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I was speaking with a skiing friend the other night and she came out with some pretty interesting accusations regarding the problems boarders cause on the slopes. These included:

 

a. boarders cut up a slope much more than skiiers (meaning we wreck the slopes), and

 

b. skier/boarder accidents are more common than skier/skier accidents and are often caused by the boarder hitting skier.

 

Clearly from the tone of that recent TV report some people think we are a menace on the slopes. But are we really that bad?

 

Do all self respecting skiers deep down inside resent boarders?

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On the Japanese forum in this thread, there's an interesting exchange;

 

http://www.snowjapan.com/bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000052

 

A skier says she like Naspa because she can 'ski safely'.

 

A boarder replies;

 

"Regarding 'skiing safely'.

 

At a certain ski resort, they are talking about making a new bypass course through protected forest because of the frequency of accidents in a narrow section of gelende. They have been attacked for environmental damage, but the TV news said they have received permission for it and it will be ready for next season.

 

The resort is...

 

skier-only Okushiga.

 

Even though the skier population there is falling every year, collisions are frequent, so it looks like even when you're surrounded by skiers, 'skiing safely' is not possible....

 

Let's lay off the stupid prejudice against snowboarders shall we!" (dacho)

 

I like that. That rings a bell.

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I don`t resent boarders at all, most of my best days on the hill have been shared with boarders.

 

However, its hard to dispute the fact that on their heel side, boarders have less peripheral vision than skiers. It isn`t hard to imagine that collisions towards the heel side would be more likely than if the person was a skier. Not trying to be a high and mighty skier here, just looking at the physics of it.

 

On the other hand, boarders have a better view towards their toe side - maybe they have avoided accidents which a skier wouldn`t have?

 

Don`t flame me for this, I`m not anti-snowboard - I`m just looking at the realities.

 

Cheers,

 

hem now - who has prolly been hit by more skiers than boarders.

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I personally have no problems with boarders.

 

They do cut the slopes up more, but I could care less since I'm not on the slopes. I ski with some damn good boarders and it is fun. Slide how you will and just be cool about it. I also ski with some bad ass tele guys. Just have fun. I guess it does depend what level you are at, but the only thing boarders do is screw up moguls. And those damn shortboarders......

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I have no problems with a lot of skiers either. Polite people don't cause a nuisance whatever they're riding. I enjoy riding with skiers in my group too.

 

But the news media, many resorts, and some skiers have a very hostile view of boarders and seem angry at their very existence. They want to cling to the status quo, and gloss over all of the hazards and boringness of plain ole 'family ski'. And they're not averse to complete bias and lying about who does what, and how. At Hakuba on Saturday I watched a very large ski instructor leading six small students (with no helmets) in big turns across a narrow bottleneck, everybody riding on one leg, and nobody looking right or left or back. A good example to all...

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i dont wanna hassle out the skiiers none, but isnt it skiers that make moguls? or do both forms lump it up on steep runs? what damage is this 'cutting up'?

i remember being saddened in NZ at TC after a bit of a dump to see the whole top mountain mogulled up after just one day.

 

[i note this is currently up for discussion on another thread]

 

but u can rely on me, in general not to damage any moguls, as i only stray that way by accident or going home.

 

ive only been in one collision, where i was hit by a fellow boarder. i think skiers a generally more prdictable than boarders, but ski schools can offer challengers in narrow parts of the course.

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The only big accident I have witnessed was 2 skiers colliding. One doing big carves across a slope and the other doing smaller turns.

 

I was on the chair and it was like watching 2 sine waves, and you could see where they would hit.

 

Anyway, when I got to the bottom of the run, the son of the woman who was involved came down and met her, and they were standing near the chair line.

 

The son said, in a loud voice, "I suppose it was snowboarder that hit you", to which she replied "No, actually it was another skier".

 

So the "natural" predjudice is for some skiers to blame boarders before they even know the facts.

 

I have no problems with mixed groups, and at teh Sno Info Conference, we have up to 60 people in one group and the ratio is about 45+ skiers and 15 boarders. We all hits the slopes together, we all know about the problems faced by others and we work around it.

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I've been thinking about this and you know, I don't really care if the resorts or media or whoever paints snowboarders in a bad way. So I am baaaad. It's cool to be bad, don't ya know? Kinda the James Dean rebel snowboarder thing.

 

Anyone who knows anything know it's bullshit so just forget about it. It really isn't worth wasting energy over.

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 Quote:
Originally posted by enderzero:

Anyone who knows anything know it's bullshit so just forget about it. It really isn't worth wasting energy over.
Exactly. I agree completely. Better use your time giving more serious thought to the important question of "Who would win? Bear or shark?".
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I ollied over a guys legs on the weekend. He was a skier that crashed on a run that he shouldn't have been on. Then again I shouldn't have been screaming up his arse either. I saw he was having trouble and should have waited for him to clear the run. Instead of doing this I just went, assuming I would pass him. Then he fell and I managed a little ollie, just clearing his boots.

 

I have had another collision that I take the blame for, even though this Japanese girl snowboarder and her mates decided to sit their arses down right in the middle of the course just over a little roll so that you couldn't see them. Again, I was going fast and as I came over the roll and saw them all I could do was serve and I collected her board and somehow managed to hit her head. She wasn't hurt but it scared the crap out of her.

 

The only other collision I have had was when a ski instructor ran into me from uphill side, in the middle of his lesson. I believe I documented this in another thread.

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not bothered, just a little surprised that people don't like us. We fly down the slopes looking a damn side more stylish than most skiers, we do the (casual) hand dragging thing when turning sharply on steep slopes at speed, beginners can handle powder than intermediate skiers, our street-wise nonchalant attitude lets us get away with ducking ropes (usually), not many (any?) of us have ski wear from the late 80s...what is there not to like?

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PS everyone makes moguls. When you push snow you make mounds thus moguls. If you go around grooming everything there will be no powder. Its the person not what they do that creates the problem.

I think we all know that there is a generation right now here who think that not following rules is cool.

Smoking in the nosmoking section,throwing garbage everywhere you name it they will do it.

I have seen skiers jsut as bad. Again its not what you do its the person.

 

But snowboarders turn down the run and dont traverse it, thats my beef.

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My prime peeve with boarders is when theres a niiiiice dump of powder and some ball-less snowboarder goes down a nice steep powder slope -ON THEIR BACK EDGE SCRAPING ALL THE LOVELY POW OFF mad.gif mad.gif mad.gif

 

I can not tell you how annoying this is. I mean sure youve gotta learn somewhere but just get some guts and do some turns. I mean its POWDER for goodness sake, its not going to hurt. And then when youre skiing down and you hit one of these slug trails and it totally throws you.

 

DO NOT DO THIS.

 

however I think if skiers could do this they probably would. Not picking on boarders just gutlesss wimps.

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