Sunday, December 30, 2007

Racial choices in ski resorts?

I just got back from a ski trip last week. The snow was a bit sparse and the temperatures never got out of the teens on the slopes. Still, it was good fun. But I'm not remarking on those subjects. What struck me this time was how at one resort, Mt. Rose in Nevada, there were large numbers (I'm talking like 50-70% of the people I saw) of Asian-Americans. By contrast, the next day at Squaw Valley, my brother and I were actively searching for Asian-Americans but could see only very few - I'm talking maybe 20-30 out of the hundreds if not thousands of other skiiers we encountered.

Let me reemphasize: there was a huge disparity between Asian-American attendance at Mt. Rose ski resort v. Squaw Valley USA. It was completely mystifying.

As the American Way(TM) would have it: In times of uncertainty, fall back on gross stereotypes. (Just kidding!) A family member of mine postulated that, based on the stereotype of Asians as "cheap" or at least bargain hunters, the Asian American attendance disparity could be explained by the pecuniary savings associated with staying in Reno, which provides (1) cheap lodging because of casinos, (2) cheap food, and (3) shorter drive from Reno to Mt. Rose v. Squaw Valley. However, I am skeptical of this explanation because Squaw is not inconvenient from Reno at all and is probably only 20-30 minutes further. As point of fact, we ourselves stayed in Reno and enjoyed the savings!

Squaw Valley is of course more expensive (I payed 62 for my ticket at Squaw v. 45 for Mt. Rose), but it's a much more extensive resort with more varied terrain (imho).

And of course, Squaw Valley charges for non-skiing family members to get to some of the more convenient lodges (cable car and/or funitel rides), whereas Mt. Rose's major lodges are easily accessible. I know that some Asian matrons don't ski themselves but like to stake out tables in the super-crowded Mt. Rose lodge.

Even with these various factors, I am still curious about the day and night difference between the two resorts. The disparity is just so crazily glaring.