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Mountain Riders Alliance is working to convert an old ski area on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula into its first project. Courtesy photo |
Comments (5)Skiers and Earth First
Mountain Riders Alliance Creates New Model for Ski Industry
By Melissa Siig/Moonshine InkPublished: January 24, 2012
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Sure, it’s snowing now and thoughts of Tahoe’s driest start to winter in more than a century may be a distant memory after your powder session this week, but Jamie Schectman hasn’t forgotten. Schectman, a Squaw Valley skier since 1987, bemoans the amount of energy ski resorts spent on snowmaking this season and wishes they would invest more in alternative energy.
“The energy burden of snowmaking is huge,” said Schectman, noting that he heard at the National Ski Area Association meeting last week in Squaw that electricity makes up 75 percent of a ski area’s emissions. “The idea of building bigger is all great and fine when you are booked during Christmas, but the reality is that weather fluctuates. That’s why ski areas need to invest in sustainable energy like on-site energy creation, than seasons like this won’t hurt you as hard.”
But Schectman isn’t waiting for ski resorts to take the green initiative. He’s doing it himself. In 2010, Schectman founded Mountain Riders Alliance, an organization whose mission is to create sustainable, skier-owned mountain playgrounds. The alliance plans on doing this by buying existing ski areas and converting them to its business model — create more energy on site than the ski area consumes, be owned and overseen by skiers, and be focused on the triple bottom line (planet, people, and profits).
“Richard Branson is one of my heroes,” said Schectman of the Virgin Group founder. “He believes doing good is good for business. This shortsightedness and [focus on] profit margins is decaying our community.”
Mountain Riders Alliance mountains would change the current ski resort model by taking the priority off of selling lift tickets and passes by selling memberships in each ski area it owns. Schectman calls this model a “poor man’s Yellowstone Club,” referring to the private ski community in Montana. The more shares members buy, the more benefits they receive, such as discounts on lift tickets, retail, and parties. Non-members would be allowed to ski on non-peak days. Each ski resort would be run by a membership advisory board (a la Squaw Passholders United, which Schectman also helped start but is no longer affiliated with - see "Powder to the People"), which will oversee management.
“That way, each ski area membership has a voice,” Schectman said.
Mountain Riders Alliance’s first experiment is at Manitoba Mountain in Alaska. The group will submit a formal application to purchase the ski area, which has been out of service since 1960, this spring. Phase one includes a Nordic center, while the second phase proposes three surface lifts, which would access 10,000 acres of Chugach terrain normally only reachable by helicopter. The Manitoba resort will be self-powered through micro-hydro energy.
“Manitoba is an industry game-changer,” Schectman said.
The second project in the works is in New England. That ski area, which is putting in an acre of solar panels, will be a net-negative energy producer. Even though Schectman laments the development and corporatization of local ski resorts, he said Tahoe isn’t a lost cause, yet.
“Mt. Rose, Sugar Bowl, and Kirkwood are the only three not past the tipping point,” Schectman said. “Kirkwood is an example of a ski resort that is underperforming with lots of potential, and with our model we could help it reach its potential.” For more information about Mountain Riders Alliance, visit mountainridersalliance.com.
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