Skiing’s POC problem

FruitBootPro

FruitBootPro

Active member
Legit have been wanting to discuss this:

We all know that the vast majority of skiers are white. The obvious reasons for this are because of economic inequality between races etc. But also, as far as I’ve seen (anecdotally), POC generally opt for snowboarding, especially black people. Why is this? What can the industry do to appeal to POC as much as snowboarding?

There are a decent amount of black and POC pro snowboarders, but I can only think of like three black sponsored skiers.

Not trying to stereotype, I just wanna talk about what i’ve personally observed and see what ppl think.
 
POC blows dude. Race trash. They give nothing back to the freeskiing culture. I don't support them at all and I suggest you don't either.

HYDWHI.jpg
 
I think that something about snowboarding is inherently connected to fighting power structures, as boarders were restricted from riding on most mountains for much of their early years.

also, skiing has a nerdy rep still compared to snowboarding (in the mainstream). its on us (the cultch) to fix that
 
14400206:Professor-Modelo said:
also, skiing has a nerdy rep still compared to snowboarding (in the mainstream). its on us (the cultch) to fix that
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does it?

i honestly can’t tell anymore. maybe to the mainstream that knows next to nothing about snowsports. But if you tell the average young adult “I’m a skier” 95% of the time they’re not going to think you’re lame.

I wish that we could make skiing more like the thug era again, not to a corny degree, but still more “skater” and “hiphop”…it’s lots of dudes still repping 4xl and that kinda style nowadays, but most of the people at the top really aren’t.
 
14400210:FruitBootPro said:
does it?

i honestly can’t tell anymore. maybe to the mainstream that knows next to nothing about snowsports. But if you tell the average young adult “I’m a skier” 95% of the time they’re not going to think you’re lame.

I wish that we could make skiing more like the thug era again, not to a corny degree, but still more “skater” and “hiphop”…it’s lots of dudes still repping 4xl and that kinda style nowadays, but most of the people at the top really aren’t.
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maybe my word choice wasnt the best. and i agree people arent gonna think someone is lame because they chose to ski (the opposite probably). also I feel like way more people are exposed to dope snowboard content more consistently (kleveland 650k followers to henriks 300k), which surely has an effect on how many opt to start with snowboarding when they are first getting on snow.
 
14400206:Professor-Modelo said:
I think that something about snowboarding is inherently connected to fighting power structures, as boarders were restricted from riding on most mountains for much of their early years.

also, skiing has a nerdy rep still compared to snowboarding (in the mainstream). its on us (the cultch) to fix that
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This right here. Snowboarding has always been anti establishment and because of that its cooler to people outside snowsports. Also if you skate and had to choose between skiing and snowboarding chances are you keep riding boards
 
14400214:Professor-Modelo said:
maybe my word choice wasnt the best. and i agree people arent gonna think someone is lame because they chose to ski (the opposite probably). also I feel like way more people are exposed to dope snowboard content more consistently (kleveland 650k followers to henriks 300k), which surely has an effect on how many opt to start with snowboarding when they are first getting on snow.
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Yeah, true.

So how does skiing address this? How do we gain presence by being “cool”?
 
14400239:Biffbarf said:
Doing the exact opposite of make threads like this would be a good start
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how are we supposed to solve a problem we’re not allowed to discuss

barely any skiers even go on this site, how tf would this thread affect freeskiing’s mainstream appeal
 
topic:FruitBootPro said:
as far as I’ve seen (anecdotally), POC generally opt for snowboarding, especially black people. Why is this?
Click to expand...

14400206:Professor-Modelo said:
I think that something about snowboarding is inherently connected to fighting power structures, as boarders were restricted from riding on most mountains for much of their early years.

also, skiing has a nerdy rep still compared to snowboarding (in the mainstream). its on us (the cultch) to fix that
Click to expand...

Culturally, snowboarding evolved from skateboarding and surfing. Both are done in more socio-economically diverse places than most ski resort towns.

Skiing evolved from a community that chose to distance itself from socio-economically diverse places.
 
