Grays On Trays

Mountain resorts, much like beachfront property, becomes more expensive as the population and the economy grow. Why? “They don’t make them anymore.” A rising national income affords more people the option of buying resort property. Increased demand and a fairly static supply sends prices in one direction: up.

Generally, people who go skiing and snowboarding at destination resorts have above-average incomes. And people who work at destination resorts–lift operators, retail clerks, hotel employeess–don’t have above-average incomes.

So where do they live? Sometimes elsewhere. To take one extreme example, the Aspen Ski Company released a marketing video this year that has profiles of a dozen or so people who live and work in the region.

One fellow, who works in a restaurant, rides a bus from somewhere “downvalley,” for about an hour each way. I believe that he is from Mexico, which means that even at $8 an hour (or whatever he makes), putting up with that commute, on a bus, is a winning proposition.

In the case of Crested Butte, I suspect that the problem is not so severe. The base of the resort is actually in the relatively new of Mt. Crested Butte. It’s got lots of condos. Crested Butte, the longstanding down, is a few miles away. I don’t know if it’s any cheaper there, though some non-spectacular houses could be seen.

Perhaps some people commute from Gunnison. As I’ve said before, it looks like a low-rent district.

How can resorts fill low-wage jobs in a high-cost area? There are several possibilities. One, they subsidize housing. Two, they offer an entry to opportunities to immigrants, who are willing to put up with more deprivation than the average American. And finally, they offer non-monetary compensation in the form of recreational opportunities.

Meet the ski bum.

If you fly to Crested Butte, you’ll probably be flying into Gunnison. By comparison with Crested Butte, it looks to be a tired town. Sure, the main street has two or three blocks that look neat, and out of a TV western: tall, flat storefronts with a sloping, overhanging roof.

But go beyond that, and you see a lot of poverty, or at least non-wealth. During the 30 minute drive up to Mt. Crested Butte, I saw at least two settlements of mobile homes that had seen better days.

A fellow participant in the conference told me that Gunnison had been “dolled up” in recent years. He must be talking about the two or three blocks that I saw.

To get to Crested Butte, I flew into Gunnison, a small town about a 30 minute drive away. The flight was a reminder of how the mountains vary from place to place, and season to season.

I have some experience with flights into Aspen, and it’s a hazardous place. It requires flying into a canyon. By contrast, Gunnison appeared to offer a more wide open approach. And by coming in from Dallas, we didn’t have to fly over the continental divide. Both facts could mean, and I am only speculating here, that flights into Gunnison are less troublesome than flights into Aspen. Perhaps the same is true of other mountain towns. If you have any thoughts on this, Send me and e-mail.