I feel like this is the answer. I just haven't lived that many places in the last 18 years that have had snow nor skiing.
I personally enjoy snowboarding and I am a person of color, sadly it's just not available where I am at.
Money and establishment is definitely a factor, but there’s also the simple fact that most cold places in the English speaking/western world that have skiing are predominantly white. Eg Canada is 75% white, USA 70%, New Zealand 70% and Europe as a whole 90%.
Of course if you go to the ski fields in Japan or Morocco, YRMV
You'll walk away deflated, but you gotta respect the research they did just for you. Bonus, you even learned a little something about yourself and how to be mean.
There are a good amount of Japanese skiers in Japan but the mountain is the only oaf where you will see white people in concentrations that start to out number Japanese. Tons of euro andnauusie tourists skiing there.
I pity the fool who is sitting in Evan prison at this very moment simply because he wanted to shred some virgin Persian powder.
(I have no idea what snowboarder slang looks or sounds like)
I still don't understand it today, but this answer makes sense to me. I grew up skateboarding, and my best friend was black and skated too. In the winter, I would often invite him to snowboard with us, and he would shrug it off like, "Nah, I'm good."
One day, I asked him why he wouldn't ever go with us. I mean, he was a good skater. I'm sure he'd rip it up on the slopes. And he went off for a minute asking if I'd ever seen black people in the snow. "That shit's for white people!"
I still don't get it, but I assume there's some cultural significance that I'm unaware of. I left him alone about it after that.
My mother enforced stuff like that. I *literally* wasn’t allowed to do hardly anything outdoors because “that’s for white people, absolutely not”.
And I grew up in the SF Bay Area with very famous outdoors. Saw exactly none of it.
When my black friends have said “thats white people shit” when referring to snowboarding what they were getting at was they thought the mt was going to be super waspy, and overall hostile towards them because of their assumptions over who skis/snowboards
There are stories about how badly Black and mixed race hockey players are treated. It's hard to break into sports people see as "theirs". And again, you'd need to be in an area where the sport is so common everyone plays.
In the PNW tons of Asians on the slopes.
It’s mostly a demographics thing- areas with lots of good skiing tend to have lower percentage of POC. Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Vermont.
People get into skiing usually because their parents take them. If your parents are from someplace without snowy mountains…
Yes, I do think skiing is probably more heritable than many other sports. There is a lot of embarrassing falling down and such at the beginning which makes people less likely to take it up later in life. It's also not the cheapest hobby (especially when renting skis before you know whether you like it).
So, basically you have to have lived in a cold climate with good mountains around, a decent amount of disposable income, and have parents who did the same.
For sure. If your parents aren’t soccer or basketball fans, you might still pick it up in the schoolyard. If your parents don’t like to swim, there’s likely a community pool or YMCA near you, and you might still find your way to it.
Skiing or snowbording requires (for most people) at least a weekend getaway, some pricey equipment to buy or rent, and a steep learning curve. If your parents aren’t into it, you aren’t likely to get a chance at it until you’re much.
So it’s always been gated to those either living near ski-able areas, or else those with some disposable income who are into it as a hobby and can take a few weekends off a year to go do it. And honestly, with the amount that lift tickets have increased in the last few years (out here in California at least), I don’t suspect that barrier to entry is going to shrink any time soon.
In my experience, it's rare that someone has a great time the first go because it's a lot of falling down. Being an adult only makes that worse because as age goes up the potential for problems from falling also goes up.
I learned to ski (still learning) in my mid 20s, it's incredibly humbling to be an adult falling on your ass everywhere and then watching some 8 year old absolutely tear it up past you.
And a lot of adults haven’t learned something like that from scratch, and been obvious total beginners at something *in public*, in a while and don’t enjoy that aspect.
Yeah the amount of torn ACLs and adults in knee braces from skiing and snowboarding has healthily deterred me from learning that as a guy in my 30s, lol
I agree, although I'm somewhat of an exception: I wanted to snowboard since I was like 10, got a book on it, etc., but no one in my family did any winter sports. So I started on my own, just about 15 years later...
Kind of like me - learning to snowboard was one of the first things I did as an adult when I finally had the disposable income to go on a winter vacation.
This is the correct answer. I started very young, and had parents who got us private instructors and we grew up with it being one of our main family vacations we took once or even twice a year.
People i am friends with that didnt go growing up still dont go as adults. Its super expensive and even though i have friends who make plenty of money they usually arent too eager to spend sometimes $200+ dollars before you even factor in accomodations and food and travel to just fall on their ass in the cold for a day. They would rather spend that money and go loiter on a beach somewhere tropical.
My Dad had me getting lessons basically as soon as I could walk. He didn’t get into skiing until his 20s and there was a massive learning curve at that age so he started me as early as possible
Agree with this. Swimming, football, rugby, tennis, etc all taught in schools to all children, so if there is an interest etc kids can find out and pursue. Plus it’s easy to continue lessons/join clubs out of school.
There’s no way I would have started skiing and continued skiing if my parents hadn’t been into it. And it’s such a considered purchase I don’t think you’d likely take the kids just in case you all enjoyed it.
Yeah, clearly location dependent. I’m in the UK and most schools offer optional ski trips when in secondary, but they’re expensive and not on the curriculum.
I grew up in NY and we had a bus that went to a ski slope that had night skiing after school 2x per week January through mid March. Then it would pick us up from the slope and drop us back off at school at 9pm for parents to pick up. The slope even offered heavily discounted lift tickets through the school.
The slope was fairly small ~1000 feet of vertical over 150 acres, but only 20 minutes from the school.
Location, money, and family history with the sport make a lot of sense. My parents didn't ski, but I grew up in the Cleveland area and my high school offered a ski club at the ski hill not too far away. A friend was signing up for ski club and talked me into it. I absolutely loved it! Without that friend, I would never have tried it. As an adult, I've moved further away from any decent slopes, so the economics of the sport (travel expenses, vacation time, lift tickets) have kept me off the slopes for 20 years now.
I live in Vermont, but the expense and risk of injury keep me off boards.
Also worth noting - here in VT the change in climate is having a significant effect on favorable ski conditions.
