How snowboarding saved the ski industry

A snowHead

It's been said many times, but the figures are not always there to prove it. The US resorts, so commercial and dependent on regular trade, take particular interest in the balance and inter-relationship of skiing and boarding.

Here's how they reckon that snowboarding gave a kick up the rear of a 5000-year-old biped pursuit, reported by USA Today.

A snowHead

It's interesting that in America in 2003 approximately half of the sliders were boarders, which isn't my perception of the situation in Europe. I would have thought that skiers still outnumber boarders quite significantly - or perhaps it's just the places I go or my own lack of observation. Are there any equivalent figures for this side of the Atlantic?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

It really depends where you go - the more expensive the lift ticket, then the fewer boarders there seems to be around - probably due to some correlation between age and economic status! - but then I've recently met quite a few people who have started skiing after previously boarding. Americans are good at making statistics say what ever they want to say! Smile

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Hmm, does the different proportion in the States have something to do with slope type? Unless you're seriously insane, couloirs and bumpy steeps are a lot more manageable on two planks than one - do more people "slide" gnarly terrain in Europe (so higher proportion of skiers) versus more people sliding on more thoroughly groomed slopes, with more common powder, in the States (so higher proportion of boarders) ?

I dunno, just a thought....

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I think it's where you look. As a boarder I prefer to board off piste in the powder which seems easier to master on a snowboard than skiis. Hence I see a lot more snowboarders than skiiers. I guess if I was a skiier who liked the fast pistes I would see more skiiers.

Also I've noticed that the proportion varies depending on the day of the week. In early season midweek all you see are skiiers (mostly retired people) whereas at the weekend, with the influx of the younger people from the cities, the proportion of boarders increase

However I still think that there are still more skiier around than boarders in Europe.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

I've skied at Deer Valley, and it didn't seem posh to me - the people, the gear, the lifts were all pretty much normal ski resort types. The mountain restaurants were nice, but for style not as glitzy as Snowbasin, and for food not as good as Courchevel or Zermatt. As far as the ratio of skiers to snowboarders is concerned, I've been to loads of places and the only place that has had anything like 1:1 has been Brighton (UT). Normally in Europe it's probably more like 3:1 skiers to snowboarders?

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brian

Hmmm, so the # of boarders went up by approx 4M and the # of skiers went down by approx 4M.

Same number of overall sliders, no Puzzled

snow reports

What was quite interesting is that although there is almost equality in the number of people who ski or board, boarders only accounted for 30% of visitors to ski resorts. Does this mean that a typical skier gets more than twice as much snow time as your average boarder? Could this be related to the average age and afluence of each?

alan empty,

You know it makes sense.

Taking my polemical hat off, I concur with the view that snowboarding has in fact been instrumental in not only saving skiing but also reviving it as an exciting pursuit. Having skied for about 25 years, it's clear that skiing was dying on its a r s e in the late 1980's, partly due to poor snowfalls but also because the sport was largely inaccessible for adult beginners to get really proficient at. That's all changed, largely due to to the influence snowboard design has had upon ski construction which has made the latter far more accessible to beginners. Moreover, adult beginners can now become very proficient at the sport and this surely has to be a good thing.

Interestingly, the demographics tend to suggest that older 'riders' (it makes me shudder to use that blinking new Labour euphemism) tend to be skiers and I'm not at all surprised that resorts tend to focus the majority of their efforts towards this market. I've seen tanned blokes in their seventies skiing down the mountain but I've struggled to spot a boarder over 50 indulging in the sport. I suspect the sheer body dynamics involved in boarding might make it a little more dificult the older one gets, but I daresay that's being presumptuous.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

kevin, my son told me that the oldest client he taught to snowboard was a 74 yr woman. I've decided that I'm too young to board, I'll save it for when I get really old and decrepit and take up golf as well.

A snowHead

I met an instructor at one of the artificial slopes the other day who told me he had taught an 80 year old to board. I am 57 and a beginner. I don't think the "body dynamics" are any more difficult - in fact they're a lot simpler - but the inescapable fact is that you can't learn to board without falling over. A beginner skier with a degree of athleticism and a good instructor can learn to ski with little or no falling over. Grownups don't like to fall over. However, when you do, getting up on a board can be a lot easier than getting up on skis (at least onto your toe edge; getting up heelside on the flat is rather challenging for older people!). Also, older people tend to stop learning new things, and older skiers who are highly competent on two planks don't like to make an back bottom of themselves on one. So I think the main barriers are psychological, rather than physical. Personally I shall continue to try to improve boarding, because it makes a change, because I don't mind falling over, within reason, and because I don't mind making an back bottom of myself. I have encountered only friendly responses from fellow (young) beginner boarders, but then I frequent a small, friendly, totally uncool and laid back small French resort, where nobody seems to be out to make others feel foolish. Learning new stuff is a good way to help guard against dementia, it is said. so I am learning boarding and French and hoping for the best.

A snowHead

pam w, Bravo.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The inescapable fact, also Pam, is that you cannot learn to ski without falling over either.

Enjoy your learning because, as they say, 'learning is for life'.

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Diarmuid, I'm surprised you see more boarders off-piste than skiers, that isn't my experience, though certainly there are more, in proportion, than on piste. I shall have to make a count this year. Though now I come to think about it I hardly see anyone off piste: perhaps a few people in the distance once or twice each day.
It will be more a case of counting tracks, and my memory of that was a much higher proportion of ski tracks. In fact boarder tracks are sufficiently rare to sometimes be commented on.
Perhaps you ski off-piste nearer to the pistes, or choose your own routes, whereas I (along with most skiers) ski mostly with a guide so find the places others don't ski, often in valleys with no lift or piste, seeing chamoix, eagles and snow hares (?) I don't know, it's just a guess.

Once two years ago a couple of us were waiting for someone who had fallen to catch up and two boarders arrived. One remarked loudly to his friend that there were so many skiers these days following the example of boarders by skiing off piste. He genuinely seemed to believe that skiers hadn't really done it before and was quite surprised when I spoke up and said I had been skiing off-piste long before boards were invented (I got the impression he was surprised anyone that old would still be alive! Or that any of us would respond) But, then, he was very young (and of course without a guide).

kevin mcclean, I'm not sure if modern boarders would just be skiers now if boards had not been invented or if boards have really brought people to the snows who wouldn't have come otherwise.
It should be pointed out that carving skis have made skiing much easier than it used to be. The vast majority of skiers in the past just skidded round corners with no carve at all. The person who carved was noticed (and by carved I don't mean they left visible tramlines on the piste as many do now). Modern skiers have much better technique because the skis allow it, and they progress up the mountain earlier. This is probably the only reason any new sliders are skiers!

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i wouldnt have learnt how to ski if it hadnt been for snowboards. actually that sounds wrong. i would have learned how to slide, if it wasnt for snowboards... better.

i went dry slope skiing (in calshot, with the school) and at crystal palace. both experiences were horriffically painful, and generally put me off wanting to go up a mountain for years. i stuck happily to skateboarding, and only 4 years ago had the opportunity to actually go up a mountain for the first time. naturally i got straight on a board and have dreamed of moving up to a mountain since then.

i think this year im going to try some snowblades, because they look fun, and i want to be able to ski as well, especially because i HATE drag lifts on snowboards, and because the resort i go to (kopaonik in serbia) is mostly designed around skiing, so a lot of the inter connections between runs are flat paths or slightly uphill.

Help!!

How snowboarding saved the ski industry

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