Not sure when National Geographic got into the overplayed town rankings business that seems to constitute Outside Magazine’s business model, but they apparently have and “surprise” Bend is on the mag’s list of top 25 ski towns—in the world… Yes, according to National Geographic we’re right up there with Banff, Aspen, Telluride, Crested Butte not to mention Chamonix and Zermatt, Switzerland. Don’t get us wrong we love our town, which is actually a metro area with a population of almost 80,000 souls, and we love our little butte that was re-branded as a mountain for marketing purposes by Bill Healy and the gang back in the day. But come on. Seriously. Are we really supposed to believe that Bend is simultaneously the golf, microbrew, fly fishing, mountain biking, skiing, and possibly yoga capital of the world? Somebody is going to hit the bullshit button on this marketing campaign pretty soon. Maybe then we can just be good old Bend, a good place to visit and fine place to live.
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2012.
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ha! well said Eric Flowers!
BEEN TO MOST OF THOSE PLACES AND MANY MORE. YES, BEND DOES RANK UP THEIR WITH THEM, IT DOESN’T HAVE THE MER DE GLACE OF CHAMONIX, BUT IT IS A LOT PRETTIER.IT DOESN’T HAVE THE FUR AND FLASH OF ASPEN,BUT IT HAS A FEEL OF “REAL”.AND ANYONE WHO SAYS THE BARE ROCK OF THE MOUNTAINS OF SWITZERLAND ARE MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN THE VOLCANOES OF CENTRAL OREGON NEEDS A NEW TOUR GUIDE. AS FOR BEER, HAD IT FROM ONE END OF GERMANY TO ANOTHER AND WE DON’T NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR ANYTHING SERVED UP HERE.