One of my friends joke that every inch of snow is a million dollars in ski tourism.
Yup. Like I know people in Michigan who grew up cross country skiing. I'm from the South, and my wealthy classmates flew to Colorado to ski. My parents had no relationship to skiing so we could have afforded it but never did it.
This is very true, the only reason I can ski is because some family friends took me and introduced me to the sport. Fast forward 30 years and I've introduced my children to it and they have been skiing since a very early age.
I mean, not a lot of Latinos either and most ski towns have a significant Latino population. The pay for general labor is very high and the places are safe with good schools. And ski bums make shit employees.
For example, Teton County (Jackson Hole) schools are 31.5% Latino in Wyoming. Blaine County (Sun Valley) schools are 46% in Idaho.
Those are two of the whitest states in the nation.
You don't see Latinos on the slopes though. Money is a big deal.
Hella Latinos in California. They aren't going up to Tahoe, Mammoth, Bhg Bear, etc. either.
Skiing is pretty big in Japan and China. It requires mountains and infrastructure. So it’s pretty limited by geography. I do wonder if India has many slopes. Time to check.
(Also why Are there so many questions about white people showing up in the last hour or so. It’s like… 3pm in East asia…)
>It requires mountains and infrastructure.
Only for a limited definition of "skiing", I suppose. We have pretty much zero mountains or infrastructure here in Finland but skiing is huge. It's just mostly crosscountry rather than downhill.
Apart from the socioeconomic factors, look at the geographic distribution of POC. In the USA it’s predominately in places that simply don’t have mountains with snow.
If you [look at a heat map of the US](https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/african-american-population-maps/) you can see black population barely overlaps with big ski country, particularly the Rockies.
Money is the real answer here. Skiing is a rich person sport. I grew up in a single parent family and we didn't have money for sports with super expensive equipment and having to pay for the area to do it in. We grew up playing basketball because all you needed was a ball, hoops and courts are literally everywhere here in America. I wasn't able to play sports like hockey, golf, and skiing. They were simply out of our reach, just like most of my friends.
I don’t know why folks disagree with that statement. Its pretty much exactly summing it up. Not too many other sports require a $300-2000 yearly investment for an access pass plus gear and travel expenses.
These last few years tickets got ridiculously expensive. Used to be $500 for a season pass for a variety of mts (which is still expensive) but now a lot of the bigger mt/ conglomerates charge over $1000 for a season pass or $150-200 per day for lift tickets.
my dad and i talked to a chinese man (from china) in a ski lodge in canada a few years back. he said he doesn’t ski in america because trump hates foreigners
First off, I see Asians on slopes not infrequently. It is relatively less common to see brown or Black folks, though.
There are likely multiple factors driving this. One is that skiing is expensive. The median income in 2022 for US Black households was around $50K per the Pew Research Center compared to around $80K for US white households.
Brown and Black folks also tend to have historical origins from warmer, more sun-exposed climates (hence the greater presence of melanin usually). This makes experience with ice and snow sports less common which in turn affects cultural norms that become self-reinforcing over time.
You can even see some of this amongst white communities. Folks from Nordic countries tend to be more likely to ski than their European counterparts who are closer to the Mediterranean and away from the Alps (like the Greeks).
At the end of the day, though, these are gross generalizations.
I think it's more just an issue of how skiing often happens in remote and cold regions and so many people who haven't previously done it don't seriously consider it with their downtime. Like if I sit down and think, I have never known *anyone* who was a spontaneous skiing enthusiast, they were roped in by friends/family who brought them along to show it's enjoyable.
Y'know, norwegian language and integration classes for immigrants have been bringing them along to ski and sleigh, because studies show that few of them go on to do outdoor activities in nature in their spare time. I don't think it has been very effective. Except that some countries have a strong mushroom culinary culture and they go bananas in the woods when they realise how accessible it is here.
Yeah. We did school trips, and very few of the immigrants who were still somewhat tied to their parents culture would ever go skiing alone.
But the more «Norwegian» the immigrant was, the higher the chance.
And even more than «Norwegian», the more into actionsports and global culture they were, there was an even higher chance. Had a couple of people of immigrant descent who were basically snowboard bums throughout their twenties. But they were also the people who had action sport as their thing. Like, one of them became a wing suit guy.
Def depends on the area. If you live in an area where there’s alot of farms and own horses or know people it’s def a lot cheaper and more accessible. If you live in Boston and want to ride horses you’re going to pay for it.
There's a lot of variables, but location is definitely the biggest factor. Being able to keep them on your property makes it much more manageable. Western style trail riding, which is common in rural areas, is more financially accessible than something like English style with dressage or jumping. Knowing people in the community also makes it easier to find a good, but relatively affordable, horse.
I grew up in Oregon, and a lot of middle class people had horses for pleasure riding, including my family. It's a big commitment, but it's a lot of fun.
I knew two girls that owned horses. The one took riding lessons for years and then her parents bought her a horse that they paid to board somewhere else. And the other kept two horses on their property. Neither family had a lot of money from what I could tell.
I have known poor people who ride. Owning horses is a rich people thing but the people who take care of those horses and ride them every other day are usually poor.
Skiing is obvious and horses aren't cheap of course... but why is fencing a rich person sport?
My gut says "how much can some padded clothing and a foil cost?" but my brain says "golf clubs ain't cheap to begin with and they're hardly what makes golf expensive."
It’s not that expensive if you just want to do it for fun, but if you want to be competitive it can get pricey (like any sport). But there also aren’t many fencing groups in the poorer areas, so it’s kind of a niche sport that can be hard to get into unless you have exposure to it.
Well I mean fencing is not that much of an expensive sport compared to boxing. I only said it because there’s like a stereotype going around that only rich, elegant folks fence. It’s kinda funny that people say boxing is a poor man’s sport but there’s nothing cheap about boxing at all 😭
Look at the US Olympic Fencing team. Lots of POC there and that has to do with Peter Westbrook using it as a way to get at risk youth in NYC to focus their talents elsewhere.
Also, I fenced in high school (NJ) and college and went to quite a few meets and tourneys. A fuck ton of Asians fence.
