Ski resorts work to bring in minorities

updated 6:32 p.m. ET Dec. 12, 2006

HUNTINGTON LAKE, Calif. - Skiers cut through a fresh dusting of snow, their skis hissing softly against the powder as they crisscross down the slopes, then grinding to halt at the icy base of the Sierra Summit resort where Richard Shimizu is taking a break.

Although the ski resort is in Fresno County, where almost half the population is made up of minorities, most people crunching past Shimizu in their ski boots are white. It’s a scene repeated in ski resorts across the country, where only three out of 20 skiers or snowboarders is a minority, according to marketing researchers.

“You see some Asian people sometimes, but few blacks and few Hispanics,” said Shimizu, who is Japanese-American. “It’s changing, but still there’s a big difference. We used to never think about things like ethnicity. Now people pay more attention.”

After years of stagnation in the 1990s, when the number of days skiers and ’boarders spent on the slopes stayed the same even as the population grew, some resorts are trying to attract ethnic groups not traditionally tied to the sport, hoping to tap into a growing market segment.

As the nation’s demographic profile changes, the industry’s future lies in part in its ability to reach kids whose parents don’t ski — and who may have never seen snow before, said Bill Jensen, an executive with Vail Resorts Inc. and incoming chairman of the National Ski Areas Association, which represents 332 alpine resorts.

“These groups are the fastest growing population segments in the country,” Jensen said of minorities. “With the aging of the Baby Boom generation, this is what our customers will look like in 20, 30 years.”

Resort are advertising in Chinese newspapers, translating informational brochures to Spanish, stocking smaller boots Asians might need and introducing children from rural schools or urban centers to a sport they may only have seen on TV.

Change has been slow on the slopes, but it’s happening. In 1999-2000, minorities made up 10 percent of skiers or ’boarders, but figures for this year indicate the number has grown to about 15 percent, according to surveys by the LeisureTrends Group, a Colorado market research firm.

Sierra Summit has put out information in Spanish and has some Spanish-speaking ski instructors. By working with schools in the San Joaquin Valley, the resort is also bringing in a steady stream of kids who grew up just out of reach of the snowcapped peaks.

For $20 a day, students from towns best known for their orange or lettuce crops get a ski lesson, equipment, lunch and a lift ticket — a package officials at the resorts hope will give them a taste for snow.

“These kids, it’s not that they wouldn’t enjoy it, it just isn’t in their culture,” said Boomer Devaurs, marketing manager at Sierra Summit. “It’s our hope they’ll come back and bring their families.”

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