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Show Thursday, November 16, 199$ Ride twitch the White Wave: Snowboarding TORY S S w INTER and all over the state people are getting ready to take to the The slopes. sight of tree branches weighed down with snow, the sweet smell of $8 hamburgers, and the familiar swoosh of skiers gliding down the mountain all remind us that winter in Utah means skiing. But more and more, skiing is being replaced by snowboarding. And as snowboarding grows in popularity, so too does its accep- over ' It was in the mid-eighti- ing was a way for people (mosdy young males) to differentiate themselves from others on the slopes. And, as snowboarding grew, more snowboarders started differentiating themselves off the slopes, too. Today, snowboarders have their own unique scene. Most snowboarders are young, with an average age of And, perhaps because of their age, snowboarders often have different attitudes than skiers. Snowboarders 17-2- were aging and young people weren't trying the sport. Then Snowboarding can trace its roots back to 1968. Fourteen-year-ol- d Jake Burton Carpenter (usually known just" as Jake Burton) was snowboards came along and many young people became interested. Young surfers and skateboarders saw snowboarding as the winter toy called a Snurfer. He tried it a few times and liked the concept. By the time he surfboard-lik- e with turning Snurfinginto a serious winter sport. In 1977, Burton quit his Manhattan job to be a bartender in ' Stratton, Vermont. While there, Burton continued to improve his concept for the snowboard. Within a year, Burton had used $20,000 own-- groups." fe "We go riding together, and then we go hang out together," says Wolf Mountain Snowboard Team coach Doug Moore. And what do they do when they are hanging out? "Drink," was the initial response of Steve Varga, sales manager at Salty Peaks Snowboard Shop. But, they also do a lot of other things, according to Varga. The snowboarding scene, both on and off the slopes, owes a lot to imize snowboarding. Snowboarding has been the fastest growing winter sport for ten years, growing from about ten ") the skateboarding and surfing scenes. Surfers and skateboarders have a different ethic than skiers. Unlike the strict concentration on technique practiced by many skiers (tight form through moguls or perfect in powder) snowboardoften are into pushing the limits ers and doing tricks. "Snowboarders just do their own thing and have fun," says Moore. That's what it's all about." Doing "thejr own thing" doesn't apply only to their snowboarding style. Most snowboarders can be spotted in a crowd at a resort. The 1 snowboarders? Oh yeah, you can't miss them," says Solitude public relations director Chris Allaire. Many snowboarders wear baggy gangsta style outfits. They also like mmmmmX v lttL 1. tend torrn-thei- ? continuation of their respective sports. Many young skiers, tired and looking for something new, also turned to snowboarding. These new customers rejuvenated the ski industry and helped legit- started college he was obsessed today. What's My Scene? snowboarding really took off. The ski industry was floundering. Skiers Snowboard Beginnings million From die beginning, snowboard- that es two Snowboarders now comprise 25 of all lift tickets sold in the U.S., and some estimates say snowboarders will outnumber alpine skiers by 2012. Not bad for a backyard toy originally made by Brunswick: Snowboards had made $1 million. enthusiasts. o thousand snowboarders in 1984 to Barfoot, also started developing their own boards. By 1984, Burton tance among winter sports given a LINFORD CAT inherited from his mother to make the first snowboard prototype. The first snowboards were simplistic compared to today's models. They were about four feet long and 14 inches wide. They were made of wood and did not have metal edges, which made them hard to control. Also, many ski resorts did not allow snowboards because they did not consider snowboarding a legitimate winter sport. Burton persisted with his idea. Others, like Tom Sims and Chuck ONCE IS AGAIN UPON US, 1 SHAN FOWLER H Y B Y B Y PHO TO 'Cfcc Utah In 5 ft iZZl (I daily for women. What's Your Problem? All these traits are generalizations. Not all snowboarders wear their clothes big and have green hair and pierced tongues. But these generalizations have caused a rift between snowboarders and skiers. This rift is more prevalent in Utah than most other ski communities. Utahns "are not trendsetters," says Chris Allaire. There was vocal opposition to snowboarding at first because some of the people who did it didn't have the same etiquette that skiers do." But this is an unfortunate generalization, according to Allaire. "Sometimes the bad apples ruin it for everyone else. And that's what has happened with snowboarders." With Solitude, 10 of Utah's 14 (71 percent) alpine ski resorts allow at least limited snowboarding. This is a vast improvement from the two or three resorts that allowed snowboarding seven years ago but still below the average of 90 percent. national Brighton was one of the first resorts in Utah to allow snow- Andrea boarding. Hanna, Brighton's public relations director, also thinks the generalizations of snowboarders are unfair. "Snowboarders have a bad reputation as gangsters," she says. "But they obey all the rules that snowboarders do." Many skiers think of the young "punks" when they complain about snowboarders. "There are punks," says Doug Moore, "But most of them are just good kids." But, snowboarders realize they have an image problem. Some don't care because they were striving to be different anyway. But others who want snowboarding to be as accepted as skiing are trying to improve snowboarding's image. Snowboarders have started to police themselves by telling others to mellow out when they are caus- ing trouble. Some resorts and snowboarding groups have even put out "shrediquette" handbooks for snowboarders to follow. Like other sports, snowboarding has been plagued by a focus on the negative aspects of their sport. But, even though they have their own culture, snowboarders are more like skiers than either would care to admit. In the end, both just want cruise down the mountain without anyone telling them what to do. f 17-2- body piercing ? - i i t:. i i r t tun ( ' and many have unnatural hair colors. ii Many of them also enjoy loud music. These include punk (Rancid, Pennywise) and hardcore music (Orange 9mm, Into Another). They also enjoy Beastie Boys style rap and punkish ska like Operation Ivy. Most snowboarders are male, though this is changing rapidly. "Female snowboarding is going off," says Rich Varga.. More and ff7? more of the' fashions and equip ment for snowboarding are being - marketed direcdy to young women. Missy Samiee of Salem, Ore. has even started a snowboard line (Goddess Snowboards) made espe c I - u. . : o |
