Includes index.

new book 2024 winter.

Introduction: The dream -- Skid luxury: who is a ski bum -- How to make a myth: the history -- and story -- of skiing -- This is your brain on skiing: who wants to be a ski bum -- Out in the cold: who gets to be a skier -- Cloud 9: ski town economics -- A thousand words for snow: climate change and the future of winter -- Monopoly money: resorts and the business of skiing -- The dark and the light: risk and reward -- Conclusion: Living or giving up the dream.

"Veteran ski journalist and former ski bum Heather Hansman takes readers on an exhilarating journey into the hidden history of American skiing, offering a glimpse into an underexplored subculture from the perspective of a true insider"--. Provided by publisher

Blossoming from the Tenth Mountain Division in World War II, the sport of skiing was driven by adventurers seeking the rush of freedom that only cold mountain air could provide. As skiing gained in popularity, mom-and-pop backcountry hills gave way to groomed trails and eventually the megaresorts of today. Hansman takes readers on a journey into the hidden history of American skiing, offering a glimpse into an underexplored subculture from the perspective of a true insider. She profiles the people who have built their lives around a cold-weather obsession, reckons with skiing's problematic elements, and investigates how the sport is evolving in the face of the existential threat of climate change. -- adapted from jacket