Friday, November 13, 2009

Mountain towns can cure what ails Americans

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Mountain resort towns like ours in the Sun Valley area are the antidote to what ails Americans.

Their list of ailments is long, and growing. Stress. Fatigue. Endless health problems that are the result of sedentary lives.

People are so "wired" to electronic information that no one can keep up. Children and parents are scheduled in non-stop streams of events and activities. It's hard for anyone to make the time to watch the clouds go by or to simply wonder at the dynamics of sun, wind and weather.

Mountain towns like ours can help.

Our proximity to some of the most beautiful and accessible public lands in the U.S. makes it possible for people to reconnect to the outdoors. The West's legacy of protected forests, rivers, wilderness areas and wildlife preserves is like nowhere else in the world.

However, the practitioners of outdoor arts need to change. For example, National Ski Areas Association President Michael Berry recently urged ski areas to make learning to ski or board easier for beginners. He says the stagnant winter sports industry needs to do this to attract new people to mountain sports.

He's more right than he knows.

Mountain towns should make it a lot easier for beginners to engage in every kind of outdoor recreation, and they must tailor outdoor offerings to modern time frames. That means day trips, overnights, and intensive training days. It means becoming better outdoor educators.

Mountain towns could also use a little legislative help to attract new visitors.

Colorado's Rep. Diana DeGette is sponsoring the Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act of 2009, or House Bill 2476. It would permit development of more summer activities in ski areas. Right now, it's unclear whether ski areas on public land can develop mountain slides, zip-line courses, mountain bike parks and climbing walls. The bill would allow such developments as deemed appropriate by the U.S. Forest Service. The bill also would cover other common activities like mountain biking, hiking and chairlift rides that are already allowed.

Mountain resort towns are key to getting Americans healthy again. By and large, the success of each day spent in our towns is measured by the time spent preparing for or engaging in outdoor sports.

This is not the measure of success in corporate America or in the average American suburb. But the hard truth is that those measures are making people sick in the wealthiest nation on Earth.

Mountain towns can help people heal, refresh and reconnect. Touching the outdoors will help them sustain the pressures of modern life—and help keep our towns in business.