Downhill skiing always seemed like a big sport to me – perhaps because I live on the west coast where we have many mountains. But turns out, it is actually pretty small:
Let’s start with how many people in the United States actually participate in Snowsports. In 2016 11.857 million people went downhill skiing, 7.557 million snowboarded, and 5.059 million went cross-country skiing.
Source: How Many People in the U.S. Skied Last Season? – RetroSki 2023-2024
In that sampled period, about 1 in 4 skied a single day during the season.
The total is about 12 + 7.5 + 5 or about 24.5 million.
According to Grok, that total has fallen to about 18.5 million by 2023. That could be due to the drop off during Covid, weather conditions, and an aging population. Downhill skiing remains surprisingly popular up through one’s 40s and 50s, for those that ski, although peak years are generally before age 35.
