So how many of your female friends ski? Me, I can think of two. No, make that three. (And no, once-a-year skiers don't count. These have to be people who get out fairly regularly.)
I guess it all depends on the circles you travel in.
I honestly can't figure out why more women don't ski. Is it the cold? Child care? The incredibly busy lives that most women lead? Is there something about ski culture that puts them off? Or is it because men ski -- could staying off the slopes be a way to get away from men, when they're out skiing?
Part of the mission of this blog is a selfish one: To connect with other women who like to ski. I think women skiers have different perspectives than male skiers. Different concerns. And maybe even different ways of interacting with the ski universe.
And I'd love to expand my circle of female ski friends. Because even though I love skiing with my husband, it'd be awfully nice to have more women out on the hill.
Don't you agree?
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6 comments:
I don't have any women friends that ski ... even when I was a kid, the only skiing friends that I had were those that I would bring along with me and get them started. But I'm not sure why that is.
I took 7 years off from skiing while I had kids and have just started again now that they are old enough to learn. So we are skiing as a family now. But if I hadn't married a skiier, that probably wyoudn't be the case.
So often it comes down to whether or not a spouse or significant other skis. Very understandable. Maybe if we had more women ski friends -- women with whom we could share the sport -- we'd be more inclined to hit the slopes.
I know what you mean about taking time off when you have kids. I took a few years off when my daughter was small and experiencing health problems. Now I'm making up for lost time!
You go girl!
More power to you.
Warren
I am in my early 30s, and don't know one woman my age (or younger) who skis more than once/twice a year. The few women friends I have who are die-hard skiers like me are in their 40s/50s with no children, grown children, no husbands, or husbands who ski.
I think the reason more women don't ski is a complex combination of factors including having children, financial insecurity, and spouses who don't ski.
I have no doubt that you're 100% right, Bebe. Yet faced with these same obstacles -- children, spouses who don't ski, etc. -- men invariably manage to find the time and resources to go skiing. That's what's so troubling.
I was pretty lucky, I think, in terms of having contemporary female influences, but my early development was stunted by the lack of companionship on the slopes. First, when I was 7, a girl in my class had a dad on ski patrol. So, I begged my parents to let me learn how to ski. I did, but the only people to ski with were boys.
Later, I went to college in NH; my best friend would whip the boys' rears when it came to the slopes, and I'd kinda tag along, thinking that everyone skied like her.
Then I lived in Boston for a year, and became friends with a woman who had published a women's snowboarding magazine. I'd go out to the slopes with her and her snowboarding and skiing gal pals or with my roommate. We'd actually do day trips from Boston to Sunday River (which only in retrospect do I realize was insane). My former roommate (who also no longer lives in Boston) and I too often reminisce about how fantastic a ski season that was....
I do worry, though, that if I wind up married to a non-skier, I won't ever get out onto the slopes. I dated a telemarker for a year and a half; he was my friend on powder days. :)
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