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Though he will have no direct stake in the Olympics (the state will run his lodge and lifts during the games), Alec Cushing is in sight of the big payoff. He has contracts for a ten-year lease on the new lifts the state is building. A new superhighway to the valley entrance from Reno and San Francisco will make it easier than ever to get there. Later this month, as a testament to the revitalized valley, the North American skiing championships will be held there for the first time.
Cushing stands at his front doorstep, gazes fondly at his lodge, at the Olympic work progressing all around him, listens contentedly to the soft whirring of the lifts. His blue eyes roam up and down the white, pine-pocked slopes. He smiles faintly. "We should do pretty well here from now on," he says, "unless we hack things up—and we probably will."