Poster: A snowHead
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Is it just me or are there fewer boarders around. In Chamonix, on the nursery slopes it seemed like about 25%, in the Grands Montets cable car about 15%.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Shhh... we're quietly gathering together en masse so we can launch a counter offensive any day... massed hordes of boarders will be swamping mogulled runs near you soon with a veritable cascade of falling leaves, side-slips and heel-edge piste-bashing operations. We'll then use the snow we scrape off the runs to form entertaining half and quarter-pipes for our own amusement. Then we'll sit down behind every blind drop-off on the mountain and gather in baggy-trousered belligerence in inconvenient narrow spots of the pistes.
Skiers, watch out. We're out to reclaim our mountains...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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jbob, interesting, as I was thinking the same thing about boarders here. It does seem that there are fewer than in previous years. Any theories?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Funny that, I thought exactly the same thing myself in Avoriaz a few weeks ago.
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chris wrote: |
jbob, interesting, as I was thinking the same thing about boarders here. It does seem that there are fewer than in previous years. Any theories? |
They finally found out that sitting down, taking your board off, walking, sitting down, putting your board on, sliding, sitting down taking your board off, walking, sitting down, putting your board on, sliding, is actually not quite as cool as one made out. Also, having to watch all those cool phat skiers walking up to the bits of mountain that are just not reachable on a board is really the pits
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just back from Cham and had exactly the same thought while there, and concluded that, as I had previously suspected, boarding, like blading, is just a phase the skiing world is passing through (although quite a long one) and in ten years time there will be very few boarders about.
Is that fair?
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In North America it still appears to be about 50/50.
In France there does appear to be slightly less than previous years but I don't think it is a fad.
I think that its popularity will swell and wain parrallel to the popularity of skateboarding.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I think skiing has become just as trendy as boarding. The move of board "style" into ski design and clothing has endeared da yoof to a huge degree.
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I have not noticed a decline in the numbers of boarders on the slopes this yera, but as per what FTS says, the introduction of twin tips skis and the promotion (videos etc..) of all the tricks that can be peformed in the park and elsewhere with them, coupled with the fashion clothing elements, has certainly started to overcome the "dated" image skiing had for a while with the younger generations... Hence skiing reclaiming part of it's "market share"..
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Boarding is now seen as a bit 'obvious' for the da reel kewl yoof to be doing - i mean face it, nowadays there's as many City boys and otherwise-suit-wearing types going boarding because it's still seen as 'underground' and 'alternative' as there are wacky-haired troubadour types.
So now, in search of constantly being at odds with what the squares are doing, the real cool kids are now rocking the skis instead of the boards.
Kind of like how people stop liking a band when it gets popular.
Yes, i know it's ridiculous.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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FastEddie, dead right...
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Afraid you are all just suggesting what you want to believe and if you are a piste basher skier you may well be seeing less boarders than you are used to, especially if you are 'main stream mega resort' types
On recent trips - St Anton - lots of boarders, Verbier - quite a few boarders in the Park, Innsbruck Mutters - very few but just pistes there anyway, Avoriaz - around The Stash pistes loads and loads of boarders - too many actually
I think the simple reality is that ski resorts actually try to cater for boarders by building parks etc where they mainly hang out, so they are out there doing their stuff, but perhaps just not where you all hang out
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You know it makes sense.
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Just another Skiers V Boarders thread in disguise! Move on.....do what you want and stop fretting about what you cannot do!
This board is like Groundhog Day! Oops, I said "Board"
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I think its noticable how the boarding demographic has changed - lots of "suits" in their 30s and 40s now board rather than ski and this obviously has an impact on the next generation who absolutely don't want to be doing what their parents do. In Europe,at least for every highly skilled boarder I see I see a lot of intermediates so in that respect its also more like skiing now as well IMV.
Fad? Unlikely. Tool in the quiver for specific days - maybe once more people become skibidextrous.
