Ski mogul going uphill to beat climate change
By Tom Moroney, Bloomberg
Ski-resort executives tend to hate climate change, for obvious reasons. Then there’s Les Otten.
It’s not that he’s a fan, just that he’s looking to turn the global-warming equation on its head. How so? By carving out slopes in a remote spot in northern New Hampshire that’s frigid enough to out-snowpack rivals. While lower-elevation areas wilt, the lifts on higher ground will keep on humming.
“You wouldn’t wish your fellow man ill,” said Otten, a winter-sports industry veteran who has teamed up with a pair of local businessmen, “but their seasons will be shortened. It would be dishonest to say that to a degree that’s not in our thinking.’’
The go-north strategy is like a nor’easter that drops snow twice: It protects your investment and gives you a leg up on competitors.