Windy Ski Resorts

One of my greatest hobbies is skiing. Every year for the past five years I have made at least one week long trip out to a resort in the Rockies to enjoy sliding down a mountain. However with the economy in such a slum right now the fate of many ski resorts including some of my favorites has been questionable. One of the biggest expenses for the resorts is power. The resorts require power not only for the towns but also for lighting on the slopes and to move the lifts all day and night to keep them from freezing. This high expense has put the resorts in danger of bankruptcy.

However recently according to a CNN article (www.cnn.com) some resorts have stepped into the realm wind power. Jiminy Peak, in Hancock, Massachusetts added a wind turbine to the top of their mountain which removed 33% of the resorts energy costs. After thinking about this for a while I realized there is no better place for wind power than on top of a mountain. Just last year while standing on top of The Lone Peak in Big Sky, Montana I witnessed the power of the wind on the top of these mountains. Some friends and I had taken our skis and snowboards off and set them under rocks to keep them from blowing away and were just relaxing on the summit. Out of nowhere the wind took my friends snowboard and turned it into a kite flying through the air and without the acrobatic leap by my brother to catch it would have been gone off the face of the mountain. When a resort can turn this energy into something that can keep it financially viable it is impressive.

This is the kind of change that our nation needs. We don’t need to redo the entire power grid or stop using electricity all together. We need to get strategic about where we get our energy from and on top of a mountain is a great place. This resort will now be able to use the money that it saves on it's power bill to create more slopes and shops for us to enjoy. When using energy like this everyone wins.

note the rocks on the snowboard