aggressive against speed/other

[tommy]

ok im kind of a bit annoyed thanks to not being allowed to show my opinion on skiboards.com. i just want to see what everyone thinks. (your intitled to your opinion on this board) do you think skiboarding has 2 different scenes, the aggressive scene and the speed/other scene, because ive been thinking alot and getting annoyed with some people. I think skiboarding seems to be seen as a fun enjoyable sport for people who want to casually go down the slopes with out learning how to do much, but the aggressive side of thing doesnt seemed to be looked at anywhere else apart from here and skiboard magazine (and a few other places) it seems to be a underground thing while "snowblading" seems to be (ok im going to be realllllly stereotypical now so sorry if people take offence) a sport for people who are "old" when i mean old i mean 45 plus who want to just have some fun on the slope, it doesnt seem like skiboarding is taken seriously, so do you think there is 2 different scenes. like theres different boards for different things in skiing and snowboarding so do you think snowblades are for the casual people and skiboards are for the aggressive side of things? please dont have a go at me im just really confused at the moment. And Greco i realllly think its good of you to stick with skiboards and not sell shit snowblades.

If this post makes any sense be good to hear what you think?

[garagesale2]

In my personal experience I have noticed that (at my local mnt.) there is no such sport as skiboarding. Tommy already heard this story but I will post the shortened version for all.

Over the weekend I got out for the first time this season only to notice that a lot of people were riding skiboards..so when I was on the lift I started asking the people skiboarding what type they were riding..most said they had line, salomon, and fischer..I asked one kid what kind of skiboards he had..the kid had no idea what i was talking about..after he finally realized what I was talking about he goes..oo you mean what kind of KICKERS do I have? Kickers?! what the hell are kickers?? i have no idea where he got this term for skiboards from but thats what he called them...kickers...

And I would also like to add them besides 45+ year old people riding "snowblades" it is also the kids who are completely mislead into believing that ther is a sport called snowblading that they participate in...


dont know if that makes any sense to you but it does to me so i am going to post it..

[SBtx82]

In some cases you may be right. I believe that most of the people who snowblade don't even really know what skiboards are. If they knew what skiboards were they would probably have a pair. With skiboards you can either carve or go big snowblades arent necessarily the carving board. Up until a few years ago i didn't really spend much time in the park i would just go fast and throw down some really low carves. So what im really trying to say kinda like gsale said that most snowbladers or kicker riders are oblivious.

mike ponessa

[FLYhigh1013]

besides me and my friend and a chineese girl i've never seen anybody on skiboards or skiblades, so that tells me that most people don't even kno what the hell they are

[LikWid]

i agree with mike most snowbladers at my mtn havnt even been near the park and just use them to carve.

[Ian.cap]

There are most definitely two different scenes. I look at snowblades as the “mini-skis” people assume our sport to be and Skiboards are more like two snowboard shaped skis that allow me to do everything I wish I could on inline skates if concrete didn’t have so much damn friction. I spend most of my time in the woods not groomers so snowblades were never an option. The fat tips of the Skiboard are the only things that make backcountry powder possible. I would love to see an even fatter deck for deeper powder. I catch a lot of shit for Skiboarding. Jay Peak is home to more snowboarders than skiers and I get all that knuckle dragger attitude. The only thing I can’t do on my boards is keep up in some open spaces. Sure I haven’t been able to ride my new ALP’s yet, but still, we all know sometimes it’s a tough time keeping up with a pair of 190+ skis. Whatever “This thing of ours” is, it’s great. I’ve been riding Skiboards for a while now and even though I haven’t actually met any of you, there’s a shared experience in this sport. Yes it’s similar to other winter sports, but it’s not the same. And just because others are now moving from Skiboards to full size skis doesn’t make this sport any easier. Sure you can get down the mountain easier, but there’s nothing easy about a terrain park no matter what you ride. And to those using snowblades, that’s great too. More money at the mountain means they spend more on services the following season.

It will take time for Skiboarding to be recognized as a separate winter sport from snowblades. How long were aggressive inliners called fruit boots before the respect came? The more lifts you ride telling people the difference; it will eventually become mainstream enough for people to distinguish between the two. We are all ambassadors of the sport and help shape these perceptions, so talk it up on those hills!

And as a side note, Microsoft Word has snowblade in the dictionary but Skiboard was not. I, of course, added Skiboard, Skiboards and Skiboarding to the dictionary.

