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Winter sports in the United States

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Popular winter sports in the United States include (from left to right, top to bottom) figure skating, ice hockey, skiing, and snowboarding

Winter sports in the United States are popular, both professionally and recreationally. Most sports activity on ice and snow takes place in the northern half of the country, but indoor facilities, simulators and artificial surfaces enable participation in all geographic areas.

The US has about 2000 ice rinks for skating sports. Ski touring, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing opportunities exist wherever there is sufficient snow cover on public access land, such as National Forests, state parks, and municipal parks.[1] The US has over 135,000 miles of snowmobile trails.

Compared to 2022, total winter sports participation grew by 22% in 2023.[2] Snow sports generated over $20 billion for the US economy in 2016.[3]

Sports

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Curling

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Once popular only in "the upper midwest and small pockets of New England", curling is gradually making inroads in the rest of the country.[4]

Ice skating

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Figure skating

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Main article: Figure skating in the United States

The governing body of figure skating competition in the United States is US Figure Skating. There are over 186,000 competitors as of 2020. Figure skating competition is a popular televised sport in the US.[5]

Speed skating

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The national governing body of speed skating competition is US Speedskating.

Ice climbing

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Main article: American Alpine Club

Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) reports over 3 million participating in ice climbing across the US. In 2019, ice climbing gear purchases were more than $15 million.[6]

Annual Ice Fests are held in Ouray, Colorado and Bozeman, Montana. Denver hosted an international World Championship in 2019.[7]

Ice hockey

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Main article: Ice hockey in the United States

Twenty-four of the thirty-one professional National Hockey League teams are based in the United States, the other seven in Canada.

USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. In the 2022-23 season, USA Hockey had 556,186 registered hockey players.

Skiing

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Main article: United States Ski Team

Skiing in the US is a multi-billion dollar industry of growing popularity, with over 11 million recreational snow sports participants in the winter of 2022–23.[8] Annual reported totals of the skiing population vary somewhat with the quality and length of the ski season, which averages 106 days. Most popular are the regions of the Rocky Mountains, the Northeast and the Sierra Nevada/Cascade Mountains. The states of California, New York, Florida and Texas are home to the most skiers.[9][10]

There are 480 alpine ski areas,[11] around 1,000 cross-country ski areas and 22 ski jumping hills in the US. There are 7 states which offer backcountry snowcat and heli-ski opportunities. The largest resorts see more than 85% of skier visits. More than 85% of alpine ski areas use snowmaking to some extent. Between 2008 and 2013, US ski resorts experienced annual revenues of about $3 billion.

National organizations include U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Nordic Sport (USANS), United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association, National Ski Council Federation, NASTAR, National Ski Patrol, Professional Ski Instructors of America, Snowsports Industries America (SIA), National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), Cross Country Ski Areas Association and National Ski & Snowboard Retailers Association.

Sledding

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Bobsled

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Main article: United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation

Historically, the United States has only had limited success in bobsledding at the Olympics.[12] USA Bobsled is the governing body for bobsledding in the United States.[13][14]

Kaillie Humphries is one the most successful bobsledders for the United States.[15]

Luge

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The national governing body for luge is USA Luge. US has 30 World Cup wins since 1994. Lake Placid, New York hosted the World Luge Congress in 2016 and 2024. Luge facilities are in Lake Placid, Park City, Utah, Muskegon, Michigan, and Negaunee, Michigan.

Skeleton

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Main article: United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation

Sled dog racing

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Main article: Sled dog racing

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome, entirely in the state of Alaska.

Snowboarding

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Main article: U.S. Snowboarding

Snowboarding originated in America, and after rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s has stabilized at over 7.5 million participants in the US.[16][17][18][19][20]

Snowmobiling

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Main article: Snocross

Recreational snowmobiling in the US began in the 1950s and by 2010 had from 3–4 million participants.[21] The International 500 Snowmobile Race (since 1969), World Championship Snowmobile Derby (since 1964) and World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb competitions are held annually. World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb competition is held in Jackson, Wyoming at the Snow King Mountain resort each year in March. Alaska's "Iron Dog" at 2,031 miles (3,269 km) long is the longest snowmachine race in the world.

Snowmobile trails can be found in 27 states. National organizations are the American Council of Snowmobile Associations (ACSA), United Snowmobile Alliance and there is a regional Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimbing Association.

Snowshoeing

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Main article: Snowshoe

Snowshoeing may be the oldest winter sport in the Americas, arriving with the first people over the Bering land bridge.[22] The United States Snowshoe Association (USSSA) was founded in 1977 to serve as a governing body for competitive snowshoeing. Since 2001 they have held annual National Championships in February. Since 2019, participation in snowshoeing is up 12%.[23]

Multi-sport events

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Arctic Winter Games

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Main article: Arctic Winter Games

Alaska has participated in every Arctic Winter Games, and has hosted the event 7 times starting in 1974.

Winter Dew Tour

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Main article: Dew Tour

In 2008 the Action Sports Tour (AST) first annual Winter Dew Tour included halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. In 2019, the Winter Dew Tour moved to its new home at Woodward Mountain Park at Copper Mountain, Colorado. Events include slopestyle, superpipe, team halfpipe, snowboard streetstyle, and adaptive banked slalom.

