Some decades ago, a well-meaning mentor advised me to give my kids skiing lessons. “As they get older, they won’t want to hang out with you. But if you say you’re going on a family ski trip, they’ll be all in.”

It worked out for my wife and me, sort of, especially when they were teen-agers. As they’ve grown and taken on family and professional responsibility, they aren’t as keen as they once were—but they’ll still join us on the hill once in a while.

Our younger skiers might not be representative. What was once the province of the young—at least those who were fit, time-endowed and reckless—is increasingly dominated by 50-somethings (or older) who will one day exit the sport. (You can only make skis so easy to turn, and knees will still torque in a bad fall.) According to a survey by the Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts, under-25s represent only 14 percent of skiers in France. This is down from 20 percent 25 years ago. Another survey by a ski tour operator found that “two thirds of people who ski are aged between 43 and 65.” This is another bad omen for the industry (along with climate change).

Ask why young people are abandoning skiing and you will be given all the usual villains:

  • It is too costly. (True. Ask anyone.) (Ask me.)
  • It is classist. (Also true. See above.)
  • It is something your parents do. (True. But it’s not clear if that’s a disincentive or a simple fact. Parents also eat and drink and do many things youngsters also like to do.)
  • It’s too risky or strenuous. The 2019 Ski Club of Great Britain consumer report “found that more than a quarter of people said they preferred more relaxing breaks while almost one in five said skiing was too demanding.” (It is both risky and strenuous but isn’t that the fun part?)
  • It isn’t glamorous enough. (This one will sadden you: Ian Holt, the CEO of a British ski club says, young people “want experiences that they can show on Instagram.” They want concerts and DJs and comedy shows and raves and something more than cruising down the mountain with friends on a beautiful, bluebird day.)

Or maybe it’s all that. And more. Maybe they look at YouTube and see all the extreme tricks and think that’s what skiing is and they don’t want to be compared to those extraordinary and oft-concussed athletes. (Which is a weird thought because it suggests that skiing is both a dull, old-person’s sport and too challenging for the kids.)

Maybe they just want to look at screens all day.

Old skier: Image by Tobias Spitaler, via Wikimedia Commons.