[Quicksilver]

Wow I can so relate to this. Just last weekend I was out with a couple other people and the mountain was dominated by snowboarders. I was with 2 of them and no matter what I did or what I explained to them, I got no respect. They just kept saying that it was too easy and snowboarding was for the real men. All the snowboarders did was sit in the park on their asses and occasionaly one would hit the jump and get like 2 feet of air. Then someone on skiboards (not exactly sure who cause I dont remember their names) cleared the jump effortlessly and the snowboarders talked shit. Not only did the kid on skiboards get more air, he looked better while doing it. But it just goes to show that no matter what we do, we cant get any respect. Everyone needs to get out there and show everyone what skiboarding is all about because all people are seeing are 50 year old guys carving down the mountain on snowblades and they think that that is the extent of the sport. Im confident that in a couple years skiboarding will get to be what it should be, but until then all we can do is promote it.

[McShane]

i guess most has been said. Ian got some valid points there and everyone else adds up to most. but still, i will add my .02 chip-in

i definitely agree of the two directions of the "one" sport. there are the ones that try and do skiboarding (under whatever name) for just being on slopes, pretending active or learning. and then there are the others - sbol-people and alike who make the most of the boards, slopes and parks. unfortunately, what society sees are mostly the first group, thus any perception and judgement they have about skiboards is "funny short skis you cannot do much with" (not worth mentioning what is quality equipment with the right sizes/specs or even brands).
an important part ot this second scene is that producers care and riders contribute to product development. and what we have talked recently, we care about the pleasure on slopes, not about the "standard" product (at least i don't) and that's why boards are getting wider and longer (e.g. alps). and i think talks about skiboarders switching to skis are irrelevant in this light.

so, basically, thinking of skiboarding as something "hard-core" is totally out of peoples minds. i and allz were trying to make the difference clear when we prepared some material to be publicized in January in Latvia. well see, what comes next...
and i believe something should be done about this. not that i mean going out and arguing/fighting for our truth, but making us visible, making people aware that there is this upper level of the sport. and i know there will be a hadful of guys here who would say we MUST stay underground but i would disagree, since the sport would only benefit if it is adequately seen. we don't need skiboarding going wide and mainstream, but we sure need it be fairly treated (eg. not many people do figure skydiving, but everybody knows of it and respects it)

[McShane]

yeah, and besides...
one can observe our hi-end skiboarding going two ways - one being based on skiing experience (agressive carving, big-airs, slopestyle) and the other on inline (jibs, rails, urban). well, everybody does all of this, but the composition of the two ends may vary on speed-jib scale i guess

[tommy]

Mcshane i completely agree with, i think thats what i was trying to say, just skiboards.com dont really seem to be helping the aggressive side of skiboarding at all, they mostly sell snowblades and thats the place i got the typical "50 year old going down the slopes" and no serious things involved. Atleast everyone agrees with what i pretty much think.

[Quicksilver]

Thats exactly how people look at it, at least at any mountain Ive ever been to. They see us as skiers that took the easy way out.

[Tex]

First of all, I am not really an aggressive skiboarder (I'm still pretty new). I caught some crap from some snowboarders earlier this month at Ski Apache (southern NM). I don't understand why we can't do what we like without having everyone else comment about it. On the other hand, I had three or four skiers ask how I liked them and said they wanted to try them and were thinking about getting a pair. Hopefully I will get better and be able to join all of you "aggressive" types.

[Quicksilver]

Im not saying that Im good or anything but the point is Im getting out the and trying stuff and Basically doing the same things as the snowboarders but they just cant give me any respect. Im getting sick of it.

[phillycore]

Noone ever talked smack to me.....

Could be because...

a) I Suck
b) I'm Fat and Old (31 is old apparently nowadays)
c) They probably are afraid of getting their asses kicked....lol



Honestly, Just my opinion here

I think that the whole skiers hating snowboarders, snowboarders hating skiers, skiboarders hating snowbladers, and everyone hating skiboarders exept the snowbladers who the skiboarders hate.....is all just plain f'n ridiculous.

It's a mountain with snow on it... Have fun on the weapon of your choice and respect the others out there having fun with you.

Of course this is coming from someone most of you hardcore guys would probably call a poser because I simply don't have the ability that you do.

[Greco]

you're no poser. it doesn't matter what you can do. if your heart is in something you're automatically not a poser.

and yes in a perfect world there would be no prejudice but unfortunately terrain parks are turning into high school cafeterias. but there will always be room at the skiboarders table for people with heart.

g

[phillycore]

I know the predjudice is pretty much inevitable.....it just sucks bawlz. People in any sport need something to compete against or something to drive them. Not to mention little cliques start.