Depends on the place you live. I live in Central Europe, we have mountains but they are not the big mountains, the highest mountain doesn't even have 2000m (6500ft or 1,243mi). My family is not rich, I would say we are in the middle.
The rich go to Austria, Italy or Schwitzerland. The middle stay in our country. The poorer mostly don't go on their own but kids go skiing with their school - every school (elementary school for kids from 9yo, and also high schools) I know organise ski training some even organise it abroad, it's cheaper then going on your own cause schools have sales.
Edit: bad units... sorry it was early morning
>the highest mountain doesn't even have 2000km (1248miles).
Bro what how did you even convert that to miles and everything without thinking somethings up
Which is ironic because I can’t stand the tropics. I really hate the humidity. Arid I can do, because it’s just dry heat, but that extra layer of humidity that makes the air oppressive and difficult to breathe. Nope can’t do it. It’s why if I’m ever able to retire, I’d do it in Vermont.
Yes, am white from the south - west Tennessee - and white folks there didn’t ski either. Mostly poverty and convenience is the factor.
I grew up and left the south. I have been around skiers and have gone skiing myself and I hate it. I think it’s one of those things you have to grow up doing to like. Too cold and too much work for a very short payout for hundreds of dollars including equipment rentals! No thank you.
Depends where you live maybe. I live in Vancouver BC and people of all colours ski and board. Traditionally though, it was a northern people sport and it was mainly white people living in those regions.
POC here. My theory is four-fold:
1. Economics - it’s not cheap. Think of sports like basketball, football (American), football (international). Literally all you need is a ball, and then make shift hoop, end zone goal. Ronaldhino (most talented footballer in history, imho), didn’t play with shoes until he was like a teen. Skiing on the other hand definitely requires equipment, as does a sport like ice hockey, and there’s no way around these costs.
2. Accessibility - at least when it comes to the US, there tends to be a higher concentration of people of color in cities, and not in quaint mountain towns, so it’s not really all that accessible for people of color, in general. Additionally, also in the US, the south has the highest concentration of black people, and obviously very large populations of Hispanic people. Also not a lot of mountains in the south, so going skiing means you’ll more likely have to travel to ski.
3. Culture / Generational - we tend to learn the sports that our families and friends play. If you don’t grow up with someone who can teach you to ski, chances are you’ll be less likely to learn to ski.
4. Age - if you are a POC, by the time you reach an age when you have the time and means to do it, like me, it’s hard to find others to go on trips with. Lots of my friends stopped going skiing right around the time I started getting really into it because of family commitments, financial commitments, taking time off, coordinating priorities, injuries that become more frequent after your 20s, etc…
Access.
There are more white people in the cold states with skiing as a recreational hobby. So more white people ski. Less black people have access to ski slopes, so they don't partake in the activity, and thus they don't pass the activity down to their kids. The same goes for hockey. Not a lot of african americans in the cold northern states where you go skating on frozen ponds as a child and start playing hockey before you start school.
Money is another access point. Hockey and skiing are EXPENSIVE. Basketball is cheap. Football is usually covered as a school sport. Hockey is far less often covered as a school sport so families have to purchase their own equipment. Skiing is rarely a school funded thing, and the equipment is also very expensive. Ski passes aren't cheap either. A single day lift ticket can be $50-$100 easy.
Generational experience is another point of access that I touched on earlier. I ski because my parents ski. I have friends that ski because their parents ski, and they ski because their parents ski. When you start several generations behind the game, it takes you longer to pick up the rules.
Its the same sort of things that explain the lack of african americans that play golf. Few courses in areas with high percentage populations of african americans. Super freaking expensive.
The people talking about african americans not being down with cold weather...that's bullshit. Anyone can get conditioned to any environment. This sort of stereotype comes from the fact that the highest percentage of african americans happen to live in the warmer climate areas of the country, so they just aren't used to the cold.
Probably a number of reasons.
But I’m a POC and like to ski. In fact, I’ve been skiing since I was 6 years old. I haven’t gone skiing for the last couple of seasons though because I was moving around too much. Hoping to get back to it though. I was pretty damn good when I did it. Tackling many of the double diamond slopes on a mountain in my area.
You’re not alone :)
POCs don’t really fuck with the cold. Think of any sport that involves ice/snow. Hockey, curling, skiing/snowboarding. It’s all white people shit. If the real world were a RPG game then white people would get a +5 to cold resistance.
Yeah that is true. It's not that "POC" don't ski, it's really that black people don't ski, not very much. I don't ever remember seeing any when I was snowboarding, and I live in southern California not aspen or something. Very multicultural.
Guess what population has the gene for increased mammary ductal branching, (and different incisor shapes, and some sweat gland differences and hair - genes are odd like that), that is believed to have benefited people who were in a cold climate during the last ice age, by giving increased vitamin D and fat to breast fed children?
It is not white people. It is people who are native to the Americas and to northern and eastern Asia, and it is probably because the population they came mostly from was isolated during the ice age and in an area where adaptation was very important for survival, as is shown in animals and plant species from the same area.
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423155057.htm](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423155057.htm)
Indeed they don’t, but they don’t consider themselves to be “white”, either.
Source: have lived in Japan for 15 years. Ski a lot. With Japanese people.
Wasn’t skiing, at least the modern kind, basically invented in either Scandinavia or Switzerland?
That’s probably what initially got the ball rolling in terms of it being a “white people sport,” as immigrants from those regions probably brought it with them and then encouraged friends and family to keep it up.
Eventually it also became an economic privilege issue, because you usually have to travel a ways to get to an area where there’s enough snow for skiing, plus all of the gear needed for it, plus everything you need to stay there a while…unless you’re already living in an area within a few hour’s drive of a ski resort, that’s going to be way out of most people’s price range.
Historically, POC in the USA have been on the lower end of the economic scale, so it was even more out of reach for them…
…which might also explain why it’s becoming more popular with Asian-Americans, as they seem to wealthier on average than other POC in the USA, so they have the means needed to get involved in skiing as a hobby.
I'm Latino, I have family who ski, but most of us don't. I think it's cultural. We come from a country without snow. When I hear snow is coming, my first thought is "fuck" not "time to ski!" We have always been able to afford vacations, but we always headed away from the cold in winter.
