Less Than A Foot II

Priorities.

This week a town hall meeting in Ashland, Oregon was packed to standing room only capacity, and no wonder, one might think, their Mt. Ashland Ski Resort announced the first cancelled ski season in their fifty year history and impending bankruptcy. The loss of the ski area will have a huge impact on the local economy which thrives on tourism and access to outdoor activities. But no. The whole town did not show up in support of their local business or to discuss the growth of their economy, they showed up in protest of a local ordinance proposing placing a ban on carrying loaded firearms in public. Many people attended the meeting wearing their side arms.  And...scene.

Less Than A Foot

Snow.

The Mt. Ashland ski area in Southern Oregon , in spite of it's plans to celebrate their 50th year anniversary, has canceled the entire 2013-2014 ski season for the very first time. They made this decision after arriving to mid-March with less than a foot of snow on their usually busy slopes. No one really knows what the economic impacts of this will be. But it can't be good. Worse than that, everyone is trying not to think about what happens if there is no snow next year. Is this climate change? An aberration? Normal fluctuation? If you own a small business or depend on the ski resort for your income it probably doesn't really matter. Change is coming, one way or another. How will it come to you?