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Poster: A snowHead
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fatbob wrote: |
Tool in the quiver for specific days |
"Tool in the Quiver"??
arrow, box, tool, quiver...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oy Fatbob!! I have never worn a SUIT whilst snowboarding - I Leave the suits to the One-Piece Ski Brigade!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Beggars are all in Gstaad ... saw one of the biggest 'Seal Colonies' ever today ..... must have been 25 + of them sitting on a ridge .... luckily the 'cloud of smoke' around them forewarned their presence ... Must say their behaviour is generally better than skiers here ...
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red 27 wrote: |
fatbob wrote: |
Tool in the quiver for specific days |
"Tool in the Quiver"??
arrow, box, tool, quiver... |
Fair cop. Tool in the toolbox is a technical skill but a drill isn't a tool its an exercise. Confused - you will be.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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They're all in the snowpark looking gnarly...boarders don't 'ride' as much I think, it's all about jibbing now. Well, from my experiences.
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We're still around, lurking, chilling, smoking etc Maybe there are just so many people taking up skiing that it just looks like there is a smaller ratio. Personally I blame this forum for making the moutains so popular
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I've been boarding for 13 years now and there have never been anywhere near as many boarders as the scaremonger headlines claim. All this "one third/half people on slopes are on boards has never been true. Probably a quarter or less. Fewer on red runs, even less on blacks.
Maybe we're starting to take more notice of our own eyes, rather than the headlines?
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Thirteen years ago this week: my last skiing holiday with my French penfriend prior to my almost-ten-year exile from the slopes. There were only two types of snowboarder.
1. Unfeasibly gnarly jibbers who were cooler on AND off the piste than you could ever hope to be
2. Wannabes spending 95% of their time sliding down the mountain on their back bottoms, collecting skiers as they went
Boarding was a real subculture then, both in terms of practising the sport and in terms of being everything that traditional skiers WEREN'T.
Fast forward to this season. The list of my acquaintances alone heading for the slopes this year:
1. 45 year old IT Director for a large contracting company - heading to board in Avoriaz as soon as the grouse shooting season is over
2. 35 year old service manager for said contracting company - going to Val Thorens boarding for the second time
3. Group of six 21 year olds who have never done either skiing or boarding before, but fancy it seeing as they won't be going to follow England at the European Championships this summer, and Magaluf has got boring.
4. Achingly cooler-than-thou designer posse i went to uni with - all going to Whistler packing twin-tip skis.
The landscape's definitely changed...boarding is now what the mainstream do. Skiing freestyle is now what the wannabes and weekend bohemians do.
Then again, i'm no better - i've always skiied, but i've always dressed like a boarder on and off the slopes
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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FastEddie. Lot of truth in what you say! I started boarding after going skiing for the first time, seeing boards and thinking "What the hell's that? Must give it a go!" Never really got the Ski/Snowboard animosity as I'd happily do both if I had the time. I do miss the sense of cameraderie of being one of only a few boarders on a hill though. Unfortunate result of anything getting cewl and trendy I suppose! Does seem to be what you ride and wear with many. Suppose I should sign off before I disappear up my own nostalgic . . .
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there's a stack of boarders where I am, more than most years IMO, but 95% of them are beginners by the looks of it. I only see 1 or 2 people who are actually good whenever I'm up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The_Hirsty wrote: |
In North America it still appears to be about 50/50.
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I read a few days ago in a magazine that it is 40/60 board to ski in North America. And I think there have always been a higher proportion of boarders in North America than in Europe, but I've not seen any figures for Europe.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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snowball, Depends where you go I suspect. This year in Jackson Hole it seemed 10-20% boarders only - most of whom were very very good. Fernie on the other hand appeared to have about 40% boarders, mainly Australian seasonnaires scraping the powder downhill rather badly.
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snowball, Depends where you go I suspect. This year in Jackson Hole it seemed 10-20% boarders only - most of whom were very very good. Fernie on the other hand appeared to have about 40% boarders, mainly Australian seasonnaires scraping the powder downhill rather badly.
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You know it makes sense.
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Definitely, where you go. Was in Squaw last November and I was about the only skiier on the mountain.
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