14400243:FruitBootPro said:
how are we supposed to solve a problem we’re not allowed to discuss

barely any skiers even go on this site, how tf would this thread affect freeskiing’s mainstream appeal
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Discuss it all you want, just don't expect people to be attracted to something when they're being patronized. The 'how do we get people to think this is cool' mindset is a trap. You do you and people will follow or not. Patronizing outreach is just awkward for everyone involved.
 
14400243:FruitBootPro said:
how are we supposed to solve a problem we’re not allowed to discuss

barely any skiers even go on this site, how tf would this thread affect freeskiing’s mainstream appeal
Click to expand...

Skiing has gotten insanely more gentrified in the last 10 years. Idk about where you live but we got an exponential increase in Indian and Chinese into our community who just booted all the black people and redeveloped their neighborhoods with McMansions because they are all here as tech millionaires on work visas. I don’t think black people are feeling very down to ski right now, just a thought. But the Asians will put their kids in ski lessons so I guess that is a win?
 
The problem with skiing is you either have to be:

1. Really rich.

2. Be down to commit to that life style and the associated sacrifices.

Its not like skateboarding where you can pick up a board and if you dont like it then whatever. It takes a pretty serious commitment to get all your kit put together with skis, helmet, snow gear, season pass etc. Unless you really know you are going to be down on that then its not worth investing the money and time to make it happen. You also need a group of friends that are at your skill level and down with the same commitment.

So that narrows the general population field down a lot then when you get to the committed people prob 70% go to snowboarding because its more relatable to skating etc and the other 30% is out there but the group is so small its not really visible.

Or according to a random hilarious Black skier I saw in the lift line 3 years ago:

"Man WTF am I doing here anyway, Black people HATE snow and I drove like 2 hours for this shit..."
 
14400203:Biffbarf said:
POC blows dude. Race trash. They give nothing back to the freeskiing culture. I don't support them at all and I suggest you don't either.
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10/10 bait
 
14400243:FruitBootPro said:
how are we supposed to solve a problem we’re not allowed to discuss

barely any skiers even go on this site, how tf would this thread affect freeskiing’s mainstream appeal
Click to expand...

Can't you see bro, it's like anti-marketing bro. Keep the site mysterious bro and then get a bunch of chill bros to shitpost here bro, the site sells itself bro
 
14400262:Biffbarf said:
Discuss it all you want, just don't expect people to be attracted to something when they're being patronized. The 'how do we get people to think this is cool' mindset is a trap. You do you and people will follow or not. Patronizing outreach is just awkward for everyone involved.
Click to expand...

To me it's not about patronizing or forcing a lifestyle so much as it's about exposing people to the side of skiing that's actually pretty fucking dope.
 
topic:FruitBootPro said:
Legit have been wanting to discuss this:

We all know that the vast majority of skiers are white. The obvious reasons for this are because of economic inequality between races etc. But also, as far as I’ve seen (anecdotally), POC generally opt for snowboarding, especially black people. Why is this? What can the industry do to appeal to POC as much as snowboarding?

There are a decent amount of black and POC pro snowboarders, but I can only think of like three black sponsored skiers.

Not trying to stereotype, I just wanna talk about what i’ve personally observed and see what ppl think.
Click to expand...

I generally don't think about people's skin when I go skiing.

Unless they're visibly dehydrated in which case I advise them to drink some water or they could be at risk of having lizard like skin.

No one wants lizard skin.
 
Bro ngl my school/skate friends have been picking up snowboards lately and idec I’m just hyped they’re finally getting into snowsports.

For years I was the only one who skied in our group, then a couple picked up snowboards and loved it. Then we helped a couple others find cheap setups (one for a hundred bucks and the other only cost a dub sack of weed lol) and since that it’s just been snowballing. They all grew up only skating, snow sports seemed out of the picture for years- now they’re slowly dipping their toes into it and it’s been so fun bringing em to the hill for night seshes and shit.

If you really wanna help get people into the sport that normally wouldn’t be able to, it all comes down to doing what we can to lower the barriers for entry.

what got it going for us was used gear hookups from local pros/sponsored kids and $12 night seshes at elm creek. One of my best friends snowboarded powder on a real mountain for the first time last year and said it was one of the most fun things he’s ever done in his life- would have never even happened if it weren’t for the one help boardshop employee who sold him a used setup out of the trunk of his car years ago.

