Two stories about mountain ski heritage transformation. Roccaraso and Planica compared

There are mountain ski areas which can be considered proper heritage sites, because of the attractiveness of the services offered as much as the relevance of the areas’ own historical memory. If on the one hand the "white gold rush" was the main cause of the upheaval of the mountain landscape, on the other hand it bequeathed places, artifacts and historical events on which wealth and new territorial specificities were built. The process which has shaped them, from remote rural locations, into sports and tourism high-class centers, seems to have taken on an identity of its own, that has ended up bridging the gap the heavy wave of infrastructural development of the mountains had created with the pre-twentieth century tradition, filling it with a renewed "sense of place", which has slowly shifted the "sense of past" to a more recent history, now considered the true heritage of the place. The arrival of the new millennium has brought with it other challenges and, above all, new performance requirements against which to calibrate development prospects. Today, ski resorts are at a crossroads: continue to pursue the logic that has led them to be what they are, perhaps whilst integrating principles of sustainability and energy efficiency, or change strategy and find new approaches to deal with the lack of snow, the seasonal adjustment of the offer, the consolidation of a fruition increasingly attentive to experiencing heritage and authenticity of the place, the need to combine the demand for services for mass tourism with the reduction of impact on the natural landscape and environment. However, while economic policies, administrative choices and local affairs play a predominant role in this process, the design seems to take a back seat. This begs the question: is there critical thinking behind the creation of the objects, forms and figures of this new "sense of place"? Are there architectural principles or constructive languages of technical infrastructures which enable the enhancement of the landscape and cultural heritage shaped by skiing?