Americans have loved skiing for the better part of a century. In the post-WWII years, families enriched by the G. I. Bill took to the mountains of Vermont and Colorado, where they found a pastime equal parts exciting and relaxing, deep in the heart of nature. Mirroring the rise of skateboarding, snowboarding became popular in the 1970s and ’80s, bringing an influx of young thrillseekers to the mountains. Slopeside, the cultures merged, creating the existing resort dynamic of family-friendly restaurants and daredevil terrain parks.

Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Americans are able to enjoy snow sports with each passing year. What was once a pastime readily available to any ordinary person with a free weekend and a little extra dough has become a luxury exclusive to the elite. This exclusivity is not a consequence of market scarcity but of the profit motive.

Of course, there’s no reason profit should be involved at all. Mountainside recreational facilities can be run by and for the public, just like nature parks and playgrounds across the nation. It’s high time we nationalized the ski slopes.