Talking Green
By Jules Older

Auden Schendler has the responsibility and over-long title of “Executive Director of Community and Environmental Responsibility” for Aspen Skiing Company. He’s also become the point man for global warming in the snowsports industry, especially after he became the prime subject of “Little Green Lies,” the cover story of BusinessWeek (October 29, 2007), about corporate environmentalism.

Whether you agree with Schendler or not, you’d be foolish to ignore his words—he’s a knowledgeable observer of and spokesman for climate change and its potentially huge effect on ski areas. Ski Press editor Jules Older caught up with Schendler and, on SAM’s behalf, put some frank questions to him.


Honestly, how much do you believe in global warming?
It’s not belief, it’s fact and science. I stand with the 99 percent of scientists who conclude it’s a human-caused problem.

How do you think it’s going to affect American skiing?
It’s going to get harder to operate ski areas on the coast and at lower elevations.

Let’s get specific. Start with the S’s and move to U and C.
Snowshoe—gone. Stowe will have more rain than snow; warmer nights, earlier springs. Squaw will still get big dumps, but the snowpack will run off faster in the spring. Park City may be in worse shape than Aspen because it’s lower. Colorado is becoming more a Mt Hood or a Whistler; they’ll still have snow at the top, but down-valley and even the bottom of the mountain will be rainy, not snowy.

On a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being pathetic and 10 perfect, how well have North American resorts responded to the threat?
They started with a 1. They’re probably at a 7 now. The indicator is that they began with a toothless industry charter; this year Michael Berry testified before Congress and said the same things I would.

If you ran the ski world and you could make three changes, what would they be?
Lobbying on the national level by NSAA and state groups switches from public lands use to climate. Second, the industry sets binding emissions-reductions goals that you can sign onto or not… but if you don’t, you get kicked out [of NSAA]. And third, broad education campaigns at every resort to reach every skier with a message on climate.

What's the worst sin the ski business is committing?
Lack of pervasive recognition of climate as the challenge of our time. And lack of an appropriately scaled response from a policy perspective. We have to use the industry as a lever to drive federal and state policy change, not just tweak our own operations. That’s not enough to reverse global warming. But we can use our high profile to have a disproportionate impact; we’re one way the public can understand climate change. If we expect to achieve the level of reductions scientists say we need to, we need government policy involved.

Let’s talk about RECs——renewable energy credits. I'm lost.
I can get you unlost. There are good ones and bad ones.

Here’s a bad one: there’s a wind farm in Nebraska. You’ve just bought renewable energy credits from that farm so you can make the claim that you’re green. Did anything change? No.

Here’s a good REC. There’s a wind farm that’s going to be built. But they can’t make it happen unless you buy their RECs at a pretty high price over a long term. Great—you just bought a wind farm. You changed atmospheric CO2 for the better.

It’s 10 years from today. What's the ski world look like?
Scotland’s skiing is all but gone because of warming. Europe’s lower-elevation skiing is gone. How many more years like the last four [2004-07] could the East Coast take before it says this isn’t a viable business? So, more resorts have gone out of business. And conditions have changed: spring meltdowns and warmer, longer falls.
In addition, the price of energy has substantially risen. That’s going to affect the low-margin ski industry and make it more difficult to operate ski areas. Oh, and the price of travel will rise.

Doesn’t sound rosy.
Skiing is the least of our concerns. Climate change will affect the economy, disease, how populations move, how food is grown. By the time skiing is gone, we’ll have a hell of a lot else to worry about. The economic impact of climate change will kill skiing long before lack of snow does.

Are you worried?
I worry. Anyone who knows the science worries.


Counting Down
By Jennifer Rowan

While riding the lift at Mount Snow during NSAA’s eastern conference, I was reminded of a letter we received years ago from a skier offering a very simple, but reasonable, suggestion: Number lift towers so they count down as you travel up. And why was I reminded of this? Well, the fog that had socked Mount Snow in prevented me from seeing anything over 10 feet away, never mind where to unload. But wouldn’t it be nice to have some indicator, some way to tell when the journey is about to end? Think of it, this isn’t just for lousy weather days. What about new customers? The count-down system gives them a way to gauge whether there is time to apply more sunscreen or check out the trail map. And don’t forget about the kids. Kids love a good count down. And it’s a count down to the fun they are about to have on the slopes. Come on, guys! It’s a great suggestion.