Last Chance to Support Independent Ski Journalism for $5 Per Month

Sale ends tonight

Once in a while, an innovation changes an industry. High-speed lifts, shaped skis, multimountain passes – one by one, these things changed how consumers approached, experienced, and thought about lift-served skiing. They eased liftlines, made carving easier, greased big-mountain access for the masses.

But sometimes, innovation takes industries backwards. The internet nearly broke the notion of journalism as a viable career. The reason we no longer have beautifully edited and written ski magazines is not because we ran out of writers. It’s because the print journalism business model, mostly based on advertising, collapsed with the advent of the web. No advertising revenue, no money for salaries and benefits, and the notion of making a living as a writer for a niche media publication evaporated.

But humans are clever. Eventually, someone finds a fix. Substack, the platform that hosts this newsletter, found a fix. By plugging into their technology, I could start a newsletter, build an audience, and evolve The Storm into a sustainable small business. No fear of layoffs. No executives to fret that content may offend advertisers or resorts. Just one writer making a living from readers who find value in independent ski journalism.

If you like The Storm, and want to get in on the full experience, this is your last day to subscribe for $5 per month, a nod to the newsletter’s five-year anniversary. Subscribe at that rate, and it will be locked in forever. If you’re not there yet, I get it. We all have bills to pay. I am grateful for anyone who subscribes to this newsletter, free or paid.

I’ll leave you with this screenshot from Substack’s website. Sometimes, corporate mission stuff is pretty vacuous, but this is precise and honest. Something was broken. Substack fixed it. The idea of niche-journalist-as-career is no longer ridiculous. And it’s kind of amazing.