the BMB

...did skiing get cooler?

Now before you all go ape-sh*t on me, hear me out. I have been snowboarding for a long time. Now, I am not at all very good, but I have been around the sport long enough to have noticed a few things. In my time riding I have seen the sport accepted at nearly every resort, have seen the implementation of amazing events--both pro and amateur, have seen snowboarding go to the olympics, etc. Basically, a lot of us who read most of the crap (like this post) in this forum have watched the dreams of Jake and friends come true. And it has been awesome. A culture was spawned. Lots of thrills and broken bones.

But snowboarding also gave new life to a floundering ski industry. The influx of people to mountain resorts dragging one plank on one foot through the lift lines inspired the ski industry into a period of reinvestment. Ski gear got more advanced almost overnight. After several years of a brawl mentality between skiers and snowboarders, the ski industry wised up and decided to go for the juggular. They assimilated! The ski culture took on much of the snowboard culture. Now everyone smokes weed on the lifts!

The technology and cultural shift has put skiing in a unique position. Not only is the tech right up there with snowboarding, and not only did the cultural boundary blur to the point of non-existence (minus a few quirks), skiing still retains something that snowboarding never had: you can take skis anywhere. They are an actual form of transportation. With the right accessories you can even climb hills in skis.

At this point in my life I will probably never learn to ski. Snowboarding still charges me with a thrill of life that few other activities provide. But with the age demographic shifting--the average age of a snowboarder is going up, while it is going down for the average skier--is there an indication that snowboarding's general cool factor is getting trumped?

Thoughts?

splitboards

 

/end of topic

just do what you like to do and dont worry about what others are doing. thats what snowboarding is all about. skiers can have better technology, cooler clothes, and have way more people participating in the sport but what does that all matter if you like to snowboard better?

drjcv:

splitboards

 

/end of topic

Hell yes.

Nice. Everyone's so caught up in rep. Reason why there was and is a rift between skiers and boarders.

Just do your thing.

Snowboarders are getting older, but it doesn't mean young people aren't starting it.

I don't really care what the hell happens as long as I've got a working setup, snow on a mountain, and am physically able to get to the top. A bag of weed and a bottle of liquor is always nice, but where snowboarding is concerned that kinda falls to the wayside with all the people in their funny getups.

My main reason for starting this thread was not to perpetuate old flame wars between skiers and snowboarders. Nor was it to light fires under anyone's a**es, or send forth some lame call to action on the part of the snowboard community.
My point was to bring to light the lack of distinction between the two sports. Maybe we all have noticed it, and apparently do not give a sh*t. But I think that there is something to be said about snowboarding that skiing just can't touch.
We are not talking the legalization of gay marriage here. F*ck, ride what you want, on the snow or between the sheets. Hell if I care. And I think that was the point of early riders. It was not to be rebellious against the rules for the sake of rebellion, but to gain acceptance through legitimate protest. And in that people discovered something new and different.

What happens when the different is no longer different and the distinction fades. Pointing out that skiers, due to access to new tech and an assimilation to the snowboard culture (actually, there was a move on both ends toward a center, I think), may have a one-up on snowboarding now, was said simply to stimulate the processing of a question: what makes snowboarding special anymore?

If it is just that "well, I like to do it" then maybe its distinction has truly gone missing for sure. There was a guy just caught and prosecuted in Virginia (or some state) for screwing his neighbours horse. He obviously seems to like doing such a thing. But most people--including myself and most people here--would not find this fantasy very appeasing. So to say that I snowboard just becasue I like it is freaking lame. That is just as arbitrary as saying you prefer apples to oranges just becasue. What is missing is the why.

Is there anything that makes snowboarding unique in its own right to skiing anymore. If not, then why don't we all just ski? You can get to so many more places on skis, plus you can do everything a snowboarder can do.

Anyway...not that anyone gives a sh*t. I guess I just miss writing about riding. And it is very obvious that discussion no longer happens here. Huh...it sort of reminds me of what snowboarding on an industry and cultural level has become. Stale!

I guess this is why I hike for my runs and often ride alone. I feel like a veteran of some ancient war that nobody gives a sh*t about anymore.

Oh well. Go big or go home, fellow shredders!

alright, I shouldn't have said that I didn't care. Snowboarding's turning into a huge corporate mess that I don't want to have anything to do with. I'd give quite it bit for today to be like eras gone by. I'd rather ride a 2000 burton motion with freestyles and motos of the same year than have all the latest and greatest tech of 2010 and all the corporate conspicuous consumption sh!t.

Actually, i do want a 2000 motion again. Those dragons where the bomb.