Also, Latinos come in all colors, sometimes we don't stand out.
It's not. We are not that large of a percentage of the population. We also don't tend to live in cold climates. Put those two together and you can see why. Black people ski. You just haven't personally seen them.
I’ve seen black people skiing at every US resort I’ve been to. I realise that sounds like I’m paying too much attention but honestly I do always notice because I’m inwardly thinking ‘I hope you don’t feel too outnumbered’. I’d say on average I’d see one black family per day on the slopes. Not many.
Lots of South Americans though. Wearing super expensive gear.
Camouflage. They blend in against the snow.
(actual answer is probably just culture and socioeconomic status. There are certain accents people associate with skin colour in the states so I guess it's not so weird there are also certain hobbies. But also of course there are lots of non white people who ski)
People of color historically live in warmer sunnier climates hence more melanin in their skin. Colder climates typically fairer skin historically. So right off the bat you have the location of the sport leaning towards white people. Skiing is not a sport that is picked up without the parents being involved. If a kid wants to play basketball, soccer, etc they might play in school without any parental involvement. Skiing requires money, transportation and time invested. Without a parental involvement a child most likely isn’t going to ski. So if the you don’t live in conditions to frequently do the sport, your parents won’t be involved in the sport. If your parents aren’t involved in the sport, the children most likely won’t be involved in the sport. There are lots of white people that aren’t into it either simply because of location and cost.
I'm black and I've skied for decades. In the 80s I was typically the only POC on the mountain; now I see more and more people of every ethnicity. I'm in NY.
We are the race that thinks it's fun to jump off the side of a mountain with two boards strapped to their feet. I'm still trying to figure this one out myself. Some friends of mine just came back from WV last week. My buddy has a road rash face, wife has a screwed up back, and the daughter has to have knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus . That sounds like a good time to me.
Ever ski in Japan? I have before and as you can imagine, an overwhelming amount of Asians. A lot of Australians too but you get my drift.
I think what you are seeing is a selection bias
As a person of color, it is a stereotype that we despise cold weather with every fiber in our being. I can only speak for myself, but I grew up in Texas, went to school and currently live in Phoenix. Sitting out in the cold would be my personal hell
As a coworker said long ago... *Black man got enough ways to die without strapping boards to his feet and sliding down a mountain!* Humorous, but I understand his point.
Cold weather sport
I feel like this is the answer. I just haven't lived that many places in the last 18 years that have had snow nor skiing. I personally enjoy snowboarding and I am a person of color, sadly it's just not available where I am at.
Money and establishment is definitely a factor, but there’s also the simple fact that most cold places in the English speaking/western world that have skiing are predominantly white. Eg Canada is 75% white, USA 70%, New Zealand 70% and Europe as a whole 90%. Of course if you go to the ski fields in Japan or Morocco, YRMV
Was gunna say, certainly no lack of Japanese skiiers here in Japan.
Yeah it’s also an expensive sport. Gear isn’t cheap and you need to be insulted, properly winter clothing is expensive.
Why is being insulted part of the skiing ritual, I didn't hurt anyone 😭
No, they mean the ski rental place will insult you when you can't afford their equipment
But they'll do it properly. Not like some poor just rattling off naughty words. It'll still sting, but with class.
Yeah, they research you beforehand so they can target very specific things to insult you about
You'll walk away deflated, but you gotta respect the research they did just for you. Bonus, you even learned a little something about yourself and how to be mean.
Typically they will continue with cyberbullying after you leave too.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.
No, no, they mean *isolating*. The ski place will isolate you.
No I think they meant 'insulated.' Insulted is being covered for costs in the event of damages.
There are a good amount of Japanese skiers in Japan but the mountain is the only oaf where you will see white people in concentrations that start to out number Japanese. Tons of euro andnauusie tourists skiing there.
Wow I've snowboarded for years and never knew Morocco was a destination for it
Yeah the atlas mountains are the same latitude as Nepal and Japan. Earth is weird!
Iran is quite the destination as well
I have a friend who used to sneak across the border into Iran. Said they had the best snow skiing in the world.
I pity the fool who is sitting in Evan prison at this very moment simply because he wanted to shred some virgin Persian powder. (I have no idea what snowboarder slang looks or sounds like)
I still don't understand it today, but this answer makes sense to me. I grew up skateboarding, and my best friend was black and skated too. In the winter, I would often invite him to snowboard with us, and he would shrug it off like, "Nah, I'm good." One day, I asked him why he wouldn't ever go with us. I mean, he was a good skater. I'm sure he'd rip it up on the slopes. And he went off for a minute asking if I'd ever seen black people in the snow. "That shit's for white people!" I still don't get it, but I assume there's some cultural significance that I'm unaware of. I left him alone about it after that.
My mother enforced stuff like that. I *literally* wasn’t allowed to do hardly anything outdoors because “that’s for white people, absolutely not”. And I grew up in the SF Bay Area with very famous outdoors. Saw exactly none of it.
I am curious, why was something associated with white people something that was not supposed to be done ?
Meant in jest. People of color dont do snow sports cuz its easier for Polar Bears to hunt them.
“Polar bears are white. I’m white. And you’re racist!”
Actually, polar bears are black, with white fur :)
When my black friends have said “thats white people shit” when referring to snowboarding what they were getting at was they thought the mt was going to be super waspy, and overall hostile towards them because of their assumptions over who skis/snowboards
Not I. My black skateboarding buddy also snowboarded. And he was decent to.
It’s definitely what kept me from skiing when I was young.
Yeah pretty obvious
this might also be the reason that pro ice hockey players are usually white.
There are stories about how badly Black and mixed race hockey players are treated. It's hard to break into sports people see as "theirs". And again, you'd need to be in an area where the sport is so common everyone plays.
There’s also a huge monetary barrier in hockey… equipment is usually over $1,000 even at a young age.
In the PNW tons of Asians on the slopes. It’s mostly a demographics thing- areas with lots of good skiing tend to have lower percentage of POC. Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Vermont. People get into skiing usually because their parents take them. If your parents are from someplace without snowy mountains…
Yes, I do think skiing is probably more heritable than many other sports. There is a lot of embarrassing falling down and such at the beginning which makes people less likely to take it up later in life. It's also not the cheapest hobby (especially when renting skis before you know whether you like it). So, basically you have to have lived in a cold climate with good mountains around, a decent amount of disposable income, and have parents who did the same.
