Powder Days - Heather Hansman

If you've idealized the life of a ski bum, or that friend that lives down by the river and kayaks every moment they can, this book takes a look at what the culture of being a dirtbag really means. It's about risk, and self-medication with more risk or alcohol and drugs, and living a life that's precarious.

Hansman looks at the racism in the ski industry, and how it survives on the backs of workers that are paid cheaply because they can be exploited. I love skiing, and was given much to think about around the inequality of the sport.

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- [[Black Skiing, Everyday Racism, and the Racial Spatiality of Whiteness]] Pg 112
- [[racism]] Pg 114
- ski towns like Brekenridge are run off the backs of undocumented workers that can be exploited for low wages. Pg 120
- so that rich people can enjoy skiing at a price they like
- [[immigrants]]
- [[Gini coefficient]] Pg 144
- in 2017 [[United States]] had a value of .49
- Aspen had a value of .65
- this metric is exacerbated by [[remote working]] where people don’t need to derive income from the local economy because they can work a remote job in some place like [[silicon valley]]
- [[Income gap|income inequality]] Pg 150
- [[meritocracy]] Pg 152
- I suppose I never thought about how unaffordable housing is for the people that work at the ski hills in many spots. In particular this book is talking about Aspen Pg 162
- the viability of ski towns depends on winter and that is being affected by [[climate change]] Pg 173
- I think of this year (2024) where snow is sparse and I haven’t skied yet. In fact I was on my bicycle today. Sure it’s cold but the roads are dry and you can ride a bike.
- [[climate change]] pg 183
- Specifically snow making and its impact on the environment while also being needed to keep some ski resorts open
- [[On the Road - Jack Kerouac]] Pg 187
- people who die in an avalanche are put on a pedestal, those who die of addiction are ignored. They are both huge risk taking endeavours but we ignore the things we don’t like to face. Pg 235
- we need elders in every field. People who can stay around long enough to survive and succeed so that they can show others how to survive and succeed. Pg 247
- with how much tech seems to praise youth and how it thrives on overwork, how much harm are we doing by driving the "elders" away. Once you have kids and other commitments all night coding sessions can't happen. Some people want to say you're not "hardcore" enough anymore, but that's not it. The pace set by much of Silicon Valley is only sustainable in your youth, and only for a very short amount of time. Then it's a proposition that will bring you an early grave
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