Powder days : ski bums, ski towns and the future of chasing snow / Heather Hansman.

Includes index.

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.

The story of skiing is, in many ways, the story of America itself. Blossoming from the Tenth Mountain Division in World War II, the sport took hold across the country, 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. Along the way, the pioneers and diehards--the ski bums--remained the beating heart of the scene. 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. Hopping from Vermont to Colorado, Montana to West Virginia, Hansman profiles the people who have built their lives around a cold-weather obsession. Along the way she reckons with skiing's problematic elements and investigates how the sport is evolving in the face of the existential threat of climate change.