Hello everyone, I'm Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where none of us is as smart as all of us.

A couple of weeks ago, I went skiing, or at least attempted to ski, in Vermont. And I got curious

about the economics behind the snow sports industry.

Turns out it's an industry in flux, and it's getting more expensive, both for new people

who want to try to learn snow sports and for folks who've been doing it for a while.

I heard about this a lot when I was talking to some folks on the ski hill.

Costs have been definitely going up.

It makes family skiing with two young daughters a little bit tricky.

Yeah, I mean, if you get the passes that they do with multiple mountain passes,

I think it's a little more affordable, but when you go for the day,

you could spend close to $200 just for the ticket, never mind equipment and staying and eating and all that.

Skiing is innately expensive, but it's so important to Vermont youth, you know, we have

four or five months of winter, so I'm really happy it's worth the, it's worth the investment.

I do think the climate has taken a toll.

I think that they're forced to make a lot of snow, which obviously costs more money.

Yes, climate change is one major factor affecting this industry.

So to get smarter about all of this, I spoke with Daniel Scott while I was up in Vermont.

He's a professor at the University of Waterloo, where he's an expert in sustainable tourism.

We got into how the industry is changing and what that means for casual skiers in the U.S.

So first of all, are you a skier, snowboarder, winter sport extraordinaire?

It comes with the Canadian passport, yes.

And then my wife's family is Austrian, so she gets double the skill level I do.

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