My two favorite recreational sports, skiing and golfing, have always given me an outlet for play and exhilaration. I consider them my winter-spring and summer-fall sports of choice. They’ve always been there for me, beckoning me on a journey. However, as I’ve grown older, enjoying them hasn’t been as easy as it once was.
With each approaching winter, as I prepare for the ski season, I’m filled with mixed emotions. I’m excited thinking about the feel of my skis riding the powder, filled with memories of snow-lined mountain roads. Yet, I’m also increasingly disappointed with the skyrocketing lift fees. It feels like ski resorts have become elitist clubs for people with money. Mega-passes have also shifted skiing from a fun mountain sport into an exclusive playground for the wealthy visitors. It feels like the local youth are becoming locked out.
It’s not like it used to be when I was growing up. I learned to ski as soon as I learned to run, so my family was always planning our winters around ski trips. It was a family affair for adults and kids of all ages. The smell of the pine trees on the mountain roads and the cabin fireplace and hot cocoa still fill my senses. Those trips are some of my best memories. Skiing was just what we did. It’s what most of my friends did. As soon as I got my driver’s license, I started planning ski trips with my friends, though the cost of the lift tickets was always a gift from my parents. The cost of skiing has priced more of my friends out of the regular trips to the mountains.
While I’m still eager to hit the slopes, something else is also interfering, the changing climate. California’s erratic winters create a challenge for planning weekend ski trips. With the rising temperatures, snowpacks are unpredictable. Artificial snow is just not the same. The winter season was once filled with planned getaways, but seasons are shorter now with heat increasing. It’s kind of frightening. Winters are shorter, and spring and summer are longer.
Thankfully, I have my summer-fall game of golf. However, golfing has had a traditional stuffiness that gets in the way of enjoying it. The conventional collared shirt and khaki pants dress code at the golf clubs is too rigid and outdated. It’s holding back kids like me, the Gen Z group, from committing all the way. Like the rising ski lift prices, the expensive memberships also prohibit low-income or those from marginal means from wanting to pick up the game. All in all, it’s actually contributing to a cultural barrier of division, instead of offering an inclusivity that brings people together.
Unfortunately, I don’t see the barriers to my favorite recreational sports lessening in the future, which really disturbs me. I wonder how I’m going to create the same experiences and memories with my kids when the time comes.