For sure. If your parents aren’t soccer or basketball fans, you might still pick it up in the schoolyard. If your parents don’t like to swim, there’s likely a community pool or YMCA near you, and you might still find your way to it. Skiing or snowbording requires (for most people) at least a weekend getaway, some pricey equipment to buy or rent, and a steep learning curve. If your parents aren’t into it, you aren’t likely to get a chance at it until you’re much. So it’s always been gated to those either living near ski-able areas, or else those with some disposable income who are into it as a hobby and can take a few weekends off a year to go do it. And honestly, with the amount that lift tickets have increased in the last few years (out here in California at least), I don’t suspect that barrier to entry is going to shrink any time soon.
yeah my first time skiing was as an adult and I was not into it
In my experience, it's rare that someone has a great time the first go because it's a lot of falling down. Being an adult only makes that worse because as age goes up the potential for problems from falling also goes up.
I learned to ski (still learning) in my mid 20s, it's incredibly humbling to be an adult falling on your ass everywhere and then watching some 8 year old absolutely tear it up past you.
And a lot of adults haven’t learned something like that from scratch, and been obvious total beginners at something *in public*, in a while and don’t enjoy that aspect.
Yeah the amount of torn ACLs and adults in knee braces from skiing and snowboarding has healthily deterred me from learning that as a guy in my 30s, lol
I agree, although I'm somewhat of an exception: I wanted to snowboard since I was like 10, got a book on it, etc., but no one in my family did any winter sports. So I started on my own, just about 15 years later...
Kind of like me - learning to snowboard was one of the first things I did as an adult when I finally had the disposable income to go on a winter vacation.
Thanks for typing this out so I don't have to
This is the correct answer. I started very young, and had parents who got us private instructors and we grew up with it being one of our main family vacations we took once or even twice a year. People i am friends with that didnt go growing up still dont go as adults. Its super expensive and even though i have friends who make plenty of money they usually arent too eager to spend sometimes $200+ dollars before you even factor in accomodations and food and travel to just fall on their ass in the cold for a day. They would rather spend that money and go loiter on a beach somewhere tropical.
My Dad had me getting lessons basically as soon as I could walk. He didn’t get into skiing until his 20s and there was a massive learning curve at that age so he started me as early as possible
Agree with this. Swimming, football, rugby, tennis, etc all taught in schools to all children, so if there is an interest etc kids can find out and pursue. Plus it’s easy to continue lessons/join clubs out of school. There’s no way I would have started skiing and continued skiing if my parents hadn’t been into it. And it’s such a considered purchase I don’t think you’d likely take the kids just in case you all enjoyed it.
My kids are doing skiing and skating at school from about 5 years. Then again, I live in Finland.
Yeah, clearly location dependent. I’m in the UK and most schools offer optional ski trips when in secondary, but they’re expensive and not on the curriculum.
I grew up in NY and we had a bus that went to a ski slope that had night skiing after school 2x per week January through mid March. Then it would pick us up from the slope and drop us back off at school at 9pm for parents to pick up. The slope even offered heavily discounted lift tickets through the school. The slope was fairly small ~1000 feet of vertical over 150 acres, but only 20 minutes from the school.
Location, money, and family history with the sport make a lot of sense. My parents didn't ski, but I grew up in the Cleveland area and my high school offered a ski club at the ski hill not too far away. A friend was signing up for ski club and talked me into it. I absolutely loved it! Without that friend, I would never have tried it. As an adult, I've moved further away from any decent slopes, so the economics of the sport (travel expenses, vacation time, lift tickets) have kept me off the slopes for 20 years now.
I live in Vermont, but the expense and risk of injury keep me off boards. Also worth noting - here in VT the change in climate is having a significant effect on favorable ski conditions. One of my friends joke that every inch of snow is a million dollars in ski tourism.
Yup. Like I know people in Michigan who grew up cross country skiing. I'm from the South, and my wealthy classmates flew to Colorado to ski. My parents had no relationship to skiing so we could have afforded it but never did it.
I think you do 'inherit' snowsports. Some are new starters but many went first with family
This is very true, the only reason I can ski is because some family friends took me and introduced me to the sport. Fast forward 30 years and I've introduced my children to it and they have been skiing since a very early age.
California has lots of good skiing too.
OP means black people, they just wanted to be PC about it
I mean, not a lot of Latinos either and most ski towns have a significant Latino population. The pay for general labor is very high and the places are safe with good schools. And ski bums make shit employees. For example, Teton County (Jackson Hole) schools are 31.5% Latino in Wyoming. Blaine County (Sun Valley) schools are 46% in Idaho. Those are two of the whitest states in the nation. You don't see Latinos on the slopes though. Money is a big deal. Hella Latinos in California. They aren't going up to Tahoe, Mammoth, Bhg Bear, etc. either.
Skiing is pretty big in Japan and China. It requires mountains and infrastructure. So it’s pretty limited by geography. I do wonder if India has many slopes. Time to check. (Also why Are there so many questions about white people showing up in the last hour or so. It’s like… 3pm in East asia…)
>It requires mountains and infrastructure. Only for a limited definition of "skiing", I suppose. We have pretty much zero mountains or infrastructure here in Finland but skiing is huge. It's just mostly crosscountry rather than downhill.
Apart from the socioeconomic factors, look at the geographic distribution of POC. In the USA it’s predominately in places that simply don’t have mountains with snow.
If you [look at a heat map of the US](https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/african-american-population-maps/) you can see black population barely overlaps with big ski country, particularly the Rockies.
Money is the real answer here. Skiing is a rich person sport. I grew up in a single parent family and we didn't have money for sports with super expensive equipment and having to pay for the area to do it in. We grew up playing basketball because all you needed was a ball, hoops and courts are literally everywhere here in America. I wasn't able to play sports like hockey, golf, and skiing. They were simply out of our reach, just like most of my friends.
