It’s hard to say exactly when the Thanksgiving holiday turned into the nation’s economic barometer, in which retail dollars were scrutinized with life-or-death consequences and otherwise innocuous weekdays became guilty by association.
Thanksgiving originated as a harvest festival, an appreciation celebration of bounty and blessings that carry us through winter. Perhaps that’s the reason the season resonates so strongly among skiers. Bountiful snow before the end of November is something we can all celebrate.
Now there’s a barometer that makes sense, especially if you subscribe to the philosophy that all wealth originates in nature. Yet, even in the face of nature’s bounty, the feel-good foundation of Thanksgiving seems increasingly overshadowed by economic pessimism spawned of ominously named pseudo-days like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” So depressing.
Fortunately, that’s all behind us now and we’re thankfully given the opportunity to put an optimistic spin on a Colorado winter that’s barreling in like the Polar Express. In the spirit of renaming innocent days in November, I move to tag today as “Powder Tuesday.” I think “White Wednesday” works as a solid follow-up. Has a nice ring to it.
But I’m not completely oblivious to the economic challenges facing so many on this Powder Tuesday. “Work” may indeed be the operative word on White Wednesday, since it’s not always an option anymore — at least not as consistent an option as it used to be, especially for those who are just beginning to make their way in the world.
To those in particular, though, I say take heart. Never again will you have so few obligations to anyone but yourself and so many opportunities to invent the life of your dreams, especially when it comes to skiing and snowboarding. The time of the ski bum is nigh.
I’m no economist, but experience as an astute anecdotal observer strongly indicates the ushering in of a new ski bum era, those who show up in ski towns to bump chairs, bus tables, sell beer and ride their days away on a swell of mountain snow. The reality is that no ski town can survive without them. And, let’s face it, there are a lot worse places to work than Aspen.
But the other side of that coin comes in the snow itself. Supply begets demand in this instance, and bona fide skiers and snowboarders know robust opportunities like the one we’re seeing right now don’t come along every day.
Like the economy, everything is cyclical, including the snow and the chance to rationalize a couple of hundred days on the slopes honing skills and nurturing needs you may not even know you had. Opportunities come in any variety of ways, and how often have we heard the story of someone hitting the big time doing what someone else considers a big waste of time?
The fact is, the cycle is ripe for a few new ski and snowboard bums to rise up out of the wax rooms and pizza parlors to make names for themselves on the national stage a la Sage Cattabriga-Alosa. Think of it as ski-town trickle-down. As a result, no one should be surprised a few years from now when the next Seth Morrison emerges out of Crested Butte or a Todd Richards clone is hatched in the halfpipe at Breckenridge, inspired by the timeless adage, “What have I got to lose?”
Do what you love, as they say, and the rest will come.
Of course, there will be some tough decisions that need making along the way. One of my ski bum friends from Vail is going through that process right now, even undergoing counseling on the art of the budget, learning to differentiate “want” from “need.” And it appears to be working.
“I only ‘want’ a new pair of skis,” he explained the other day. “But I ‘need’ early-rise.”
Similar sentiments can be applied to the snowpack itself, with the double lesson that “want” and “need” are often one and the same. We want it to snow now, and we need it to snow more. Always.
Simply put, just enough is never enough when it comes to snow. There’s a reason why they don’t fly an “Average” flag every day at Aspen, yet on big days they run the “Epic” pennant up the pole. And somehow I don’t see Vail introducing the “Ordinary Pass” anytime soon.
The good news is there’s no need for such products so far this season. With snow still falling and the 100-inch mark already surpassed along several of the Interstate 70 resorts before December, the want to need ratio is a flat 1:1, or 100:100 for you optimists.
Truth is, the supply and demand equilibrium in Colorado ski country can’t be quantified in economic terms. The bean counters at resort offices may try to tell you otherwise, but that’s only because they watch too much TV and actually buy into all that Black Friday bunk.
The rest of us are better off remembering Powder Tuesday and not forgetting White Wednesday. Because the season is all about snow up here, which we’re currently rich with. And that’s something to be thankful for.
