Why were movies set around skiing so popular in the 80s?

Because they knew global warming was real, and we would need something to remember what snow was, but also something that wouldn't make use miss it that much.

Yuppies liked to ski

easy to shoot locations since there are so many resorts with lots of lodging available for the cast & crew. They shot a sex comedy on a river but it was a nightmare shoot, massive editing didn't really fix all the continuity problems so it was back to shooting in resorts.

It really broke into the mainstream in the late 80s. More resorts meant more affordable.

The popularity in a few Bond movies such as For your Eyes Only, which had a significant snow ski scene at a resort. The opening scene in The Spy who Loved me and in View to a Kill. And of course On her Majestys Secret Service also had a big action scene in it towards the end. Once a Bond movie has a theme, all these movie companies copy what they do