Snowsports Diversity is Not an Oxymoron!

Hi, my name is Roberto Moreno. I’m the Director of the non-profit snowsports diversity initiative in Colorado called ALPINO.

As a lifetime skier, former pro ski patroller and instructor, hotelier and marketing consultant, I believe our mountains are wondrous places, create options for kids and so am committed to increasing minority inclusivity in snowsports nationwide. At just over 7 percent, the minority participation rate in skiing and snowboarding is the lowest of any organized sport in America.

Sadly, thousands of American kids of color are growing up in close proximity to mountain areas throughout the United States and never get there during their entire life! ALPINO thinks there is something wrong with that picture.

The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) has asked me to share some of ALPINO's success stories and your success stories with its membership at the upcoming convention in Savannah, Georgia, May 17-20. I have been asked to join the panel “Embracing Youth, Diversity and Growth” and I am writing an article on snowsports diversity strategies for an upcoming issue of the NSAA Journal.

Why? Well, when you consider the multicultural future of the United States, it’s not only good business to reach out to minority and multicultural customers, it’s critical to the Snowriding Industry’s future success!

If you know of snowriding areas that have made attempts to outreach to Latino, Afro-American, Asian or Native-American snowriders, would you please share that information with us? We define “outreach” as any attempt to attract minority customers to a resort, efforts to recruit minorities to front line positions ( i.e., ski instructors, ski patrol, etc) and any effort made to use “minority images” on web sites or in collateral materials.

You can email us at: snowdiversity@earthlink.net with your thoughts or a summary of the diversity efforts you're aware of.

Roberto L. Moreno
ALPINO
snowdiversity@earthlink.net

Comments

[Nicole Belt-Sierra at Tahoe]

Hi Roberto,
I just received your e-mail and thought that Sierra-at-Tahoe's Hispanic Day, scheduled for this weekend, is a perfect fit for what you're looking for (see the attached release). Also, we have made some headway into the Asian Market by sponsoring a beauty pageant put on by an Asian newspaper in the San Francisco area. The beauty pageant contestants came up to the resort to shoot their promo video and tried various snowsports. The Sing Tao Daily Newspaper than ran many ads featuring Sierra-at-Tahoe, previewing the pageant. Let me know if you would like more information. Thanks,

Nicole Belt
Public Relations Manager
Sierra-at-Tahoe and Northstar-at-Tahoe
(530) 543-3132 fax (530) 659-7749

[Jack Turner-Snow Monsters]

Snow Monsters is a kids’ ski and snowboard program at resorts across the United States (we have nearly 90 member resorts). It also exemplifies diversity, especially in promoting the many “flavors” of skiers and snowboarders to kids. Here are a few points you should know about our films (which hundreds of thousands of kids see every year):

· Heads UP!

o Lead actress, Kameko, is Asian

o 2nd Actress, Renita, is Southern Ute Indian

· The Kid With One Ski

o Lead actor, Chase, is African American

o Lead actor, Zach, only has one leg

o Lead girl, Hannah, is a diabetic

· Snow Monsters Meet Mother Nature

o Lead actor, Cole, is African American

o Cole's mother, Nora, also appears

o 'Mother Nature' is African American (a little-known singer named Aretha Franklin)

Every film prominently features kids with disabilities (but not for having a disability, but for being a kid).

AND none of the Snow Monsters characters are of any ethnic group (or they represent ALL ethnicities).

I hope that you will recognize this in your presentation at the NSAA meeting as I very much believe that there is no other ski/snowboard industry company that has promoted and shown diversity as consistently as we have. Even more important, our program is FOR KIDS and is BY KIDS. All great, lasting changes happen when we get to kids (adults never learn and embrace new ideas as well as children)>

Also, we missed you at the Sports Illustrated For Kids Next Snow SEARCH in Keystone last weekend. Would love to have had the Alpino Group there. Check out our show Today on NBC Sports at 11AM Mountain time.

Thanks, take care, and THINK SNOW! See you in Savannah.

Jack Turner Snow Monsters

jturner@snowmonsters.com

www.SnowMonsters.com

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Snow Monsters

1137 Main Ave.

Durango, CO 81301

Phone: 970-247-3435

FAX: 970-247-5672

[Joan O'Neill-Crystal Mountain]

Hello -

A brief response...

In our main brochures, we ensure that minorities are represented pictorially. This has been a practice of Crystal Mountain's for many years.

Just recently, we embarked on a public relations plan to get to know the editors and key contacts of minority-based media better. We are even working with a public relations agency that specializes in targeting this media. In time, as the budget allows, this will also include advertising and other forms of marketing.

Best,
Joan O'Neill

Joan O'Neill
Communications Director
Crystal Mountain®
12500 Crystal Mountain Dr.
Thompsonville, MI 49683
(231) 378-2000, ext. 2503

www.crystalmountain.com

Crystal Mountain®... The Midwest's Premier Four-Season Family Resort

[Katelin Hill- Copper Mountain Resort]

Hi Robert -

Per your request I am sending information for your Snowsports Diversity Survey regarding Copper Mountain. This season Copper was host to the National Brotherhood of Skiing (NBS) and Ski Fiesta 2004.