TLDR:// if you know someone who wants to get into skiing or snowboarding but faces a lot of barriers to do so take it one step at a time and get creative af to get around those barriers. And who cares if they pick up a board? They’ll still be able to lap with you, which is all that matters.
 
topic:FruitBootPro said:
Legit have been wanting to discuss this:

We all know that the vast majority of skiers are white. The obvious reasons for this are because of economic inequality between races etc. But also, as far as I’ve seen (anecdotally), POC generally opt for snowboarding, especially black people. Why is this? What can the industry do to appeal to POC as much as snowboarding?

There are a decent amount of black and POC pro snowboarders, but I can only think of like three black sponsored skiers.

Not trying to stereotype, I just wanna talk about what i’ve personally observed and see what ppl think.
Click to expand...

Damn billbarf is racist too? Caught in 4K what a loser
 
You have to start with positive exposure to skiing in your youth. By all metrics aside from race I’m an unlikely skier, grew up in public housing in a city an hour away from any ski areas. But my mom, aunt and uncles all learned to ski as kids through an organization that got low income kids from the city on skis and to the mountains. So I learned to ski from them and rented donated gear for a fraction of the cost at the mountains from the same community organization.

There’s a big financial barrier to entry getting into snowsports that skateboarding doesn’t have but we can address it by volunteering time or donating old gear to organizations that exist to get everyone who wants to try snowsports on the hill.

If you’re in New England YESKids in Boston is the organization I learned to ski through and they’re always looking for volunteers to supervise trips (a free lift ticket for sitting in on a morning lesson with the kids who go off and do their own thing for the rest of the day) and help out in their rental shop. I know there’s also Hoods to Woods based out of New York that has the same mission.
 
topic:FruitBootPro said:
Legit have been wanting to discuss this:

We all know that the vast majority of skiers are white. The obvious reasons for this are because of economic inequality between races etc. But also, as far as I’ve seen (anecdotally), POC generally opt for snowboarding, especially black people. Why is this? What can the industry do to appeal to POC as much as snowboarding?

There are a decent amount of black and POC pro snowboarders, but I can only think of like three black sponsored skiers.

Not trying to stereotype, I just wanna talk about what i’ve personally observed and see what ppl think.
Click to expand...

Skiing is fun. I don’t care who does or doesn’t ski. At the end of the day, it’s all just about having fun. Don’t ruin the fun by bringing race into it. It doesn’t fucking matter.
 
14400243:FruitBootPro said:
how are we supposed to solve a problem we’re not allowed to discuss

barely any skiers even go on this site, how tf would this thread affect freeskiing’s mainstream appeal
Click to expand...

Because its not a problem dude black ppl just don’t wanna ski that bad its not that deep. Maybe they just think snowboading is cooler its not like anything about skiing is racist.

The problem is that black ppl were and still are (but to a lesser degree) oppressed and now most of them don’t have money to ski in the first place but that doesnt mean that skiing is the problem lol

Even if the average black person had the money to ski and they just chose not to for whatever reason its not a problem some people just like different shit you wouldn’t say that dudes not going into dance is a problem, dudes just don’t wanna dance
 
To average people, snowboarding is associated with doing tricks and is cooler, not skiing. Everyone I know that got into skiing either skied a bit when they were younger and felt more comfortable doing it or had family that skied. Most people getting into snow sports want to do what they think is “cooler” and snowboarding is the sport with that reputation.
 
I think it has something to do (economics aside) with the fact that snowboarding has had quite a few POC pros through the years while in skiing we had BMOS. BMOS was really recent too in terms of people like Russel Winfield. If you aren’t represented in the sport, you aren’t going to consider it. Like if an entire sport was one predominantly one race and ONLY that race was seen in competitions and in magazines, you probably wouldn’t gravitate to it, whereas snowboarding came from skateboarding which (to my knowledge) has a lower barrier to entry so it was already kind of diverse I think

**This post was edited on Feb 21st 2022 at 11:22:48pm
 
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