>>1454513Only person I've ever spoke to about it said that NA resorts typically own or have legal access rights (from the owner) to a particular mountain or small area, created in "modern" times. Often these are in conservation areas or nature reserves - most mountain ranges are protected by some laws or other, and getting the rights to cut trees, landscape pistes, and install lift systems and facilities in these places aint easy. European ski resorts, however, go back far further time wise, to an era where no one thought twice about sticking lifts on the hills for the rich and adventurous to play about on. These areas are often far more developed already in Europe too, with all sorts of historical this that and everything dotted about the mountain ranges. So in Europe, they'd stick a lift up that peak, one over there to get to that valley, one over here to get to this valley, etc etc... Until eventually a massive area is covered and it's far too late for modern conservation law to get in the way. "Well, there's always been ski lifts there, why not connect this bit with that bit?"
Pic related, it's the Sella Ronda area in the Dolomites. Many of these lifts date back a long long time, the area was littered with all sorts of mountain access routes for hundreds of years, shepherd huts everywhere, WW1 caverns and tunnels, all sorts. This isn't remotely the whole area covered by the one ski pass. Not all of it is connected by ski though, some of it is a bus ride away from others. It's a wonder all these separate Italian (and many were Austrian pre WW1) manage to get their shit together and agree to have a single lift pass, the area is rife with inter-village bickering.
Funny you should mention snow.. This particular area, being on the southern side of the alps, isn't blessed with massive natural snowfall, and has invested HEAVILY in artificial snowmaking.
