The Snow Industries of America just released their 2013 Participant Study and as you might have guessed the numbers were down for pretty much everyone but those free heelers. Yeah, we see that bump in “freeski” but come on, that’s just skiing. We all know that.
Ultimately, overall snow sports participation was down 3% to 19.3M participants across all disciplines; alpine ski had a 19% drop in participation but still brought the most to the mountain with 8.2M, followed by snowboard with 7.4M, freeski with 5.4M, snowshoe with 4M, cross country with 3.3 million and telemark with 2.8M participants.
For the official release from the SIA follow the jump.
SIA Releases 2013 Participant Study
Lack of Early Season Snow Effect Participation Rates
WASHINGTON (July 29, 2013) – SnowSports Industries America (SIA) released the 2013 Snow Sports Participant Study today that provides a comprehensive look into this season’s snow sports participants across all six disciplines. The report covers alpine skiers, snowboarders, cross country skiers, freeskiers, telemark skiers and snowshoers and provides a detailed account of what they did on and off the mountain during the 2012/2013 season.
The snowfall got a late start this season, really getting underway after the Christmas holiday. The lack of early season snow affected all snow sports except freeski and telemark, which both finished the season with more participants than previous years. Ultimately, overall snow sports participation was down 3% to 19.3M participants across all disciplines; alpine ski had a 19% drop in participation but still brought the most to the mountain with 8.2M, followed by snowboard with 7.4M, freeski with 5.4M, snowshoe with 4M, cross country with 3.3 million and telemark with 2.8M participants.
The 2013 Snow Sports Participant Study offers unique facts about this season’s participants:
Out of the 19.3M participants, 62% are male and 38% are female.
Alpine skiers and snowboarders make up 49% of all snow sports participants.
54% of snow sports participants make more than $75K a year.
Telemark skiers (avg. 13 days) and snowboarders (avg. 11.3 days) participated the most this season.
Snowshoeing is the most popular snow sport amongst women, representing 46% of snowshoers.
Freeskiing is the most diverse snow sport, with minorities representing half of its participants.
Walking for fitness is the most common “off the mountain” activity for snow sports participants.
Over 39% of snowboarders are under age 24.
74% of snow sports participants are homeowners.
43% of snow sports participants are very interested in the winter Olympics.
The majority of skiers (18%) and snowboarders (27%) live in the Pacific region.
