Ebony Ice builds a snow-sport community for people of color

It’s a chance to learn a new skill, meet new people and explore a space where it’s rare to see many African-Americans — something a Milwaukee-based snow-sports club is working to change.

Ebony Ice launched in 1989 as a local branch of the National Brotherhood of Snowsports. The organization hosts events all year round for skiers and snowboarders of all experience levels, as well as seasonal “Learn to Ski/Snowboard” classes. With about 75 members to date, membership is encouraged and does come with perks like discounts, scholarships and travel opportunities.

It’s all an effort to narrow the historical chasm between the African-American community and participation in snow-sports. For context, the National Ski Areas Association reports that during the 2023-24 ski season, more than 60 million people visited ski resorts. Of those visits, just 1% of guests identified themselves as African-American.

Ever heard of the X Games? In the 2020 edition of this extreme sports competition, snowboarder Zeb Powell became the first Black person in Winter X Games history to win gold. It took 30 years for that to happen.

“Skiing is the kind of sport where unless somebody invites you and shows you and holds your hand, you would get there and not know what you’re doing,” Ebony Ice president Ranjit Singh said. “In fact, I hear from a lot of people who say that they tried it one time, they didn’t like it, and they wouldn’t be willing to do it again.”

Singh is on a mission to introduce as many people of color as possible to snow sports so they, too, can experience the beauty of the world from up high.

“I get to the top of the chairlift, and I take a look, and I just take in the views and realize I’ve never been closer to God,” Singh said. “Then I began to sob for the fact that the only thing in my way of being up there was learning to ski. And it was that moment that I knew. I started putting it on my vision board that this was something that I was going to do. Because having that moment is not something I just want for myself.”

You can listen to my day with Ebony Ice and a full interview with Singh using the player at the top of the page.