Cross-Countryís Mistaken Identity

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Cross-country skiing is always
    getting a bad rap, and I’m tired
    of hearing it.  It’s too slow, too hard, too boring, too technical, too elitist, too physical.  The only one that’s true is the last.  Cross-country skiing is 100 percent physical and that’s just one aspect that makes it so great.  As for the other perceptions, well, they’re just not true.
Then there’s the theory that cross-country skiing will never be an American sport because it’s not a part of our heritage or lifestyle.  Not yet, anyway.  With youth programs like the Bill Koch League, which get more kids involved every year, things could change (see cover story).  Maybe our generation isn’t so keen on cross-country skiing, but there’s hope for future generations.  America needs only one Olympic medal to garner the media’s attention.  Once cross-country gets national TV coverage, there’s no telling what could happen.
Snowsports Industries America (SIA), the professional association for alpine skiing, snowboarding, snow-shoeing, and cross-country skiing isn’t exactly helping the situation, either.  They publish an annual “state of the industry” report, and every year, for the last decade, the report for cross-country skiing is that sales are down.  And not just a little.  Some years they are down as much as 30 percent over the previous year.  With such a drastic decline, you’d think no one was cross-country skiing anymore.
But that’s not true, either.  People ARE skiing.  The SIA statistics are based on the number of skis and boots sold, as reported by manufacturers, not on the number of people skiing, a number that is next to impossible to determine.  Unless everyone skis at a cross-country center, which they don’t, there is no way to account for the number of people who ski.
It is safe to say that if the industry sold 300,000 “units” in 1988 and 100,000 “units” in 1998, business is down.  But sales of any product decline after a boom.  Eventually the market finds its natural level.  I believe cross-country skiing has found its own natural level, a plateau where it will most likely remain, until the media gives it the same exposure it gives football, a pipe dream, no doubt.  Meanwhile, it’s up to the manufacturers to continue inventing interesting products that work and make the sport fun, and it’s up to resorts, clubs, and retail shops to create programs that attract newcomers and keep them coming back.  Those who do, will own a larger slice of the comparatively small pie.
Cross-country skiing will never be a huge industry.  How could it?  There has to be snow.  Unlike tennis, running, cycling, and other sports that can be played year-round in warm weather, cross-country skiing can only be done in cold, snowy climates, four months out of the year.
I say to heck with misconceptions and industry statistics.  This holiday season, let’s count our blessings and not forget that in Vermont, we are blessed with an environment that lets us enjoy, if only for one third of the year, the infinite and incomparable pleasures of cross-country skiing.  If you don’t know what those are, go to a cross-country center, rent some good equipment, and take a private lesson.  Before long, you’ll discover exactly what I mean.
—Kate Carter

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