This isn't going to help matters any, but....
The thing that drives me nuts about snowboarders (not all but you know which ones I'm talking about) is their blatent disregard for others around them.
Just last weekend there was a herd( like 30 of them ) of snowboarders all sitting at the top of king tut at camelback. Of course they were sitting on their ass at the top of the hill strapping in. I weeded my way between them and went about my biz.. Next thing I know they are buzzing down the trail being total douchebagz. At the bottom of the hill where tut meets up with the birches or whatever the name of that beginner hill is there was this lady (obviously a total beginner) and a guy helping her get up. One by one like it was pearl harbor or some shit these ballsacks start dousing this lady with snow. I felt so bad for her. You rarely if ever see a skier do something like that, nor would you see a skiboarder doing that. It seems that type of malicious behavior and snowboarding come hand in hand sometimes. Snowboards attract these punk asses like shit attracts flies.

This of course does not apply to all snowboarders, the guy I go with all the time is a snowboarder but he's also a serious wakeboarder as well. We both however started out on skis, and just do what we like to do.

[McShane]

Originally posted by Greco
terrain parks are turning into high school cafeterias.
g

nough said, i'll be quoting this :D

[Tex]

Originally posted by phillycore
Noone ever talked smack to me.....

Could be because...

a) I Suck
b) I'm Fat and Old (31 is old apparently nowadays)
c) They probably are afraid of getting their asses kicked....lol



Honestly, Just my opinion here

I think that the whole skiers hating snowboarders, snowboarders hating skiers, skiboarders hating snowbladers, and everyone hating skiboarders exept the snowbladers who the skiboarders hate.....is all just plain f'n ridiculous.

It's a mountain with snow on it... Have fun on the weapon of your choice and respect the others out there having fun with you.

Of course this is coming from someone most of you hardcore guys would probably call a poser because I simply don't have the ability that you do.


I'm in the same boat (I'm 29 6'2" and 250 lb). I'm just glad I finally found a snow ride that lets me get off of the greens! I can rip up the blues now and can at least make it down the blacks. I just want to go to the mountain with my friends and have fun.

[jare_ball248]

Originally posted by phillycore
Noone ever talked smack to me.....

Could be because...

a) I Suck
b) I'm Fat and Old (31 is old apparently nowadays)
c) They probably are afraid of getting their asses kicked....lol



Honestly, Just my opinion here

I think that the whole skiers hating snowboarders, snowboarders hating skiers, skiboarders hating snowbladers, and everyone hating skiboarders exept the snowbladers who the skiboarders hate.....is all just plain f'n ridiculous.

It's a mountain with snow on it... Have fun on the weapon of your choice and respect the others out there having fun with you.

Of course this is coming from someone most of you hardcore guys would probably call a poser because I simply don't have the ability that you do.


i would go with C.

[jare_ball248]

i was going to add to this post but most i what i was going to say was already said. there are a ton of good points on this thread i think many more people should read.

[zenderfall]

Reminding you guys about something....hope history doesn't repeat itself....

In 1963 ago a guy named Sherman Poppen strapped himself into a single, big wide device and rode down the mountain on it. He called it a *snurfer*. He made it for his *kids* to ride. Later, Tom Sims made a similar device to play in the snow with. (Ryan, page 293). We all know what that big wide board is called today, and how popular it is, but imagine how much heat the people who took up that sport faced. Back then, there were *only* skis. No bigfoots, telemarks, short-skis, skiboards, mono-skis, skibikes, skisleds, or whatnot.

Do you have any idea the amount of names a Snowboard had before it got popular? Or how much crap those inventors took while they rode that silly-looking-shoestring-tied, round *thing* down the mountain?

The heat you take now is nothing compared to what Burton's followers took back then. I'll bet certain lifts wouldn't let them carry the boards up. They rode something that looked nothing like skis and worse yet, they had to *learn* a totally new skill.

After 40 years of taking trash, ridicule, and even now, mountains that ban the sport, they made their way into mainstream.

FORTY YEARS!!!! It will take a long time, a lot of patience, and a ton of goodwill for skiboarding to become popular. Just ride what you like and enjoy what you do. Skiboarding mecoming popular may not happen in your lifetime. Jake Burton Carpenter is lucky to be alive and see snowboarding become the sport he envisioned it to be.

Now as far as respect goes....

To me, a person that disses me is not a snowboarder, a skier, or even a skiboarder. He is a jackass-a person. Not a jackass snowboarder, or a jackass skier. Don't let what that person *is* become associated with what that person *rides*, because there's jackasses on all devices, including skiboards. The minute you target a *skier*, or a *snowboarder* you open yourself for retaliations.

It will never matter what you ride. Dissing has nothing to do with what you ride. Why? Because Jackasses will *make* a reason to ridicule you. There's an earlier post about one who was talking trash about skiboarders. Now, had his intended target person rode a *snowboard* he'd talk trash because he's riding a certain brand. Or wearing a certain boot. Or for wearing a helmet. Or for being a kid. Or especially, because that person was a certain race. *Lamar* sucks. Burtons rule. People who ride Sims should stay home. Sorry ass-rental garbage. You heard the remarks. You know what I'm talking about.

