This is a story about a small, rustic cross-country ski area in Vermont, the people who love it, and, of course, the existential threat of climate change.

Cross-country skiing in New England as we know it now is going extinct. By the year 2090, it is predicted that New England will be too warm to hold enough natural snow to ski on in any familiar capacity. To the average northeastern skier, this fact is depressingly evident with the challenges we are already experiencing with getting consistent snow, yet that future is an unthinkable one; unthinkable not only because life without skiing is quite literally unimaginable for some, but also because the threat of climate change is paralyzing. So, how do we talk about it? And what, if anything, can we do? 

The very phrase “climate change” subtly implies that the main thing that will change as a result of humans pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is long-term weather patterns, i.e. climate, but we all know that the truly meaningful and likely devastating changes will be those to how humans inhabit the Earth. The challenge of talking about climate change thus in many ways becomes one of talking about societal changes, both chosen and imposed by outside forces. The intersection of climate change, cross-country-skiing, and community at a local ski area named Prospect in Woodford, VT is prescient example.

Though not an activity vital to survival (at least not nowadays), skiing is a very popular and beloved pastime in most places that have snow. In the Northeast of the US, skiing has become a defining aspect of the region for both residents and tourists, not only culturally but also economically. However, it is also an activity that is existentially threatened by climate change as a warming climate leads to shorter and shorter winters with less snow, making it an interesting case study into how people respond to climate change when their lives are not threatened but the ways in which they live are.

The goals of this project are threefold: first, I aim to explore and document how the local ski community is currently understanding and responding to the threat of climate change by interviewing members of that community; second, I hope to spark a deeper conversation about climate change among skiers at Prospect by creating this website containing audio from the interviews and resources for interested community members to explore further; and third, I would like to propose ideas for skiers to get involved with fighting climate change not only for the sake of skiing but for the sake of the larger world.