The snow blizzards of the northern hemisphere this winter have been so severe they are making skiing and snowboarding seem a lot more normal.
In a new report, MountainSnowBoots, a leading global retail retailer, says snowboarding has become easier for more people and snowshoeing is also becoming more accessible.
“With the advent of more affordable, more comfortable snowshoes and snowboarders, skiing and cross country skiing have become more accessible, and snow is no longer a dangerous activity,” said David Tully, Mountain SnowBoots executive director of business development.
The MountainSnowBoot study looked at how many people are skiing or snowboarding in different countries around the world, the number of snowshoers, the average temperature, and the percentage of people who said they would like to get back out there.
It found that skiing and winter sports in Germany were in fact more popular than skiing and skating in the UK, the USA, Canada and Russia.
But skiing and walking in Austria was still popular.
There are also some surprises on the other side of the world.
The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK have the highest snowshopping rates in the world with a whopping 60.3% of people doing it.
Australia, New York and the USA have the lowest, at 13.4%.
The US, with a snowshooting rate of 15.6%, is also the most popular country in Europe.
But the most interesting part of the study is that skiing in the Nordic countries has actually increased in popularity since 2014.
In Sweden, skiing is still more popular with the percentage saying they would rather ski or snowboard in the country now at 63.3%.
However, it seems that the popularity of skiing in Nordic countries is not being replicated in the United States.
In the US, skiing has been on a steady decline in popularity for years now.
In fact, only 17.9% of Americans say they would prefer to get out of their cars and snowboards.
Snowshoeers have also been getting a lot of attention.
“I was skiing in Finland a few years ago and the locals said that the snow is so slippery that they had to be careful not to fall off, but I just shrugged it off,” said John Ritchie, a US snowshooter from the US.
“The locals in Finland are very friendly and the mountains are really good.”
The study also found that in Europe, the snowboarding season is now just two weeks longer than it was in the 1980s.
Snowboarding has been a mainstay of winter sports for decades in many parts of Europe, and has long been a staple of Nordic winter sports, like skiing, cross country skis, snowshod, snowboard, snowboarding, snow skiing and sledding.
It was only in the last few years that skiing became a bigger part of winter sporting events in the northern part of Europe.
In 2016, the Nordic snowshops opened in Denmark and Norway.
In 2017, the first Nordic snowboard races took place in the US in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Snowmobiling has also been a big part of many winter sports throughout Europe.
“In some Nordic countries, snowmobiling is a popular sport and it is often accompanied by cross country sledding,” the report said.
“Snowmobiles have been an important part of Nordic skiing for centuries.”
In addition, there is a growing interest in snowshaving in the Arctic, where snow has been frozen for months and winters are shorter.
“More and more people in many Nordic countries are wanting to experience winter sports again,” Tully said.
It’s not just the snow sports.
The report said that people in Europe are getting more comfortable with wearing jackets and gloves.
“As a result, there has been an increasing awareness of safety and comfort standards for outdoor activity,” the authors said.
The study is available on the MountainSnowboot website.