Winter X Games

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Main article: X Games

Winter X Games are held in Aspen, Colorado every winter, starting in 2002. The first Winter X Games took place in 1997 at Snow Summit ski resort in Big Bear Lake, California. The X Games were next held at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado for two years. Mount Snow, Vermont hosted the X Games in 2000 and 2001.

Winter Olympics

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Main article: United States at the Winter Olympics

The United States is a traditional powerhouse in the Winter Olympics.[24][25] However, the 2018 Winter Olympics saw the country's worst performance in terms of medals in 20 years.[26][27] Over the past 6 Winter Olympic Games the US has consistently earned at least 9 gold medals.

Participation

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In 2022, winter sports had over 30 million US participants.[28] Outdoor Foundation reports that 8 million people participated in cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or telemark skiing in the 2012-2013 winter season.[29]

Winter sports are underrepresented by ethnic minorities due to the fact that such sports are expensive to play.[30][31][32][33][34][35] In an effort to broaden participation, the Share Winter Foundation and its partners aim to share winter with 100,000 youth by 2028.[36] Other inclusion-focused programs include SOS Outreach, and Discover Winter in Utah.[37]

Other notable events

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References

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  1. ^ Winter sports National Park Service
  2. ^ Popke, Michael (2024) A Record Number of Americans Participated in Sports Sports Destinations
  3. ^ Foersterling, Jack (2018) Low Snow Years Cost Ski Towns $1 Billion Powder magazine
  4. ^ "Puzzling yet popular, Americans are learning to love curling". Associated Press. February 16, 2018.
  5. ^ Lewis, Jon (2024) Figure skating cruises on NBC Sports Media Watch
  6. ^ Cochrane, Andy (2020) How Ice Climbing Moved From Niche to Mainstream Field mag
  7. ^ Mitka, Nate (2019) Denver Hosts First US Ice Climbing World Championship GearJunkie
  8. ^ Kuta, Sarah (2023) Ski Areas Reported More Visits Than Ever This Past Winter Smithsonian Magazine
  9. ^ The State of US Skiing and Snowboarding: 2022-2023 kenver.com
  10. ^ Insights, data & more: A closer look at skier participation around the United States Freeskier 2023
  11. ^ Ski Areas 2023 NSAA
  12. ^ "SLEDDING SPORTS / Bobsled best U.S. bet". SFGATE. February 9, 2006.
  13. ^ "At Olympics, Holcomb still an inspiration for USA Bobsled". Toronto Star. February 15, 2022.
  14. ^ Dave Sheinin (2022-02-20) [2022-02-19]. "U.S. bobsled's secret weapon: A mysterious 'genius' who sees things others don't". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.[please check these dates]
  15. ^ Prewitt, Alex. "Kaillie Humphries, Elana Meyers Taylor Steer the Way for Women in Bobsled". Sports Illustrated.
  16. ^ Higgins, Matt (March 6, 2016). "Snowboarding, Once a High-Flying Sport, Crashes to Earth". The New York Times.
  17. ^ "Why snowboarding is fading in popularity". Nypost.com. January 23, 2015.
  18. ^ "Snowboarding declining in stats, coolness". Denverpost.com. December 26, 2013.
  19. ^ "Is snowboarding melting in popularity?". Ocregister.com. February 23, 2015.
  20. ^ "Don't Believe the Hype: Youth Snowboarding is Thriving". Snowsports Industries America. March 6, 2018.
  21. ^ Snowmobiling Fact Book International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, 2013
  22. ^ "Snowshoes" The Museum Journal vol II #4:82-94 (December 1911) Penn Museum
  23. ^ Akabas, Lev (2023) Americans More Active sportico.com
  24. ^ Graham, Bryan Armen (25 February 2018). "USA fell short at the Winter Olympics and things could get worse". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  25. ^ Doyle, Terrence (16 February 2018). "The U.S. Stunk At The Winter Olympics Until Extreme Sports Came Along". Fivethirtyeight.com. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  26. ^ Steinberg, Leigh. "5 Reasons Tiny Norway Dominates The U.S. In Winter Olympic Medals". Forbes. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  27. ^ Lauletta, Tyler. "The US team is falling apart at the Winter Olympics and on pace to have its worst medal performance in 2 decades". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  28. ^ Nearly 10 Percent of U.S. Population Participated in Winter Sports Last Season SGB Media 2023
  29. ^ Eisen, Hilary (2015) Winter Recreation on National Forest Lands Winter Wildlands Alliance
  30. ^ Prigeon, Jermell. "Bobsled Opening Doors for More Black Athletes to Live Winter Olympic Dreams".
  31. ^ "United States seeing uptick in diversity for Winter Olympics team". USA TODAY Sports. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  32. ^ Douglas, William (3 February 2018). "2018 Winter Olympics: Numbers show black athletes making inroads in winter sports". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  33. ^ "Economic report" (PDF). /gzg764m8l73gtwxg366onn13-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com. 2018. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  34. ^ "Winter sports face a double threat, from climate and demographic change". Economist.com. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2019 – via The Economist.
  35. ^ "Trying to make Team USA look more like America". The Washington Post. 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  36. ^ Primeau, Brittney Buti (2023) Nonprofits unite to bring inner-city students to the slopes for a life-changing experience sharewinterfoundation.org
  37. ^ Kelly, Tom (2024) Winter sports Sports Business Journal
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