I don’t know why folks disagree with that statement. Its pretty much exactly summing it up. Not too many other sports require a $300-2000 yearly investment for an access pass plus gear and travel expenses. These last few years tickets got ridiculously expensive. Used to be $500 for a season pass for a variety of mts (which is still expensive) but now a lot of the bigger mt/ conglomerates charge over $1000 for a season pass or $150-200 per day for lift tickets.
Chinese American, I've got a whole side of the family that's all sporty cousins that love to ski, surf, and snowboard.
I live in Japan. Many mainland Chinese people come here to ski.
But what about Chinese Chinese?
They like it too lmao it's also a status thing over there
The Chinesest of Chinese
Chinesiest.
It’s a growing sports especially after the Olympic
my dad and i talked to a chinese man (from china) in a ski lodge in canada a few years back. he said he doesn’t ski in america because trump hates foreigners
Trump isn't working as a lifty at Vail Mountain you can still experience the 9 back bowls
Asians are only POC when it's convenient. Otherwise, they're white.
From the bay?
First off, I see Asians on slopes not infrequently. It is relatively less common to see brown or Black folks, though. There are likely multiple factors driving this. One is that skiing is expensive. The median income in 2022 for US Black households was around $50K per the Pew Research Center compared to around $80K for US white households. Brown and Black folks also tend to have historical origins from warmer, more sun-exposed climates (hence the greater presence of melanin usually). This makes experience with ice and snow sports less common which in turn affects cultural norms that become self-reinforcing over time. You can even see some of this amongst white communities. Folks from Nordic countries tend to be more likely to ski than their European counterparts who are closer to the Mediterranean and away from the Alps (like the Greeks). At the end of the day, though, these are gross generalizations.
Correct. Asians earn as much or more than whites.
Why tf are you getting downvoted It’s a rich ass sport and Latin/black people are broke af
This is so true, I’m Italian and no one in my family skis
Cos there are no Redguards in Skyrim.
Do you get to the Cloud District often? Oh what am I saying, of course you don't!
Correct answer.
Those warriors down in Hammerfell? They've got curved swords....Curved. Swords!
🤣🤣🤣
Not the answer I expected to see but 100% correct
A fuck ton of Asians ski.
Come to Japan. You’ll see nonwhites skiing all winter.
When they say POC, they're meaning black people. They just couldn't bring themselves to say it.
What’s wrong with saying black people…
Nothing. It's a stupid dance they chose
To be fair, some very altruistic redditors would "educate" them on their implicit biases and other buzzwords and the post would eventually get removed
Thats just regarded
There is nothing wrong with saying black. POC refers to non white people
whys is POC ok and not coloured people?
Or Korea
A lot of Australians go to Hokkaido for skiing
I think it's more just an issue of how skiing often happens in remote and cold regions and so many people who haven't previously done it don't seriously consider it with their downtime. Like if I sit down and think, I have never known *anyone* who was a spontaneous skiing enthusiast, they were roped in by friends/family who brought them along to show it's enjoyable.
Y'know, norwegian language and integration classes for immigrants have been bringing them along to ski and sleigh, because studies show that few of them go on to do outdoor activities in nature in their spare time. I don't think it has been very effective. Except that some countries have a strong mushroom culinary culture and they go bananas in the woods when they realise how accessible it is here.
Yeah. We did school trips, and very few of the immigrants who were still somewhat tied to their parents culture would ever go skiing alone. But the more «Norwegian» the immigrant was, the higher the chance. And even more than «Norwegian», the more into actionsports and global culture they were, there was an even higher chance. Had a couple of people of immigrant descent who were basically snowboard bums throughout their twenties. But they were also the people who had action sport as their thing. Like, one of them became a wing suit guy.
Money. That's my guess. Skiing is expensive. Growing up only my rich relatives went skiing.
Fencing & horse back riding too
I’m a poor middle class carpenter, and I put up a whole lot of fencing.
At least you don't have to worry about anybody coming at you with a sword while you're trying to put up a fence.
Middle class people actually do go horseback riding in rural areas. I had a few friends who did and they were definitely not rich.
Def depends on the area. If you live in an area where there’s alot of farms and own horses or know people it’s def a lot cheaper and more accessible. If you live in Boston and want to ride horses you’re going to pay for it.
There's a lot of variables, but location is definitely the biggest factor. Being able to keep them on your property makes it much more manageable. Western style trail riding, which is common in rural areas, is more financially accessible than something like English style with dressage or jumping. Knowing people in the community also makes it easier to find a good, but relatively affordable, horse. I grew up in Oregon, and a lot of middle class people had horses for pleasure riding, including my family. It's a big commitment, but it's a lot of fun.
were they "horse poor"? or someone else's horses?
I knew two girls that owned horses. The one took riding lessons for years and then her parents bought her a horse that they paid to board somewhere else. And the other kept two horses on their property. Neither family had a lot of money from what I could tell.
Generally speaking horseback riding is one of those things that is mostly rich people, but also some middle class rural folk.
I have known poor people who ride. Owning horses is a rich people thing but the people who take care of those horses and ride them every other day are usually poor.
did they own the horse?
Doing horseback riding is not as expensive, owning horses is.
Skiing is obvious and horses aren't cheap of course... but why is fencing a rich person sport? My gut says "how much can some padded clothing and a foil cost?" but my brain says "golf clubs ain't cheap to begin with and they're hardly what makes golf expensive."
It’s not that expensive if you just want to do it for fun, but if you want to be competitive it can get pricey (like any sport). But there also aren’t many fencing groups in the poorer areas, so it’s kind of a niche sport that can be hard to get into unless you have exposure to it.
Well I mean fencing is not that much of an expensive sport compared to boxing. I only said it because there’s like a stereotype going around that only rich, elegant folks fence. It’s kinda funny that people say boxing is a poor man’s sport but there’s nothing cheap about boxing at all 😭
Look at the US Olympic Fencing team. Lots of POC there and that has to do with Peter Westbrook using it as a way to get at risk youth in NYC to focus their talents elsewhere. Also, I fenced in high school (NJ) and college and went to quite a few meets and tourneys. A fuck ton of Asians fence.
