摘要
Vail, a ski area in Colorado established in 1962, has undergone many changes since its inception. How to explain the growth of an ever expanding urban corridor （“Vail Valley”） in the Colorado High Country, with considerable implications for the social and built-up environment and the surrounding wilderness？ It is argued here that Steinbeck’s writings – as laid out, for instance, in Cannery Row - could offer a strategy to reconstruct the events and developments that transformed the Vail ski resort destination over the past decades. Eight chapters lay out major themes of the Vail Story, from “Vail before Vail” to “Vail after Vail.” Quotations from Steinbeck’s novels and from other writers in the analysis of his works introduce a given theme. The discussion of the beginnings of the ski area and the town, the staging of Vail mega sports events like three world alpine ski championships and the changing directions and policies of the ski corporation result in a narrative closely aligned with the style of Steinbeck’s realistic prose.
