Everyone knows skiing is a ridiculously expensive sport. I absolutely love to ski although I’m not at all sporty or competitive so it’s more of a hobby. Albeit a hobby that can set you back thousands of dollars even doing it on the cheap. If you have kids it’s even worse. I grew up in an Australian working-class family and although we weren’t poor we were certainly not wealthy. Somehow my Dad still managed to take us on ski holidays. In order to afford this luxury, although it wasn’t luxurious, we stayed in cheap accommodation two hours away from Perisher Valley where we skied in New South Wales.
This meant getting all our ski equipment, a packed lunch and three small children in the car by 7 am every morning to hit the slopes by nine. When money is tight, you want to make the most of your day pass and ski from opening to closing time. It’s exhausting in an invigorating and exciting way if that makes sense?
If you’ve ever skied with kids you know how frustrating it is to get them kitted up. Ski boots are sheer torture to small feet. Getting them on (and off) and simply walking from the carpark to the chairlift is laborious. It wasn’t easy fun for sure, but it was definitely worth the effort. Once we even stayed in a caravan to save money. That thing was tiny and didn’t have a loo. To shower or use the toilet we had to walk to the campground facilities in freezing temperatures.
So why did we do it? Because when you get the ski bug, it’s impossible to resist. And despite the absence of après glamour, we held a number of privileges that made skiing possible.
Now that I’m the parent of three children, I fully understand the high cost of ski holidays. What’s more, I can see how racist and classist it is. For many people, there is just no way they can afford a ski holiday.
WHITE PRIVILEGE ON THE SLOPES
Since I moved to the U.S I’ve skied more than a dozen times in the various resorts of New Jersey, New York and Vermont. Many of these resorts are so close that we can enjoy day trips thus saving on accommodation. While day trips save money on accommodation there’s still the crazy cost of lift tickets. A single lift pass is at least $80 for a day. Multiply that for a family of five, add ski hire and it’s a very expensive day out.
The fact that my husband and I ski so often is due to the privileges we hold. When I look around the slopes I notice right away, most of the faces are White. For the past few years, I make a mental note of how many People of Colour are riding the mountain alongside me. Most times, sadly the number is barely two or three.
It’s blatantly obvious that skiing is the epitome of white privilege.
Where are all the Black skiers? Instinctively I know this is about racism.
MELANATE THE MOUNTAINS
Obviously not the main issue but certainly a huge barrier to skiing is the prohibitive cost. Clearly, this is a racist issue as well as a classist one. When Black American households earn a fraction of White American households—just 59 cents for every dollar. The gap between Black and White annual household incomes is about $29,000 per year so many are automatically priced out of the sport. The wealth gap widens further for Hispanic and Indigenous people. However, simply addressing wealth inequality won’t entirely explain the attitude of entitlement from White people.
There’s also a bizarre notion from White people that Black people don’t like the cold therefore won’t want to ski. Perhaps the truth is that White people prefer to keep “their” ski mountains white? Could segregation be in play here, much like the redlining of Black communities?
If Black folks are reluctant to try this predominantly White sport, it could be because they feel unwelcome. And that would be justified. My observation is that Black, Indigenous and People of Colour are acutely underrepresented on resort websites and in advertising for the industry. Yet the majority of service staff who work at resorts I’ve visited are People of Colour. Of course, working in a ski resort is one way for a passionate skier to access the sport. Indeed, most European resorts run on the labour of untethered youth. Is that what’s happening here in America? I highly doubt it.
Although don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting for a moment, that European resorts are so diverse. The Black British skiers of Mount Noir will be able to speak further on this. Five women with a passion for skiing make up the group. They’re on a mission to “bring colour to the mountains” by organising packages like this one to Val Thorens.
The U.S has a few Black ski groups that arrange events, like the Nubian Empire Club. Also creating inclusive space for Black skiers is The National Brotherhood of Skiers founded in 1978 by Arthur Clay and Benjamin Finley. The group’s fundraising efforts have helped to elevate the careers of athletes such as Bonnie St John, the first black woman to win a Paralympic medal for skiing, and Andre Horton, the first black man to compete for the US alpine team. In addition, NBS built the Black Ski Summit and National Youth Program to make space for Black skiers, enrich the lives of young people through skiing and support athletes of colour in winter sports.
Evidently, the lack of Black and Brown skiers is more about white supremacy than anything else.
It’s time White people address elitism within the ski community. In order to create inclusive resorts that welcome everyone equally, industry leaders must diversify the ski business. The road to achieving this begins with the ski industry itself. The entire spectrum from ski instructors through to every level of management and pr should employ People of Colour.
Shooshing down a powdery mountain, whatever your skill level, is something everybody has the right to enjoy.
Sources : US Senate document on racial inequity 2020 | POWDER article by Garrett Schlag | Nubian Empire Ski club | National Brotherhood of Skiers
Comments ( 19 )
Catherine, Not Dressed As Lamb
Wow, Michelle… what a wonderfully thought-provoking post. I’d never even considered there being racism in skiing before, and although I’ve only been once, in Switzerland aged 13, it IS predominantly full of white people as you say. Cost is something that has stopped me from ever skiing, because as we only ever get to go on holiday once every 5 years or so (as that’s all we’ve ever been able to afford), I choose heat over snow. But who knows, if skiing were cheaper maybe I’d have considered it? Therefore I can only imagine how prohibitive and untenable it is for people of colour to ski when it’s dominated by so many white people who can easily afford it (not all, as you described in your account of hols back home in Oz, but many). Kudos to those organisations doing something to change that.
It goes to show how we need to keep our white privilege in check in ALL areas of life – even ones we’d never considered before. Please please please keep writing these posts and making us all aware of these issues…. more importantly, for making us STOP and THINK.
Thank you thank you xx
Diego First time skiier
Michelle,
Very interesting and brave post.
I stumbled upon it because I had my first ever experience at a ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland.
I was very surprised of not seeing a single individual of color in the whole town, which instantly made me question and realize what you transmit exactly here.
I was afraid to actually google the phrase that could lead me to some results like “do people of color ski” or “why there is no people of color in ski resorts”.
You addressed it perfectly and by a very centered approach, so congratulations.
Something that shocked me even more than the actual fact that ski represents “white supremacy” is that Catherine, the person who replied to your post, never realized this until she read this post.
There could be an economical barrier, yes, but even though people of color can afford, it might feel unfriendly? This mindset will hopefully change as generations pass by.
I am latino btw.
Thank you for writing.
MT
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment Diego. I really appreciate your perspective as a first time skier and Latino.
Will you go skiing again and if so where to next time?
Sadly I’m afraid skiing will soon become even more elite, due to the climate crisis. My husband and I decided to blow our budget on the trip of a lifetime to Colorado next year. Just 5 days at Beaver Creek is exorbitant but I have a feeling it’ll be my last ski holiday so it’s worth it to me.