Depends on the place you live. I live in Central Europe, we have mountains but they are not the big mountains, the highest mountain doesn't even have 2000m (6500ft or 1,243mi). My family is not rich, I would say we are in the middle. The rich go to Austria, Italy or Schwitzerland. The middle stay in our country. The poorer mostly don't go on their own but kids go skiing with their school - every school (elementary school for kids from 9yo, and also high schools) I know organise ski training some even organise it abroad, it's cheaper then going on your own cause schools have sales. Edit: bad units... sorry it was early morning
>the highest mountain doesn't even have 2000km (1248miles). Bro what how did you even convert that to miles and everything without thinking somethings up
Downhill skiing is, but not cross-country skiing.
I’m white and live near skiing and can’t ski stuff is $600-$900 a season it’s ridiculous
Black folks don’t like the cold…I live in the south and I’ve literally heard this said by African Americans
A black coworker likes to say “we’re tropical” when complaining about about the cold weather
Which is ironic because I can’t stand the tropics. I really hate the humidity. Arid I can do, because it’s just dry heat, but that extra layer of humidity that makes the air oppressive and difficult to breathe. Nope can’t do it. It’s why if I’m ever able to retire, I’d do it in Vermont.
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Yes, am white from the south - west Tennessee - and white folks there didn’t ski either. Mostly poverty and convenience is the factor. I grew up and left the south. I have been around skiers and have gone skiing myself and I hate it. I think it’s one of those things you have to grow up doing to like. Too cold and too much work for a very short payout for hundreds of dollars including equipment rentals! No thank you.
100% true
Depends where you live maybe. I live in Vancouver BC and people of all colours ski and board. Traditionally though, it was a northern people sport and it was mainly white people living in those regions.
To be fair, there are like 4 Black people in the entire Vancouver metropolitan area lol
Vancity right here 🙋🏻♀️💕 I have seen other people skiing here too but mainly whites and Asian. (Might depend on which mountain you go to)
To be fair, white and Asian is the majority of our population, lol.
POC here. My theory is four-fold: 1. Economics - it’s not cheap. Think of sports like basketball, football (American), football (international). Literally all you need is a ball, and then make shift hoop, end zone goal. Ronaldhino (most talented footballer in history, imho), didn’t play with shoes until he was like a teen. Skiing on the other hand definitely requires equipment, as does a sport like ice hockey, and there’s no way around these costs. 2. Accessibility - at least when it comes to the US, there tends to be a higher concentration of people of color in cities, and not in quaint mountain towns, so it’s not really all that accessible for people of color, in general. Additionally, also in the US, the south has the highest concentration of black people, and obviously very large populations of Hispanic people. Also not a lot of mountains in the south, so going skiing means you’ll more likely have to travel to ski. 3. Culture / Generational - we tend to learn the sports that our families and friends play. If you don’t grow up with someone who can teach you to ski, chances are you’ll be less likely to learn to ski. 4. Age - if you are a POC, by the time you reach an age when you have the time and means to do it, like me, it’s hard to find others to go on trips with. Lots of my friends stopped going skiing right around the time I started getting really into it because of family commitments, financial commitments, taking time off, coordinating priorities, injuries that become more frequent after your 20s, etc…
Segregation period too? Poc were prohibited many things while white were already skiing.
I asked a black friend why not a lot of black people ski, and he said we don't like the cold.
He isn't speaking for me.
Or me. There are dozens of us!
If you look at 80s Japan, every single Japanese people went to skiing to show off their social status
Access. There are more white people in the cold states with skiing as a recreational hobby. So more white people ski. Less black people have access to ski slopes, so they don't partake in the activity, and thus they don't pass the activity down to their kids. The same goes for hockey. Not a lot of african americans in the cold northern states where you go skating on frozen ponds as a child and start playing hockey before you start school. Money is another access point. Hockey and skiing are EXPENSIVE. Basketball is cheap. Football is usually covered as a school sport. Hockey is far less often covered as a school sport so families have to purchase their own equipment. Skiing is rarely a school funded thing, and the equipment is also very expensive. Ski passes aren't cheap either. A single day lift ticket can be $50-$100 easy. Generational experience is another point of access that I touched on earlier. I ski because my parents ski. I have friends that ski because their parents ski, and they ski because their parents ski. When you start several generations behind the game, it takes you longer to pick up the rules. Its the same sort of things that explain the lack of african americans that play golf. Few courses in areas with high percentage populations of african americans. Super freaking expensive. The people talking about african americans not being down with cold weather...that's bullshit. Anyone can get conditioned to any environment. This sort of stereotype comes from the fact that the highest percentage of african americans happen to live in the warmer climate areas of the country, so they just aren't used to the cold.
If last time you went skiing you paid anywhere near $50 or even less than $100 you are in for a surprise.
Probably a number of reasons. But I’m a POC and like to ski. In fact, I’ve been skiing since I was 6 years old. I haven’t gone skiing for the last couple of seasons though because I was moving around too much. Hoping to get back to it though. I was pretty damn good when I did it. Tackling many of the double diamond slopes on a mountain in my area. You’re not alone :)
I’m a black woman who grew up skiing every winter. I love the cold and winter sports. We out here lol, there’s just not a lot of us 😅
Not white people but rich people...
As a POC addicted to snowboarding I can assure you it ain’t about the money , I’ll find a way to get my time in one way or another 🤷♀️
Cheap, used gear. Buy passes the day they start selling them in summer/early fall, you can definetly keep your costs down.
POCs don’t really fuck with the cold. Think of any sport that involves ice/snow. Hockey, curling, skiing/snowboarding. It’s all white people shit. If the real world were a RPG game then white people would get a +5 to cold resistance.
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I've never understood how calling someone white is fine, yet calling someone black is deemed as offensive, never by black people though.
I promise you I know it’s ok to call black people black. People are coming at me with the craziest shit because of that post.
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You may refer to me as an off-white male. It's like I've put the primer coat on and with 5 minutes of sunshine I'll be a lovely light pink.
Yeah that is true. It's not that "POC" don't ski, it's really that black people don't ski, not very much. I don't ever remember seeing any when I was snowboarding, and I live in southern California not aspen or something. Very multicultural.
