Hawa and Ahmed Dahir spent most of their lives in Salt Lake City, their parents moving from Somalia to the U.S. in 1998 when they were both toddlers.
But despite living almost 25 years in the shadow of the “greatest snow on Earth,” neither had ever been skiing.
There’s a few factors at play — with immigrant parents new to the country, the Dahir siblings said time and money were always barriers.
And, Ahmed said, trying a new sport dominated by people who don’t look like you is daunting.
“Being up here, and only seeing a few people that are Black or African American can be intimidating, you feel like you don’t really belong,” Ahmed said.
Enter the Discover Winter program. The Dahir siblings were among seven skiers and snowboarders who convened at Brighton Resort on Monday evening as part of Ski Utah’s fledgling initiative to increase diversity in winter sports.
Designed to nudge people from minority communities toward what Ski Utah calls “a life-long love of skiing and snowboarding,” Discover Winter was launched this year after a grant from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and the Larry H. Miller Foundation.
The program covered the cost of lift passes and lessons during January, February and March for just under 200 participants from groups like Future Scholars of Africa, Weber State University’s diversity clubs and Latino members of Park City’s Mountain Life Church.
In addition to getting a Yeti Pass, which offers one lift ticket to all 15 Utah ski resorts, each participant can take four lessons at Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, Solitude, Woodward Park City or Snowbasin. Funding for the program also pays for equipment rentals, while participants are given donated helmets, goggles, jackets and other winter gear.
It appeared to be a success among the seven skiers and snowboarders at Brighton Monday, who hit the slopes for their final afternoon with the program.
“Oh, I’m definitely getting a pass next year,” said Ahmed Dahir, sitting on Brighton’s Explorer chairlift as a storm system rolled in through Big Cottonwood Canyon, blocking out the sun and covering him in wet, heavy snow. “It’s so fun, especially when you get it down. I’m still learning, but just going down the hill is fun.”
“I actually went with (friends) yesterday,” said Hawa Dahir, who instead of waiting for her brother, sped to the bottom of the hill and got on the lift for another run. “Now that we’re all learning, we’re excited to go more often.”
“If you don’t grow up skiing, it’s pretty hard to know where to start,” said Alison Palmintere with Ski Utah. “Even if you do have the money to spend on gear and lift tickets, it’s hard to know how to find the lessons, which pass is the right pass, where to park, etc. ... So we hope that this program takes away those barriers.”
Removing those barriers is huge for some families who in the winter months struggle to find ways to stay active.
“Mostly during the winter, we just go to work and stay indoors. We don’t really do anything,” said one of the participants, Odeh Omdoma, who told the Deseret News he and his wife will sometimes take their four kids to an indoor climbing gym or Chuck-E-Cheese. “But it doesn’t compare to this, because there are always restrictions. With skiing, you’re free,”
Skiing has long had the reputation of a sport only available to upper-class white people. It’s incredibly expensive, with some single-day passes now well over $200 and beginner-level rentals hovering around $50. Plus it requires a vacation if you don’t live in or near a mountain town.
And data from the National Ski Areas Association supports the other half of the stigma — around 88% of skiers are white.
Roughly 6% are Asian or Pacific Islander, and an additional 6% are Latino. Black people make up 1.5% of skiers.
And despite much of the country’s tribal lands located in Western states with robust ski industries like Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming or Colorado, just .7% of skiers are Indigenous.
“Skiing is a relationship sport. People that I have a relationship with make it fun, make me brave enough to even try to go out,” said Raymond Christy, who volunteered Monday with Ski Utah.
Christy, who in the 1990s was the president of a Black ski club in Utah, said it’s hard to build those relationships when you feel alienated because of your race. Especially with a sport as complex as skiing, which requires disposable income, reliable transportation and an intimate knowledge of the equipment. It’s intimidating to go at it alone.
But with a gentle nudge like the one provided by Discover Winter, Christy says the participants who skied on Monday are poised for “a lifetime of ski stories.”
“Freebody is going to have all kinds of ski stories about snow plowing and coming down the bunny hill,” Christy said, pointing to one of the group’s participants, Freebody Mensah, as he slowly turned down the hill with help from two of Brighton’s ski instructors.
“And he’s going to do that with other people that either look like him or don’t look like him, but definitely appreciate the sport.”
