Snowboarding
UPDATED: Are Skiers and Snowboarders Friends?
I found this article today on a topic I that I admit I hadn’t even thought about in quite some time: the inherent tension between skiers and snowboarders. According to the article, I probably haven’t thought about it much because skiers and snowboarders are pretty much friends at this point.
Remember when skiers and snowboarders had a tense, “us versus them” relationship? I actually don’t, really, because I didn’t get into riding until the middle of this decade. By that point, the controversy had pretty much melted away. Shredders and twin-tip skiers were sharing everything from the same styles to the same rails in the terrain park. Now add in the fact that many early riders are approaching middle age and mellowing out and I suppose the issue pretty much doesn’t exist.
Sure, each group has gripes — shredders ruin moguls and some skiers love giant, mountain-hogging S-turns — but today both are wholly accepted ways to get down the mountain. And it probably helps that there’s only three ‘skier only’ resorts left in the United States, so discriminating against snowboarders is pretty much an arhacic practice at this point.
With the controvery eliminated, I encourage skiers and snowboarders to unite against the next great scourage of the hills: snow bladers! C’mon, guys, you look ridiculous. A leash on each leg? Please.
(I’m kidding.)
(Sort of.)
UPDATE: The 2008-2009 season marks the 20th year snowboarders have been allowed on the slopes at Vail. Vail Daily has a nice look back at the rise of snowboarding’s popularity.
Discussion
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Didn’t snowblading come and go? I had the first original Salomon Snowblade – still have them – bought them in 1997/98 season while working at Apex Mountain. Haven’t been on them in years. I don’t see to many people with them and my hunch is they are going the way of the rollerblade… but that’s just my guess.
If we start liking skiers does that mean skaters will start to like snowboarders?
Michelle, I still see ‘em every time I go out, doesn’t matter if it’s my local hill here in Ontario or Whistler. So they’re still kicking around. I suppose I see the appeal if you’re new to skiing but I can’t see it being much fun to take on difficult runs on them. Or maybe I’m totally wrong!
While I agree the discrimination by *resorts* against snowboarders has reduced (especially as you noted since only a few resorts are still ski-only in the US), I still think there is tension between the groups, particularly for skiers vs. snowboarders. It’s because there are still a bunch of d*cks on boards who are reckless and crash in to skiers. All too often I see crashes brought on by boarders going too fast and not paying enough attention to what’s going on around them. I know someone who got slammed and severely injured by a thoughtless out-of-control snowboarder just last weekend in Big Bear. It even happens boarder-on-boarder, like to me last winter! (Luckily I was not hurt.)
Snowboarders will continue to have the reputation as the “knuckle draggers” of the mountain as long as this recklessness continues. It really pisses me off because it ruins the experience for everyone (bad vibes are now held by the victimized skiers against ALL snowboarders, regardless if we are the respectful ones who try to maintain control and distance.) As a snowboarder, I still get attitude from skiers often and I blame it on a bad experience the person must have had w/ another boarder.
People, you are not the only ones on the mountain!
Okay getting off soap box now.
“There’s less and less negative interface. Instead of the idiot snowboarder cut me off, now it’s just the idiot cut me off.”
That’s a great quote from the Vail article. I often blame skiers for going to slow, especially on flats where us snowboarders need to maintain speed. However the truth is is that there are PLENTY of idiots snowboarding that stop and sit in the middle of runs or are otherwise inconsiderate.
Obviously we all need to just relax and try to get along. Then we need to band together against the idiots on the hills, no matter what they might be riding.