Getting ready to hit the trails at Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Michigan
The Snowsports Industries America organization has released the 2023-24 Sports Participation Study that included cross country skiing and snowshoeing among the snow sports covered. There were 18,000 participants in the study conducted by the Physical Activity Council, a partnership of organizations in the sports, fitness and leisure industries. The findings are extrapolated from a nationwide sample to the US population with strict quotas associated with gender, age, income, region, and ethnicity followed to ensure a balanced sample yielding a 95% confidence level. The study reports results for the 2023-24 season since winter always crosses two years.
THE XC SKI MARKET
According to the study there were 5,500,000 XC skiers and 4,.600,000 snowshoers in the US in 2023-24. The XC skiing gender showed 63% male and 37% female and there were 1.9 million skiers who were either new to XC skiing or returned after a year or more away. We can accept that the population not going XC skiing or snowshoeing involves a combination of factors such as the weather, returning to work after the pandemic’s remote working, and typical lapsed skier issues (too far away, other priorities, do not have skills, etc.).
XC SKIER AGE CATEGORIES
The age categories in the study findings showed overall that 46% were under age 25, which is good news because more young people are coming into XC skiing which will sustain the sport into the future. There were 30.2% of XC skiers under the age of 18 and another 15.8% were between 18 and 24, which yields a whopping 46% under the age of 25. A chunk of XC skiers (43.5%) are aged 25 to 54 while older folks aged above 55 were 10.4% of XC skiers. American population demographics show nearly 32% above the age of 55, so it might suggest that there is a higher number of older XC skiers than the study reveals, or there are reasons that elders do not XC ski.
XC SKIER EDUCATION and INCOME
Groomed XC ski trail at Bretton Woods Nordic Center at the Omni Mount Washington Resort
The XC skier education has always showed a highly educated participant and the 2023-24 findings supported this notion with 47.9% attending some college, who were college graduates, or post-college graduates. The XC skiers who did not graduate high school were 22%.
Perhaps, the XC ski industry should seek sponsorships with banks and stock traders since the income chart shows an increasing percentage of XC skiers in each of the income range categories as the bars go toward $100,000 and above (which is 40.9% of XC skiers). More than 71% of XC skiers earn more than $50,000 annually.
RACE/ETHNICITY
The ski industry has been focusing energy on diversity and inclusion in recent years and they are making slow progress in efforts to attract more people of color, but in the last year there have been increases in black and Hispanic XC skiers. The XC skiing statistics in this area reflect the American population with 13.3% black, 4.7% Asian, 18.9% Hispanic, and 61.9% white.
CROSS OVER RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Taking a break on the deck of the Glen House in NH
Cross over to other recreational activities showed 16% of XC skiers also went alpine skiing while 15% went snowboarding and 12% went snowshoeing. About 10% of XC skiers went fat biking, which declined again from the previous year. Traditionally, there have been about a third of XC skiers who also alpine ski when including snowboarding, but there is now about 28% of XC skiers taking a lift for those sports. Part of the statistical problem may involve the survey asking about alpine touring and backcountry snowboarding. There are 20% of XC skiers who also golf while 20% hike and 13% go bicycling.
Snowshoers have a 24% cross over rate to XC skiing. Interestingly, 32% of the snowshoers also go snowboarding and 25% alpine ski. The study claims that 27% of snowshoers also go hiking, and this seems quite low.
XC SKIER FREQUENCY
Finally, the frequency statistics are a promising characteristic of XC skiers with 44.8% of XC skiers going one or two times, 32.5% going 3-6 times, and 22.7% going 7 or more times. The study also divided the frequency by region and the study’s regions may be a bit off kilter. In 2023-24 about 61% of New England XC skiers went XC skiing 3 or more times and 18% went seven or more times. The regions with high frequency include the West North Central zone with 27% going 7+ times while the Mountain zone had 26% going more than 7+ times. The Pacific region was the region with the most XC skiers who went only 1 or 2 times at 49%.
A new aspect of the Sports Participation Study was about the participant’s view of their respective level of experience. We don’t know if people understand the categories of experience, but 22.4% of XC skiers felt that they were advanced or experts, while 29.3% thought they were intermediate XC skiers. The difference between beginner and novice may be a mystery but combining those categories revealed 48.3% of XC skiers. It is a difficult recreational activity to master making the XC skiing drop-out rate a high number, and many people say that XC skiing is too much work. But more than 50% of XC skiers rate their abilities at the intermediate or advanced level…probably depends on who you are skiing with, or who is ripping by you.
Snowshoeing to a high vista at Woodstock Nordic Center
The snowshoers are a little less committed than XC skiers with regard to participating often but it is still very good with 20% going snowshoeing seven or more times in 2023-24. The respective levels of experience showed that 45.8% were beginner or novice snowshoers, while 20.9% thought they were advanced or expert.
These findings suggest that XC skier and snowshoer participants are really into these forms of recreation, and factors such as where they live, the weather in the participants’ area, and their commitment to getting outdoors are key for such statistics. The challenge to many industries is whether to promote making a good thing better (encourage committed participants to go even more often) or introduce more first timers to try the sport and encourage them to get into it.
Thanks to SIA and Verde PR for supplying part of the study funding and making it available. Consider joining the millions of people outside on the snow this winter! Banner photo from Fischer Sports.