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Black Ski Groups Back On The Slopes

By J.D. O'Connor
September 04, 2006

Robert Asgood of Oakland,Calif. wants to go skiing this season - boarding, actually. Several friends sojourn to Lake Tahoe each year and Robert has been invited, but he doesn't want to impose and, like many black Americans, he's looking for a club of similarly skilled boarders who are also black.

"They have families and they're good," he said of his friends. "I don't want to hold them back or fall on my butt in front of them. I'm looking for people like me I can have fun with while I learn."

Asgood is part of a growing demographic of wannabe skiers anxious to try a hip "young" sport, but who battle perceptions of winter sports and the mountains as a "white" sport and domain.

"I know, it's stupid," Asgood said. "My friends couldn't care less. But it's there for me and I would rather be among my own people until I learn the ropes."

Like Asgood, many black Americans are hoping to achieve a "comfort level" before embarking on their first winter experience this year. Ski clubs catering to blacks said interest is peaking again after a sharp drop-off in membership applications tied to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

When Los Angeles-based 4 Seasons West, a ski club with more than 1,000 members, planned its winter carnival in January, organizers hoped for 400 travelers - more than 800 skiers turned out for the Lake Tahoe event.

Black travel and sports clubs can be simple, weekend-only excursion planners who provide equipment, instruction and assistance to members or they can be highly-organized, well structured clubs who, for a fee, organize elaborate trips, social events, and sports training.

And the welcome mat is out - with destination areas offering deep discounts to club members who ski with them.

Many clubs grew out of the sense of separatism they perceived when they attempted to join white sport clubs.

"It's true that many of our clubs were started because we were not welcomed on many ski slopes," Rose Thomas Pickrum, president of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, told The Washington Post recently. "But now most of those slopes actively court us because we spend money."

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Comments

	Can you guys list some of these groups that are mentioned in the article? I am interested in a joining a black travel group. Gyllian
	Posted by: Gyllian Tyra Banks Show | November 27, 2006 11:13 PM