Open your resort’s Instagram grid and count the snowboards. Then count the skis.
If your feed looks like most I scroll through, the ratio isn’t close. That used to be defensible. After this month’s numbers, I don’t think it is anymore.
What the new SIA study actually says
Snowsports Industries America’s 2025-26 Participation Study, released Oct. 7, counts 31.96 million U.S. participants, a six-season high and about 3% growth. Snowboarding did most of the lifting: about 10.6 million riders, up roughly 9% from 9.7 million. Alpine skiing sat near 13.2 million, roughly flat for four seasons.
One note on what this number is. SIA runs the study with the Physical Activities Council, a partnership of nine trade associations: 15,000 surveys of a nationwide sample, representative of Americans 6 and older, fielded late 2025 into early 2026. It’s self-reported, and the public release doesn’t break out terrain park riders. So I can’t tell you from the data whether this is a park boom or a groomer boom. (SAM Magazine and SGI Europe covered the release too.)
The numbers your content calendar should care about
The headline is fine. The details are where it gets rad for content teams.
| The number | What it says | Content move |
|---|---|---|
| 5.3M riders under 25 | Youth is nearly half riders | Crew + park edits |
| 4.2M new/returning riders | Newbies are boarding | Day-one board content |
| 2.2M Hispanic riders | Third straight rise | Bilingual captions |
| 1.8% of non-skiers: “definitely” riding | Beats skiing’s 1.1% | Target the curious |
That first row is the one I’d tape to the monitor. SIA counts 5.3 million snowboarders under 25 against 5.5 million skiers. That’s your Gen Z audience, split almost down the middle.
The second row matters too. Snowboarding added 4.2 million new and returning participants against 3.3 million who lapsed. Skiing’s churn was a wash at 6.0 million in, 6.0 million out. And 29% of winter sport participants say snowboarding was their first winter sport, versus 16% for skiing.
When did your team last check its grid for boards versus skis?
The twist: more people, fewer days
Here’s the connection I haven’t seen anyone make. The SIA headcount rose, but SIA also reports self-reported days fell nearly 6% for skiers and nearly 3% for riders. NSAA’s preliminary count, via SAM, put 2025-26 at about 52.6 million visits, down roughly 14%, in the lowest-snowfall season in over a decade.
Those two facts fit together. Participation counts people who went at least once; visits count days. Last winter the audience grew and showed up less. We dug into the visit drop in the pass renewal playbook.
So your content has two jobs this winter: look like the people actually arriving, and give them a reason to come back a second and third time.
Call it a board meeting
A quick rebalance doesn’t need a new budget:
- Audit the last 30 posts. Tally skis versus boards. If it’s 9 to 1, you know your target.
- Hand riders the camera. Raw crew edits from your own park staff beat polished hero shots with this audience, the same lesson as authentic versus overproduced content.
- Make a first-day-on-a-board series. Growth is coming from newcomers. Show the falling-leaf drill, the rental counter, the first linked turn.
- Caption in Spanish where it fits your market. It’s a low-cost signal to the fastest-rising rider group in the study.
- Build frequency hooks. Weeknight park sessions, rail jams and lesson ladders give a one-and-done rider a reason to come back.
For where those clips should live, our TikTok vs. Instagram breakdown still holds.
The audience is changing faster than most feeds are. The resorts that win the next five seasons will be the ones whose content looks like who’s riding the chair, not who rode it in 2010. So what does your grid say about who you think your guest is?
