Back to Search
Start Over
White Gold: Snowmaking, Resort Growth, and Skier Experience in the U.S. East, 1945–1971.
- Source :
- International Journal of the History of Sport; Jan2022, Vol. 39 Issue 1, p111-125, 15p
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- This article argues that the introduction of snowmaking to the American ski industry following World War II provided the necessary conditions for resort growth, in the process changing the sport of skiing. Using methods from histories of environmental technology, the article highlights the relationship between weather, natural snow, and artificial snow. First, it brings together scientific literature on weather and historical periodicals to contend that winters in the northeast have always lacked the type of consistent annual snowfall needed to build a dependable ski industry. Snowmaking provided reliability, but in the process, it remade the economic model of skiing. Second, using a diverse mix of periodicals, ski literature, and oral histories it interrogates how skiers experienced this new type of artificial snow, contending that artificial snow changed the sport in ways people perceived as both good and bad. Finally, it suggests that histories of technology and sports can benefit from exploring how new technologies change the environments in which sports are played. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- SNOWMAKING
SKI resorts
SKIERS
SKIING
GREEN technology
ECONOMIC models
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09523367
- Volume :
- 39
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- International Journal of the History of Sport
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 156653403
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2021.1928082