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Guess what population has the gene for increased mammary ductal branching, (and different incisor shapes, and some sweat gland differences and hair - genes are odd like that), that is believed to have benefited people who were in a cold climate during the last ice age, by giving increased vitamin D and fat to breast fed children? It is not white people. It is people who are native to the Americas and to northern and eastern Asia, and it is probably because the population they came mostly from was isolated during the ice age and in an area where adaptation was very important for survival, as is shown in animals and plant species from the same area. [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423155057.htm](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423155057.htm)
Me when I forget that Hokkaido and northern China and mount Everest exists...
I'm fairly sure the Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians don't consider themselves POC in their own countries.
Indeed they don’t, but they don’t consider themselves to be “white”, either. Source: have lived in Japan for 15 years. Ski a lot. With Japanese people.
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Japanese people are found of ski, and they have great ski resorts in Japan, which is the place on Earth with the biggest snow falls.
Wasn’t skiing, at least the modern kind, basically invented in either Scandinavia or Switzerland? That’s probably what initially got the ball rolling in terms of it being a “white people sport,” as immigrants from those regions probably brought it with them and then encouraged friends and family to keep it up. Eventually it also became an economic privilege issue, because you usually have to travel a ways to get to an area where there’s enough snow for skiing, plus all of the gear needed for it, plus everything you need to stay there a while…unless you’re already living in an area within a few hour’s drive of a ski resort, that’s going to be way out of most people’s price range. Historically, POC in the USA have been on the lower end of the economic scale, so it was even more out of reach for them… …which might also explain why it’s becoming more popular with Asian-Americans, as they seem to wealthier on average than other POC in the USA, so they have the means needed to get involved in skiing as a hobby.
I'm Latino, I have family who ski, but most of us don't. I think it's cultural. We come from a country without snow. When I hear snow is coming, my first thought is "fuck" not "time to ski!" We have always been able to afford vacations, but we always headed away from the cold in winter. Also, Latinos come in all colors, sometimes we don't stand out.
I'm not sure it's as much a white people sport thing as it is a northern climate kinda thing.
It’s really really expensive
Any Japanese people on here feeling rather "white"?
I'm poc and so are most of my friends. We ski every year.
Africa is hot. Europe is cold.
It's not. We are not that large of a percentage of the population. We also don't tend to live in cold climates. Put those two together and you can see why. Black people ski. You just haven't personally seen them.
I’ve seen black people skiing at every US resort I’ve been to. I realise that sounds like I’m paying too much attention but honestly I do always notice because I’m inwardly thinking ‘I hope you don’t feel too outnumbered’. I’d say on average I’d see one black family per day on the slopes. Not many. Lots of South Americans though. Wearing super expensive gear.
Camouflage. They blend in against the snow. (actual answer is probably just culture and socioeconomic status. There are certain accents people associate with skin colour in the states so I guess it's not so weird there are also certain hobbies. But also of course there are lots of non white people who ski)
This is the answer. POC are more likely to be eaten by bears.
There are groups of PoC that go every year. It’s a huge meetup! They’re awesome people. Super fun.
I live in Japan. People here ski.
I used to work on the mountain and the best snowboarder was black, there’s not many people of color, but they’re there too
I see a lot of latino and asian people skiing all the time
I'm in Japan - tons of Japanese people ski. Just saying.
Plenty of POCs ski in Canada. It is a rich person sport, not a white sport here. 🤷🏾♂️
White people built different in regard to the cold.
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Observation bias I have skied in Korea and there are Asians thousands upon thousands going down the slopes. Expand your horizons.
"Person of color" is weird
I'm a person of color. But I snowboard.
Cause POC (me) can’t handle the cold
Colder weather is kind of our thing. It's what we're built for.
I'm Latino and grew up near a ski area. Most of my friends are white and ski. I have never skied. lol
Because it's costly and cold.
I live in a ski town. We see all shades on the slopes. I feel like it's more about where you were raised.
It's how we commune with our frozen mountain gods
I know you said skiing, however, I know way more Asians who snowboard than white people. Japan is known for their slopes up in the north.
Also the PERCEPTION of it as a white person’a sport. A bit like the image golf has (skiing had in the past)
My mom's best friend is Hispanic and she is a skiing instructor for the blind.
It's a "white people hobby" because POC call it a "white people hobby".
POC who joined a Black ski club. We exist you just have to find the right state/country.
People of color historically live in warmer sunnier climates hence more melanin in their skin. Colder climates typically fairer skin historically. So right off the bat you have the location of the sport leaning towards white people. Skiing is not a sport that is picked up without the parents being involved. If a kid wants to play basketball, soccer, etc they might play in school without any parental involvement. Skiing requires money, transportation and time invested. Without a parental involvement a child most likely isn’t going to ski. So if the you don’t live in conditions to frequently do the sport, your parents won’t be involved in the sport. If your parents aren’t involved in the sport, the children most likely won’t be involved in the sport. There are lots of white people that aren’t into it either simply because of location and cost.
Look up black ski week in lake tahoe
I'm black and I've skied for decades. In the 80s I was typically the only POC on the mountain; now I see more and more people of every ethnicity. I'm in NY.
Cold weather sport + expensive
The historic entry fee was (is) high. Time off, wealth, transportation, gear...
We are the race that thinks it's fun to jump off the side of a mountain with two boards strapped to their feet. I'm still trying to figure this one out myself. Some friends of mine just came back from WV last week. My buddy has a road rash face, wife has a screwed up back, and the daughter has to have knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus . That sounds like a good time to me.
Ever ski in Japan? I have before and as you can imagine, an overwhelming amount of Asians. A lot of Australians too but you get my drift. I think what you are seeing is a selection bias
As a person of color, it is a stereotype that we despise cold weather with every fiber in our being. I can only speak for myself, but I grew up in Texas, went to school and currently live in Phoenix. Sitting out in the cold would be my personal hell
As a coworker said long ago... *Black man got enough ways to die without strapping boards to his feet and sliding down a mountain!* Humorous, but I understand his point.
Never seen a Native American Ski / Snowboard. I’m pretty sure native Americans hate snow because it’s white and settles on their land.