In this impassioned expose, lifelong skier Hal Clifford reveals how publicly traded corporations gained control of America's most popular winter sport during the 1990s, and how their greed is gutting ski towns, the natural environment, and skiing itself. Chronicling the collision between Wall Street's demand for unceasing revenue growth and the fragile natural and social environments of small mountain communities, Clifford shows how the modern ski...
This book should be required reading for people, skiers and non-skiers alike, who patronize ski resorts. DOWNHILL SLIDE exposes what really drives the continuing expansion of ski resorts -- and it isn't skiing. Clifford focuses on the "Big Three", the publically-traded corporations that control a large chunk of all the resorts in North America.Although actual ski-run usage (including ski boarders) has been flat for a decade,...
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I was impressed with the breath and depth of the analysis. The research was very thorough and added much to the credibility of the conclusions. Great work.It should be required reading for all full time residents of ski mountain communities. Most of all it should cause an awakening in elected officials of the communities and surrounding counties of the ski towns (except those who accept election campaign contributions from...
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Hal Clifford has meticulously interviewed sources on both sides of the resort-sprawl issue, allowing his ski-industry executives to hang themselves with their own statements. True, he is definitely on the side of the environment, and true, he is not immune to an occasional wry comment on their clueless behavior. What the irate reviewers here ignore completely is his contention that the ski industry is no longer about skiing,...
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As a life-long Vailite, and an active board member of Colorado Wild and the Ski Area Citizens' Coalition,I have found Mr. Clifford's book invaluable. We have known for quite some time that the sport of skiingis in trouble and that the recent corporatization of skiing and associated development is causing enormous stress on ski towns and the environment. Clifford has concisely and coherently expressed the problems, chosensuperb...
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This book reminded me of Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" (thorough, probing, disturbing & readable). "Downhill Slide" takes a look at the dangerous reach (Disneyfication) of Corporate America. This book is a must read for skiers (avid and former), the ski industry (listen up!), environmentalists and those who care about those "last best places."
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