CSU researcher looks at the Colorado ski industry’s bumpy history and its potentially problematic future

Contact for reporters:
Stacy Nick
[email protected]

Note to journalists: CSU Associate Professor of History Michael Childers is available for interviews. More information can be found at https://col.st/xP5M5. All assets — including photos and podcast audio/transcripts — are also available for media use.

The ski industry in Colorado is a $1 billion a year economic boon, but its history here has been a bumpy one.

With more than two dozen major ski resorts drawing millions of tourists to the state, there’s a cost to all that powder — to our communities and our environment.

In his book, Colorado Powder Keg, Colorado State University Associate Professor of History Michael Childers examines the history of Colorado’s ski industry, along with the challenges brought by the industry’s growth — from finding balance within the private development of public lands to the increasing environmental concerns over things like wildlife management and air and water pollution.

In this conversation on CSU’s podcast, The Audit, host Stacy Nick talks with Childers about the industry’s humble beginnings in Colorado; Denver’s unique claim to fame as the only city to ever decline a bid to host the Winter Olympics; and how the Earth Liberation Front’s 1998 arson attack at Vail Ski Resort actually had the opposite impact from its intended goal.

“Vail went from being the bad guy who was going to develop this habitat for the Canada Lynx, a threatened species, and more importantly, one of the largest elk herds in the state where their birthing grounds were, to being the victims and the good guys,” Childers said. “Since that moment, we have not seen the same sort of vitriol or condemnation of the ski industry about its environmental impacts. When we do have these sorts of criticisms now, it’s about growth and gentrification and chasing locals out and who can afford a $3 million condo on the side of a ski hill, which is a radically different sort of conversation than wildlife impact.”

More information about Childers’ research and the book Colorado Powder Keg — including the podcast, a full transcript of the interview and high-res photos — can be found here.