any additional breaks for seniors, though. In fact, the qualifying age for seniors keeps creeping up, with 70 being the standard in Colorado.
Seniors who are content with shorter runs can find very reasonable—no, be honest, these are cheap—lift tickets in Quebec. On Mondays, senior (60+) skiers can hit the slopes at Mont Olympia at $18.57; then on Tuesday and Wednesday they can ski Mont Gabriel for less than $18.00. (That’s Canadian, obviously, but the two currencies are close. Today.)
Of course, traveling across the border doesn’t align with the Bush Doctrine on patriotic spending. But skiers have always had allegiances that transcend political borders.
Photo of Keystone Village at night, by Thomas Coiner, via Wikimedia Commons.
