“Come on, Mom, whales!” My snowboarding son, Pete, sailed by me. Obliging snowmakers had let the snow guns blow into enormous mounds of packed snow staggered down the trail creating a rider’s heaven. Whales. Pete raced up a huge whale and launched a perfect 360 spin out into space and landed in a puff of powder as he headed for the next whale. I did little “S” turns on my skis up, down and around the whales. By contrast, while I was “having fun,” he was positively exhilarated!
Well, no longer, thought I. It’s my turn. The day after our “whale” riding, I signed up for my first snowboard class, a package deal that included the lift ticket, equipment and lesson.
In records numbers, people are swarming up to ski areas wearing baggy clothes and carrying a single, long, wide snowboard. And it isn’t just young men and teens finding there way up the slopes. Increasingly, young women, little kids, older “kids,” in fact, all ages are heading slopeside to ride the trails.
To encourage boarders at resorts, special attention is paid to their needs. Benches at the top of lifts let the riders sit down, out of traffic and dry, while putting on their boards. Parks for “boarders only” are the rule. Some parks are even patrolled to keep skiers out. Shops cater to boarders only.
Okemo is making a serious effort to bring in the riders. Through the SkiWee Program, they teach children from five years old and up in increasing numbers. Or as Rob Bevier, Assistant Director of Snowboarding says, “Kids up to 90! We had an 80-year-old woman in one class.”
Their snowboard park boasts a narrow 420-foot long half-pipe which looks just like a pipe cut in half lengthwise, many jumps, “hits” and a “table.” All these offer a boarder an opportunity to catch “big air” (literally flying), do tricks and play with the terrain. Their half-pipe was the scene of the recent National Championships.
According to Bevier, at least 30 to 40% of all ticket sales are to snowboarders. And the numbers double at the beginning and end of the season when the conditions are tougher on skiers. Because snowboards are so wide, they can slide over and through the mush more easily. Having crashed in mush because my skis went in two different directions, I can appreciate the ability to deal with only one piece of equipment attached to my feet.
Killington purchased a pipe dragon (special grooming equipment) to maintain their half-pipe and one of their groomers is a snowboarder. He knows what works for boarders and what doesn’t. The half-pipe is considered one of the best in the country and our U.S. Team is training there. Recently, Killington introduced half-pipe tickets only at their resorts.
The big difference between boarders and skiers is the way they use the mountain. Boarders love to play. Any bump is an excuse to catch air. Unlike skiers, they maintain their speed as they traverse across the slopes often covering 30 feet per traverse. Skiers tend to use a traverse to slow down. They may only cover 20 feet before turning. A fair number of hotshot skiers like to scream down the mountain only to race up again to set another speed record getting down. This leads to much misunderstanding and anger between the two sports. It is the responsiblity of the person (usually the skier) heading down the mountain to avoid anyone in their path. They don’t take into consideration the boarders traversing and playing. This leads to accidents, injuries and the occasional fight. “But,” as Brett Smith, Snowboard Program Coordinator of Killington, says, “if the management of the resort respects riders, then skiers do too.”
Chris McHale, the manager of Now Boarding at Sugarbush, was a fanatic skier for 20 years. Moguls were his favorite, until his knees gave out. Determined to change him, his two best friends rented his first snowboard equipment. “I had that animosity towards boarders. I thought I’d be a traitor if I tried boarding.” Three days later he was riding on everything but the double-diamond trails. “There is less stress on my knees with boarding, but my quads...” he smiles, “they hurt more.” Will he go back to skiing? “No!”
According to McHale as well as others, there seems to be much more enthusiasm for boarding than skiing. When Sugarbush asked their boarding employees to help with the last “Big Air” contest, the employees jumped in to help. They organized it, got the prizes together, announced it, and make a huge success of it.
There is a myth that snowboarding represents an “attitude” or a frame of mind that is very teen male. (Their choice of music doesn’t help.) That isn’t so. The fun is so infectious that Jake, who admits to being “middle-age,” left his top-management position to learn boarding and work part-time at Now Boarding. “It has changed my life completely. It’s 100% better. It spun me out of the corporate world into another. A sponsor sent me to Europe last year to demo equipment.”
Because snowboarding is such a new sport and grew from the youth culture, most of the knowledge is in the hands of the younger entrepreneurs. For example, Jake Burton, at 23, started making his Burton Snowboards in his little shop in South Londonderry. He incorporated his business in 1977. The business grew and he moved to Manchester Center. Three and a half years ago he moved his company into the old GE weapons factory on Industrial Avenue in Burlington.
Emmet Manning, of Burton, says that “Competition has grown exponentially in the last five years. At the Ski Industries of America Show in Las Vegas this year there were about 600 snowboard or related companies showing their goods. This is up from 120 five years ago. We have an increase in sales of 20-35% per year now.” That’s not shabby in any industry.
There is no doubt about the effect snowboarding is having on ski areas, it has revitalized the industry.
In April, I had my second lesson. My instructor, Ron Williamson, a Sugarbush ski and snowboard pro, had me traversing and spinning — intentionally. It was awesome! They say by the third lesson you can handle just about anything.
Next year, I’ll be on the whales. Catch me there!
© 1996 Kitty Werner