Green Mountain Resort was not expected to be in business for very long, not that anyone was making predictions. It was a small resort with golf, tennis, and, most notably, some skiing—on machine-made snow for the most part—set in the Appalachians. It was a fair distance from major population centers and had none of the history of the famous southern spas of an older era, places like the Homestead. But it didn’t have to stand fully on its own: it was built as a draw for buyers of vacation homes at Green Mountain. The resort was the center of sales hospitality and an attractive amenity of home own- ership. Being a property owner got you membership in the resort with ski passes, discount golf, and the like. Salespeople pointed to the resort as a symbol of their commitment to community: they were not just selling lots; they were offering a lifestyle. Of course, the salespeople also knew that when the real estate sold out, the function of the resort as a sales tool would disappear along with the sales staff, and, if this were like other similar develop- ments, the resort would lose its luster and perhaps even go out of business. The resort wasn’t there for vacationers but for buyers. Soon, there would be no more buyers. And soon after that, the resort would have to make it on its own, as only a resort. The top management of Green Mountain at this time came to the operation when the original devel- opers failed. They were sent in by the investment bank that had financed the original operation to put own show, no longer just an adjunct to sales. Gunter had been part of the original management and had expected to eventually leave for another resort job, enacting a pattern typical in the hospitality industry. But now he was an owner, not just an employee, and he had a vision of a first-class mountain resort. The architecture of the lodge, and of most of the vacation homes, was more up-country than ski- country. In contrast to this uniquely American look was Gunter, in his…