The more you start leaning towards putting down something that is not similar to what you do, you start becoming a jackass. And yes, it even starts when you make make fun of 8-hole boards.

So, after all this, please, please, do not become a jackass. Skiboards will be mainstream in less than 40 years if you hold yourself to become better by not retialiating against a person and slamming a device he/she rides.

Have fun, peace out!

[UnWoRtHy]

I have to admit...I'm a little more than slightly dismayed after reading through this thread. Now...I don't want to make any enemies here, but for my own personal peace of mind, I want to get this out, regardless of what anyone here may think, though I wouldn't mind having a few opinions.

I'm new to the sport. I alpine skiied for about 6 years before I tried skiboards (a pair of Salomon Snowblades at Okemo) and I had a blast on the things. I said to myself that day "This is the way to go. Maybe I'll strap on my long skis every now and then for old times sake, but this is way more fun." I tried 'em again that season and I was still just as hooked. So I bought myself a pair...The Salomon Snowblades that seem to be the bane of everyone's existance' round here.

Apparently, I didn't have half a clue what I was getting myself into when I purchased them. Now...I'll be honest. I was in the crowd of people who hadn't even heard the term "skiboards". I was under the impression that only Salomon made the amazing little devices I'd had so much fun on that season, which is why I bought them. Only after coming here a couple weeks ago did I learn that it was really a seperate sport.

So where does that put me? I'm new to the sport...I don't/haven't ventured into the parks much (though I plan to start) and I ride a pair of Snowblades that I'm stuck using until I can afford a quality pair of skiboards. Seems to me, and do correct me if I'm wrong, that judging from this thread, that pretty much makes me public enemy number one at first glance. All because I was, up until recently, misinformed and uneducated.

My point is this...When I go and hit the slopes, it seems like I'm going to be catching all the crap from skiiers and snowboarders like you guys do (which I'm fully prepared for and readily willing to do), AND catching it from other skiboarders just because I ride a pair of Snowblades for the time being. Say one day I catch the same chair as one of you guys without knowing it. Will it be assumed that I'm not just as passionate about the sport of skiboarding as you are because I made the uninformed decision of sinking a couple hundred bucks into a pair of Salomons? It seems to me like people who ride Snowblades are being lumped into a completely different group, outside of the sport of skiboarding, which is a shame....It qualifies as the same sport...simply on inferior equipment. But how many people out there who ride Snowblades and call the sport "snowblading" are people just like me less than a month ago...They just don't know because they haven't been talking to the right people?

You've all got my respect. And you've all got me very fired up about the sport. I've been telling anyone who'll listen about it, dispelling the same myths and misinformation that I believed before I came here. So...please tell me I'm incorrect in believing that I'll be denied that same respect by fellow skiboarders on the slopes, simply because they'll see what I'm riding and assume I'm part of that "other group".

[Ian.cap]

I think this thread was speaking in very general terms. If you're having fun that's all that matters. My opinion of the posts is that it's mostly venting the frustration most of us feel for the shit we take for the size of our sticks. Sure some may judge you based on your equipment, but that makes them no better than the skiers or snowboarders that stick their noses up at all of us. So just ride and have a good time no matter what people think or say.

[LikWid]

yes in a perfect world there would be no prejudice but unfortunately terrain parks are turning into high school cafeterias. but there will always be room at the skiboarders table for people with heart.


good job g i like the analogy

[Ian.cap]

Found this old article. Some real gems in this one.
http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/archive/jan2001/0110_skiboards.html

This debate has been going on and will continue to for some time. As long as we all continue to promote the sport in a positive way and try not to sink to the "cafeteria" level, this sport will become more accepted and respected. If anyone who rides anything can watch something like White Dwarf and not have respect for the moves, they don't know shit.

[McShane]

Zenderfall,
i totally agree with you on the respect and "racial" issues in it.
but i would disagree on the analogy of snowboarding decades to becoming popular. why? here is another analogy - it took thousands of years for the mankind to invent engines, telephone and electricity. but look what happened over the past few decades! similarily, i believe, there are way lot more channels to promote skiboarding and peoples minds are much more open for new things to appear on the scene. (i guess it should not take more than 5 years from now for the skiboarding to become well reputed or die!)
and exactly what the Unworthy said - there is a lot of miss- or dis-information on skiboards out there and i feel it's our duty to do something about it!

[zenderfall]

It took about forty years for snowboarding to become popular.

If skiboarding gets popular in 5 years, that would be awesome for the sport.

You're right, we do have advertising methods, media and techniques not available *back then* but we gotta use them to the fullest!

Right now, thre's only a small, limited number of manufacturers, some videos, and a few websites.

More would be better, and it all starts with us. So go out there and ride!

[McShane]

hexactly!