Ski Towns

I don’t like ski towns.  For me, they are soulless places.  It is true the world over.

There is never any logic to the layout of the town.  There is no town really, just a collection of unrelated buildings plonked down randomly.  The architecture is always the same - glorified blocks of units with shops placed randomly amongst them.  If there is no sense of town, then there is no feeling of community.  What if even the bakery is closed?  Soulless!

Ski towns always have a sense of crass commercialism, as though the only reason they exist is to fleece money off people and everything is seriously overpriced.  If you want to feel poor, go to a ski town. 

Whenever I am in a ski town, it is dead: most of the shops are shuttered, and if they’re not then the shelves are half empty.  The only activity – building.  Remember, I am normally in ski towns out of season: neither summer or winter.  During those times there is always construction occurring – dusty and noisy.

There is only one good thing about ski towns: they are in the mountains.  And to quote Eric Shipton, ‘in all the world’s religions, myths and legends, the mountains are the home of the gods’.  Mountains are also home to snaking winding and at times torturous roads, which is what brings me to ski towns.