“It feels to me overwhelming because of the respect that I get from having rolled that snowball down that hill, that’s all I did! Art and I have the credit for that,” said Finley.

Sondra Scott, who proudly shared that she is a product of NBS, said she has been taking to the slopes since she was 5 years old. Growing up, Scott often noticed she was the only person of color out there shredding, which concerned her. “And so, I really wasn’t exposed to other people skiing that were my color. When I went to my first ski summit it was eye-opening because I never saw any one of my color,” Scott recalled.

In the 2021-2022 ski season, nearly 89% of visitors to U.S. ski areas identified as white, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Black and African American skiers, by comparison, accounted for only 1.5% of visitors.

Both Scott and Finley said that cost is one of the biggest barriers that prevents people of color — and many people in general — from participating in winter sports. Scott explained that the average price of skis, on the lower end of the spectrum, is about $2,000. Add on boots, pants, gloves, helmets, lodging and lift tickets and the price becomes prohibitively expensive for many people, even if they’re renting equipment.

Scott said one of the many reasons why NBS is so important is because the organization helps people of color overcome financial barriers through discounts, and that it works on outreach to young people of color.

Scott and Finley reiterated the importance of Black representation in predominately white spaces.

“We’re uniting and making it feasible and it’s so exciting to get the younger kids out there skiing,” said Scott.

NBS has in has more than 50 participating chapters in 43 cities across the U.S. Three of the chapters, including the BIPOC Mountain Collective, are based in Denver.

For Ben Finley, he said people like Scott and the many young people who visited with him over the course of this year’s summit make him hopeful for the future of NBS.

“Where do we go in the future? I can’t prophesize that. That very much depends on what the younger generation wants to do with their lives,” Finley said. “We need young people to reincarnate this organization because we are graying.”

Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at lindseyford@rmpbs.org.

William Peterson is a senior photojournalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at williampeterson@rmpbs.org.