NBS brought more than 2,000 African-American skiers and snowboarders to the 31st annual event which took place Jan.31-Feb.7 2004 at Copper. The annual summit provided a week of celebration and socializing. You can visit the NBS website at www.nbs.org or call 773.955.4100 for specific information on the history of the event.

Ski Fiesta 2004 is put on through the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and brought 275 people to Copper March 26-27. The Ski Fiesta is a fundraiser for the Denver Hispanic Chamber Education. For more information about the Fiesta you can call 303.534.7783.

I hope this is helpful to your survey. If you have anymore questions regarding specific details please don't hesitate.

K

Katelin Hill

w.970.968.2318 ext. 38827

cell.970.409.8151

f.970.968.3156

www.coppercolorado.com

[Mary Naylor-Brundage Mountain Resort]

Hello Roberto,
Brundage Mountain Resort in Central Idaho is headquartered in McCall. Our clientele appears representative of our community, but certainly not the region we target in marketing. We don't yet have any outreach programs in place, so we'll be so interested in programs that have worked for other areas. Thanks for all you do!
Sincerely,

Mary Naylor
Marketing Director
Brundage Mountain Resort
(208) 634-4151

[Peter Kray- Ski Press Magazine]

Hey Roberto,

I just re-posted the editorial you wrote for our Las Vegas issue on the website - www.skipressworld.com - to give it some more mass exposure that the closed audience it reached at the tradeshow. Just wanted to give you a heads up in case you start receiving responses. I am going to post another one later this week from Jenn Davis at Burton's Chill Program. Hope you had an awesome Easter - I was hiking the foot of fresh we got here. It always snows after the lifts close in Santa Fe.

Peter


Peter Kray
Vice President Internet/Trade Media
Ski Press Media, Inc.
(505) 955-1524
peter@skipressmag.com

[Fred B. Jackson]

The work you are doing to create snowboarding and skiing experiences for kids is wonderful. My nephew attented one of your trips this past winter. We all have seen a marked change in his personality and his motivation level in school. He talks about snowboarding all the time, logs on to several web sites and is bugging the whole family to get involved in snowboarding and skiing. Best of all, you've raised his confidence level. Thanks.

[Jerri Barkley-Mission Ridge]

Thank you for your follow-up and continued interested in the topic of attracting minorities to the winter sports and to the mountains. This is definitely a topic that we have spent some time deliberating both internally and with others in the community. The population of Wenatchee is approximately 30% Latino but our skier visits do not currently represent that mix.

At this time we have several programs that are intended to introduce our ski area to the youth of our area, one being our Mountain Discovery Program. Like many other areas, our local fifth graders have been identified as a target for this program. We invite all of our local elementary schools to come up and enjoy a day with us free of charge. A brief visit to each classroom takes place prior to our season opening, allowing us the opportunity to give an introduction to the mountain and its environment. They are then sized for their equipment of choice and given a list of suggested "things to bring" for that day. The classes typically arrive with their teachers, and some parents in tow, to enjoy lessons and a day on the slopes within the comfort of their peers. This year we enjoyed the company of almost 1200 local children.

As far as targeting the Latino community specifically, we have invited several of the DJ's of the local radio stations to enjoy a similar opportunity and share it with their on-air listeners as they add winter sports to their own personal experience. One of our local stations, La Super Z, celebrates La Posadas just prior to Christmas and we donated prizes for that celebration and promotion in the hopes that on air energy would generate some curiosity and interest. This year we are also working on a celebration at the end of the season to specifically include some on snow activities that might bridge the gap of total unfamiliarity - we are building a snow soccer field! The rest of the details are still in the works but I will keep you posted as to the successes.

[Annie Carlson]

Roberto

The Telluride Ski Resort implemented a new program this year called Latino Day. The ski resort donated lift tickets and lessons to members of the Hispanic community in the region. Many of the participants had never skied before as it was too cost prohibitive. Our Spanish speaking ski instructors donated their time and the ski resort provided complimentary lift tickets. The event was well received and well attended. We will do something similar next year.

Telluride also offers a regional school program which enables children in the region to ski Telluride very affordably. The cost of a lift ticket, rental and lesson is $35 (normally $95). We also offer season passes for $69 for 6-12 year olds and $99 for 13-18 year olds. Telluride is a very affluent community but the surrounding region (Montrose, Cortez, Dolores) contain a lower end demographic which wouldn't necessarily have the expendable income to spend on skiing without this special program. Many Hispanic children participate in the Regional School Program


Annie Carlson
Communications Director
Telluride Ski Resort

[Kirsten Alburg-Alaska Bush Alpine Ski Program at Alyeska Ski Resort]

Hello, I am the founder and director of the Alaska Bush Alpine Ski Program,
which is a ski outreach program the fosters pride, self-confidence, and hope
in children of rural Alaska who have very few opportunities. I recieved
your e-mail asking for a wider description of our program, which is reaching
out to minorities through alpine skiing, so I will do my best to describe
the many aspects of what we are doing and why.

