Skiing embodies more than just a sport or extracurricular, it is an entity that connects an entire global community through a single passion. The love of snow and moving with the energy of the mountain is a duality that helps snow sport athletes emerge and find this passion. There is a culture attached to the passion and the closer you look the more sub cultures and niches appear out of this greater global community. With new and developing styles of riding (skiing/snowboarding) the sport feels regenerative and progressive, creating an attraction to the youth and building on an ever-growing community.
As the youth become more involved with snow sports this causes them to make decisions in life based on their passions and lifestyle choices. Like migrating birds, skiers and boarders flock to regions that have particular physical geographical characteristics. Another aspect that may attract a snow sport athlete to a region is the community that is based around that area. Someone who is interested in skiing backcountry may move to locations like Montana or Utah while someone who is interested in skiing park might move to Colorado or California. No matter what characteristic a region is chosen for there is an overlaying theme that shows people's attraction to the snow and the culture involved.
For this first networking project I hope to show patterns of these migrations and the movement of skiers around North America (and the world if enough data is collected).
