Organization funds programs that help more people fall in love with winter sports
By Polly Mikula
Last month Mikaela Shiffrin announced a partnership with Share Winter, a foundation that brings winter sports to kids and communities that historically have not had access to them — she plans to expand her commitment with another announcement made in tandem with her 100th win, whenever that happens.
“As I head into the @fisalpine World Cup kickoff week in Sölden, I am honored to share today that I am officially joining the Share Winter team as an Ambassador,” Shiffrin posted on her Instagram account. “Share Winter’s efforts have always been near and dear to my heart, and as I head into the last few seasons of my career, it’s important to me that I amplify and elevate causes that transcend the sport and create more access to this sport that is so near and dear to my heart,” she wrote.
Constance Beverley, CEO of Share Winter, said that Shiffrin is the first official ambassador in the program, but noted that the organization also works with three-time Olympic medalist cross country skier Jessie Diggins, the most accomplished U.S. cross-country skier in history, who’ll also join it.
“We’re super lucky that we get to work with the best women in the sport,” she said. “We’re doing a good thing and really awesome people recognize that.”
The mission at Share Winter is to create “opportunities for people who have been historically denied access to skiing and riding, the opportunity to fall in love with winter,” Beverley explained. The organization focuses on learn-to ski and ride programs funding and coordinating opportunities across the U.S. (mostly in areas that are within an hour and a half of skiing and snowboarding).
Beverley explained that as an Ambassador “Mikaela will utilize her platform, her time and her notability to shed light on the fact that access to skiing and riding is not easy here in the United States. That for families that aren’t traditional ski families, they’re not going to have the same opportunities that she had to get up on skis at age 2. So it involves raising awareness … and serving as inspiration and as a connection to the competitive side of skiing and racing … she’s kind of our bridge to the alternate universe that is competitive sport.”
In addition to Shiffrin announcing her ambassadorship for Share Winter, she’s also planning an announcement with the organization to coincide her 100th win, “to help bring visibility and greater access to snow sports,” she wrote.
Shiffrin, who shies away from talking about records and goals, has said she’s excited to instead use her spotlight to shine light on the efforts of Share Winter, acknowledging that not everyone is given the opportunity to fall in love with snowsports as she has.
“Looking back on my career to this point—from my very first turns to my 97th World Cup victory—I feel like a million different stars aligned to help me get to where I am,” she wrote on Instagram. “A thousand different people assisted me in my dreams and showed me support at the most crucial times. I’ve come across hundreds of different moments where the path in front of me diverged (…in a yellow wood…) and I either chose to take or was guided down the ‘right’ path to this point now. It’s actually pretty incredible when I think about it, and even though it has taken a lot of hard work and I like to think that ‘luck’ isn’t part of the equation, I still can’t help but feel incredibly lucky. I know that not everyone is blessed with the good fortune I have come across, in fact very few are, and over the years the lack of accessibility for a diverse group of people in winter sports has funneled us into a very *not* diverse community. I love this community, but can’t help but wonder how much more potential there is for it to be stronger if we could help #sharewinter with everyone, rather than just those of us who have the means, the access, or the background (and bloodlines) to support it.”
Beverley from Share Winter will be at the Killington Cup with members from the Association for Africans Living in Vermont (AALV). AALV with organizes two 4-week courses at Sugarbush Resort, which provides free ski and snowboard lessons, equipment, and lunch to AALV’s youth members. The program started in 2022 and is part of a national partnership with Alterra resorts.
The AALV ski program has also received Killington World Cup Foundation grants.
For more information, visit: Sharewinterfoundation.org.