Alaska in an amazing state in that there are many different minorities and
cultures living together yet geographically separated, so that they truly
don't have a real understanding of any other culture other than their own. Children in rural Alaska are very limited in their understanding of things
beyond their village,town, region. Some, at 13 and 14 years old have never
been out of their village in their life, never have seen a tree, tall
buildings, cows, and especially have never been to a ski resort (or even
know what it is). There are not very many opportunities, besides what the
schools provide, for students to see past the problems of the villages and
allow them to really see what life has to offer. The Suicide rate is
extremely high in rural Alaska, and being a teacher who has already lost 4
of her former students do to suicides, I really believe it's because they
can't see any hope. Our program was developed to not only introduce
Alaskan children to the wonderful sport of Alpine Skiing, but to foster hope
for the future that these kids so desperately need.
So how do we do this? We have two avenues to our program. The
villages/towns that are actively alpine skiing in their area and the
village/towns that choose to just raise money to come to our Alyeska Ski
Week (which was the first weekend in April this year).
* For those teams that want to ski in the villages, our program provides
them with discounted equipment (through our sponsor Rossignol) and team
development training (via-email or in person). These teams learn their
fundamental skills (balance, edge control, parallel turns) by being pulled
behind snow machines around their villages and out to training hills in
their area. Once they get to their training hill/river bluff/ mountain, the
snow machines substitute for chairlifts. We've found, each year during
our ABASP Alyeska Ski Week, that children from villages/towns who are
actively skiing (even if only behind snow machines) are much more advanced
than the children from villages/towns who choose not to ski during the year. *For those teams who decide to just participate in our Annual Ski Week at
Alyeska,our program gives fundraising ideas and planning support to help
bring these team to Girdwood. These kids become a team by getting together
weekly/bi-weekly throughout the ski season in fundraising efforts. Some
cross-country ski coaches have used our ski week as a end of the year
incentive or treat. ABASP works closely with the non-profit Challenge Alaska
in providing quality ski instruction for our beginning skiers. *Who are the coaches? Teachers are a great asset to our program. They come
in to a village with a lot of energy and inspiration, ready to make a
difference. Being that the rural communities of bush AK only have a small
teacher pool, and finding a teacher in every village with an Alpine skiing
background would be almost impossible, our program is set up that anyone who
is willing to pull skiers behind a snow machine for a couple of hours a day
and be able to read and teach the basics of Alpine skiing from our manual,
is a winning coach. We also encourage the coaches to get a village native
involved with every team, this will help get the village excited about the
program and help ensure a lasting program.
*Children involved in the program are held at high standards. They must be
doing well in school with both academics and behavior to be apart of the
program, all coaches closely watch this. We have had great results and
feedback from teachers on kids in our program, moving from barely getting by
to excelling in school and becoming leaders.
*When/How did this get started? Our program was conceived in the summer of
1999, and during the 1999/2000 ski season it all started with the Savoonga
Alpine Ski Team (Savoonga is located on St. Lawerence Island in the middle
of the Bering Sea)..one of the most rural and traditional Eskimo villages
left in the world today. We had 8 kids and 3 coaches (me "Kirsten Alburg",
co-founder "Steve Craft", and teacher "Brad Billings"). It was an "out of
this world" idea to all those involved. The kids had never heard of alpine
skiing before, and had to split ski training time with whale and walrus
hunting. The village elders themselves were unsupportive of the idea and
thought it crazy. Still the Savoonga 8 hung in there and worked hard to
raise enough money to travel off of their island (some for the first time
ever) to Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood. Thanks to Alyeska Ski Resort and
mountain manager Larry Daniels, the trip was a huge success. The kids
developed a passion for alpine skiing, discovered many new things and
opportunities in life, and went home with a new sense of pride. Not long
after our trip, Anchorage Daily News wrote a front page story about our kids
and their accomplishments, which made the villagers of Savoonga real proud
of their kids and think differently about the ski program altogether.
Today we have 4 villages/rural towns involved with the Alaska Bush Alpine
Ski Program, and 33 kids enjoying the wonderful sport of Alpine skiing.
* Alyeska Ski Week goals: further develop alpine skiing skills, foster
inter-village/culture life long friendships, educate and expose children
about/to opportunities available to them outside of their communities,
broaden our children's world view to help them build a scaffling for their
dreams.
Events: skiing, swimming, sledding, culturally interactive games, and at the
end of the week there is a fun race which allows the kids to push their new
skills to the limit in a friendly competition.
Challenge Alaska and Alyeska Resort have been huge supporters and great
partners in make each of our ski weeks a big success.
Future Goals: We are currently working on registering the Alaska Bush Alpine
Ski Program as a non-profit so that we can provide additional support toward
the development of additional and existing rural alpine ski teams. Some of
this additional support will include: PSIA trained ski instructors working
with kids in the rural villages/towns, personalized new coaches training,
handbook support resources, equipment training, and funding support for new
teams.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail me or call
719-486-3414.
I hope this helps and thanks for your inquiry. Best Wishes, Kirsten Alburg