Who Starts Snowboarding, Who Stops, and Why?

Writing at Transworld Business, Mike Lewis talks about trends in snowboarding and skiing–how many people participate, why, and what the ski and snowboard industry is doing to keep them going back for more.

It’s a long article, so I’ll just highlight a few statistics.

– Nearly 3 in 4 snowboarders are boys or men. No surprise there, if you look at your local hill.
– Historically, only 15 percent of people who try skiing or snowboarding return for a second day.
– A 10-year effort by the ski area association has raised that rate to … 16 percent.
– Even among people who snowboard regularly, 25 percent drop out during any given year, for reasons relating to health, work, interest, family, or finances.
– The “typical’ snowboarder went snowboarding 10 days during a season.
– During 2007, over 5 million people went snowboarding at least twice.
– Only 10 percent of snowboarders are 35 and older. Still, that makes for a half-million riders 35 and up.

Here’s an approximation of the number of snowboarders for each season, with a 2-visit per season minimum:

1994 – 2,061,000
1995 – 2,254,000
1996 – 3,711,000
1997 – 2,516,000
1998 – 3,635,000
1999 – 3,313,000
2000 – 4,347,000
2001 – 5,343,000
2002 – 5,589,000
2003 – 6,309,000
2004 – 6,572,000
2005 – 5,987,000
2006 – 5,204,000
2007 – 5,063,000

Notice that participation has been going down ever since it peaked in 2004. Why? I don’t know.

Most of the article deals with industry efforts to reverse the slide and retain first-time participants. The focus is on youth and minorities. Only 10 percent of companies focus on “older” adults. And “older” isn’t defined, so it may be 25 to 34!

The article also reminds us that people take up snowboarding for different reasons. Roughly half do so for the challenge, while while a quarter look for the social benefits. And of course someone can have more than one motivation, either in a given time or over time. I started skiing for social reasons, but took up snowboarding for the challenge.

By the way, I wonder if those numbers look the same if you’re talking about skiers.

For more on this topic, see the statistics page of GraysOnTrays.com.