People have always wanted to fly; snowboarding can give that feeling. Imagine getting launched fifteen feet into the air and sixty feet down a ski slope. This is just one of the thrills of snowboarding that has been suppressed for a number of years. Snowboarding had a hard struggle to get where it is today and has helped spark a new era for skiing. If skiers and snowboarders respect the rights of others then there would be no problems and all of the thrill seekers at the resort could have an enjoyable experience. Since the late 1980s, snowboarding has been the overwhelming choice of young people entering the market.
According to a NSAA, National Ski Areas Association, commissioned study, nearly two-thirds of young people ages 12 to 24 chose snowboarding over skiing. (Hood) When snowboarding began to go mainstream it forced skiing to go extreme. Major players (the major ski manufactures) in the ski industry are promoting the generations of hot-dog skiers to put a fresh face on skiing and give the sport a much needed makeover. (Hood) Snowboarding has opened a whole new era for skiing and there is no turning back now. All the skiers and boarders are going extreme.
There is an increased danger but with some common courtesy accidents can be avoided and all of the skiers and boarders can get the chance to fly for a while. Snowboarding is a relatively new sport. It has only become popular in the last ten years. A small group including Jake Burton, Chuck Barfoot, and Tom Sims pioneered snowboarding in the late 1970’s. All of whom now head or have lead snowboard companies with Burton being the largest snowboard manufacturer in the world. (Wallace, pg. 8. 02) Most snowboarders got chased off the slopes when they tried to ride.
No self-respecting ski resort would have them. Surfing the slopes, shredding the air and snow in equal measures – kicking it – they always had to be on the lookout for the glowering ski patrol. (Gordon) “I was kicked off countless ski areas back in the 1960s, ’70s and even in the ’80s,” Sims says of the difficulties he once encountered from the established Alpine ski community. (Atkin) In the early 1980’s snowboarding began to be accepted by a few resorts. The first snowboarder hit the slopes of Whistler, British Columbia, around 1981. The call came up to ski patrol director Ken Newington.
The call was from a lift operator who said there was a guy with a board that wanted to go up the mountain. Ken told the operator to send him up and he asked Hugh O’Reilly, who is now Whistler’s Mayor, to take him out on the slopes and check him out. O’Reilly took him to the top of one of the slopes and after 300 or 400 yards decided he looked fine. Ken then issued him a sticker for the guy’s board with Ken’s signature on it so he could ride the lifts without any problems. (Andrew, pg. 12) Seventeen years later it is expected that 4. 5 million snowboarders will hit the slopes this season.
That is three times the number in 1990. Resorts like snowboarders now; the one-time outlaws have become the resorts’ salvation. Snowboarders account for seventy percent of business for the resorts in early winter. (Gordon) Resorts also realize that snowboarders love their sport and have money to spend. The average boarder is on the slopes three times as often per year as the average skier. (Wallace, pg. 8. 13) With all of the attention going to snowboarding with all of its high-flying aerial maneuvers, skiing had to turn to its bad boys as the future of the sport to get young people interested in the sport.
Ski resorts are loosening up some of the restrictions on the mountain giving skiers a chance to go for the big air, much like snowboarders have been doing, against regulations, for years. Major ski resorts are opening up their snowboard parks to skiers so they can push the extreme image in their marketing campaigns. (Hood) Snowboarding has opened a whole new era for skiing. Major ski manufactures are creating “teams” of free ride, extreme, skiers. The manufactures pay the members up to $100,000 a year to ski and sharpen the company’s image.
Television is also playing a big role in the attempt to get today’s youth interested in skiing. Sponsors are lining up behind big-air and extreme-skiing competitions. ESPN’s Winter-X Games featured extreme skiing for the first time in 1998. K2’s Jeff Manchara stated, “Why is it happening now? Because there is an opportunity with the plateauing of snowboarding. There’s an opportunity for skiing to shine, to kind of come of age again. Skiing never really lost its cool. It was just overshadowed by snowboarding.
