Seeing less and less Snowboarders slope side these days.

A snowHead

Just another observation. Last year I went skiing in Japan and noticed that there were a lot lot more snowboarders about than we see in Europe and much younger.

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

@johnE, the snow they have really sorts super wide skis , I went with fairly wide Chams but I kept hitting the frozen base I needed much wider boys . I don’t board but I would expect boards to work the same as wide ski’s. Also the Aussie influence .

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@BoardieK, I see rome blur, how is it? I see ddge hold is good, rolls edge to edge easy, stable at speed?

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The edge hold is perfect for me as I'm not a power rider. It's got a softer flex than my Nitro Blacklight camber which I learnt on but which, after 6 years, I was still fighting a bit too much. The grip is excellent in these conditions and firmer, the previous day was a fair bit softer and I have a tendency to often push that tight nose contact point in a bit deep. It's also a few mm narrower than the Blacklight and softer torsionally which really helps with going edge to edge. I max out at just over 50mph on both boards but the Blur feels more relaxed, at 1min 45 I'm getting close to that speed.

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Completely anecdotal from my rather small sample size... I would agree that overall less people are snowboarding now. Although there does seem to be some regional differences - most Aussies I meet tend to snowboard (perhaps something to do with surfing link?).

I tell friends looking to start skiing/snowboarding unless you have a preference for snowboarding, it's better to go with skis. No faffing with buckles, no issues getting stuck on flat spots, generally more practical, better on ice, less falling as a beginner. Skis are also more convenient for touring and fat rocketed skis have taken away the old benefit of snowboards being better in powder.

The current trends in snowsports seem to be touring and freeride. Touring is no doubt more practical on skis. For kids watching freeride world tour mens ski is more impressive than mens snowboard in terms of lines and tricks. Women's ski is lightyears ahead of women's snowboarding.

I guess the question is why care? I have never really had the desire to ski. I enjoy snowboarding and will continue to do so regardless of how many others do.

Btw there is nothing wrong with a middle aged snowboarder. A middle aged person using a selfie stick on the other hand... snowHead

After all it is free

if you want practicality - get a toyota minivan. Riding is fun, skiing is a way to get around the mountain, like a metro, can't deny it's effective, but effective and fun rarely goes together.

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I think this is a very Euro-centric viewpoint. In North America I think it is much more common and shows no sign of abating but in Europe it never took off quite as much and to my mind has never been more than say 10% of those on the mountain anyway. I will be looking around from now on to see if you're right.

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Much higher % of boarders in Nz than Europe as well

You know it makes sense.

why not snowboard first, so they be easier on skis? Laughing

or afraid so much kids won't ever touch skis after riding sideways?

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

This very much depends on the resort and what it's known for. New Zealand, Japan and Canada all had a much higher proportion of snowboarders than Europe. If a resort has a good park or good powder there will be more snowboarders.

A snowHead

St Anton last week had a fair representation of snowboarders. Less than my last trip there 10 years ago, but not the massive minority you see elsewhere.

A snowHead

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

For small ones, you can get the Riglets kit which has a cable and reel with a little handle on it you bolt to the nose of the board so you can tow Jnr around. But like you say, for the 2-6 age group, options to take a group lesson are often limited unless they already have some kind of experience. Youngest did his beginners lessons at VT on the family bash last year and was youngest in the group by some margin, same this year doing stage 2 - next youngest was 12, he is 8.

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@Richard_Sideways, your youngest is a dude!

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Taught mine from age 2. Used to be a real pain getting gear for them, used to have to hit eBay in USA and import it although easily sold on. Loads of kit around these days though.

Ski school told me it wasn’t possible for kids to ride a board until 7 or 8 due to muscle development which was BS. By the age of 7 both my kids were very competent riders. I see kids much younger than that (with parents coaching) who are real good. Great to see. I think one of the things that pushed my kids was that most of their mates were on skis, so they had to learn to keep up very quickly.

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its was about the time salomon released the 1080 skis the change started to happen. When i started out in the mid 90's i was the strange young un wanting to ski every other young un wanted to board,

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After being to ~15 different resorts, i can say the number of snowboarders really depends on which resort you go to. There are more boarders where there are younger people in general at the resort. There are more skiers where resort is for older crowd. Also, resorts that have long gentle slopes are not favoured among boarders, logically.

It's is also cultural thing - what is more popular in your age and cultural group. I'm from Ukraine and most of the people that I know 35 and younger are snowboarders (i'm mostly skier, so it's not just the personal preference). Families/kids mostly try on skies even when they are first time in the mountains, when young unmarried adults prefer snowboard.

After all it is free

plenty were boarding in Whistler in December

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@Dougy Giro, are you a Toy Dolls reference?

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Agree with people saying Europe might be more skiing centric but Japan, NZ, Australia and Canada have large numbers of boarders due to large amounts of powder (Japan and Canada) and awesome parks (NZ and Australia). I ski but my wife boards. I probably would have boarded but when I was 21 K2 Public enemies came out and they stopped me turning to the dark side as they were super playful, great in powder and looked awesome.

You know it makes sense.

@swiftoid, It's a training aid

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

Brighton, Ut back in 2015 when I visited was almost all boarders. It was awesome having a mountain to ourselves so I decided to start a petition for a skier free mountain in Utah... unfortunately nothing happened Sad

A snowHead

A snowHead

Only old people argue about skiing vs boarding

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

Skis evolved, boards didn't. To be fair, I,'m not sure how they could.
As soon as we got fat skis with backward pointing tips, the kids could ride the powder and do all tricks in the air that the boarders good without all the unclipping.
Boarding was always better in the powder but with off piste being illegal without a guide in some countires, less powder days in most
resort and a warmer, more unstable snowpack, boarding just isn't as attractive as it was.

You've also got the remember that young pee have little money these days. The boomers ran off with it all.
ibiza on the slopes resorts are a dying breed.

Grunge rock is past its prime and the average 17 year old is far.more likely to spend their time and money on GTA or Nintendo Winter Sports than get off their backside.

All of this means snowboards will be explained to people on the Antiques Road Show in 50 years time.

Apparently the youth of the day aren't too keen on alcohol, beer and sex either....

Seems the snowflakes are less likely to be own the slopes in more ways than one in 2020

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Can’t see the problem with less boarders. Doesn’t change my enjoyment of it.

But I reckon the decline happened because of all the freestyle focus years ago in the media. A lot of the fun side of it disappeared into points scoring spins and jumps in a competitive format. Most people can’t relate to it. Same with surfing competitions.

Nothing wrong with being old either. It’s a privilege not everybody gets to enjoy.

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We learned to snowboard about 10 years ago, mid 40's age, we could already ski. We had bought a place so knew we could leave kit there, we look out the snow is good we board, its bad we ski.
I've done a lot of sports and learning to board nearly killed us, its brutal and I think its an age thing as we have 3 kids and they picked it up in 10 minutes and have all said they will never ski again, they love to board.

I've no idea of numbers but a good holiday for us is when the skis still have dust on at the end of the week. However we can ski all day but we do find boarding exhausting and rarely manage more than 3-4 hours.

After all it is free

Quite a lot of older people I know who can ski are also learning to board - less issue with dodgy knees I believe ?

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I’m 50, ride 3 or 4 days a week during the season. Don’t suffer too bad for it, but always wonder when the big one will happen that puts me out of action.

Help!!

Seeing less and less Snowboarders slope side these days.

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