Skiing has even taken snowboarding tricks and used the tricks for every competition including the Olympics. Olympic gold medalist Johnny Mosely’s 360 degree-mute-air grab in the mogul competition is straight out of snowboarding’s bag of tricks. (Hood) Shane McConkey, 1995 national extreme skiing champion said in reference to extreme skiing, “It’s just the next level for a lot of people. It use to be considered extreme, and crazy and ridiculous, a bunch of young guys out there chucking their carcass off a cliff. People have now realized that that’s top-level skiing at it’s finest.
It’s not extreme or crazy or anything. It’s the sport of free-riding and it’s growing huge because people finally understand it. “(Hood) There is still the debate of which is more fun. Tom Sims said, “In my opinion, Snowboarding is inherently more fun. It’s hard to explain, but when you do a snowboard turn and can drag your hand in the snow and pretend you’re on a twenty-foot wave, it just seems more fun than planting a ski pole and making a turn. ” (Atkin) It does not matter which is more fun as long as the skier or snowboarder is having fun doing it.
The major thing is that skiers and snowboarders need to respect the rights of others. When a skier or snowboarder goes to the resorts they need to follow the “Your Responsibility Code” which states:
1. Always stay in control and be able to stop to avoid other people or objects. 2. People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them. 3. You must not stop where you obstruct a trail or are not visible from above. 4. Whenever starting downhill or merging onto a trail look uphill and yield to others. 5. Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment. 6. Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas. 7. Prior to using any lift, you must have knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely. (Wallace, pg. 8. 00. 03)
This code has been written and endorsed by the National Ski Patrol and numerous other organizations to help make the skiing or snowboarding experience enjoyable. Studies show that the injury rate for skiers and snowboarders are about equal. The injuries however are different, skiers are more likely to get knee injuries and snowboarders are more likely to hurt the wrist or arm.
Skiers and snowboarders can lessen the chance of injury by taking lessons and using the proper equipment. (Wallace, pg. 8. 11) Skiers and snowboarders are on the slopes to have fun, not to fight. There is however, a lot of friction between skiers and snowboarders at the resorts. Skiers complain that snowboarders hurt the slopes by scraping off the snow and scare people with the large groups and loud sounds of a snowboard carving on ice. The complaint about scraping off the snow can be said about skiers too. It does not matter if a person is on one board or two it is the fact that the person is a beginner.
Snowboarding gets blamed for it because the majority of snowboarders are beginners. Skiers complaining about the packs of snowboarders and the noise will have to learn to live with it. With ninety-seven percent of U. S. resorts allowing it, more than half of American resorts cater to boarders with half-pipes, its growth rate is over ten percent snowboarding is here to stay. Snowboard discrimination is like blaming a car for driving out of control instead of the driver. There are weird people out there on every vertical descent device.
It is the person, not the sport in which they are engaged in. Snowboarding is growing at a very high rate of speed. It is in the spotlight. For every outlaw snowboarder, who cuts you off, and is in the limelight, there are bunches who are civil and law abiding. (Wallace, pg. 8. 13) Many snowboarders complain that when snowboarding mainstreamed it hurt the sport. According to a Ski Patrol member at Seven Springs, “The style and image almost seems to be more important then the riding these days. I feel snowboarding has mainstreamed in a more positive way in the last couple years.
Greg has skied for nine years and has been snowboarding for four years. He also stated that, “I started skiing and when I learned to snowboard they helped each other out. I believe that snowboarding has helped my skiing significantly. ” Snowboarders have fought for the right to board. The image has changed from outlaw(the sport that no one would let on the slopes), to extreme(the sport everyone wants to try and use to show off or get attention. Snowboarding has taken all of the safety precautions when making equipment to help keep the riders injury free.
While snowboarders have been fighting for equal rights the boarders have also given skiing a much-needed face-lift and renewed interest in skiing. All of the people on the slopes whether skiers or snowboarders are there to have fun. Snowboarding had a hard struggle to get where it is today and has helped spark a new era for skiing. Snowboarders love the sport so much that boarders have conformed to fit in and be allowed on the slopes. Snowboarders have worked hard to be allowed on the sloped so end the friction and have fun going extreme.
