I received my first derogatory comments.

[sempai]

The Mrs. and I were boarding this past Monday and Tuesday at Durango Mountain Resort in Colorado, formerly known as Purgatory Mountain. It was our first time there. Never have we heard any derogatory comments about our skiboards from anyone in the ten or so years that we have been skiboarding. Usually people ask how we like them and say they look like a lot of fun. On Monday a lift attendent said to us, "I bet you wish you had longer skis, don't you?". It was a powder day Monday. It snowed all day long and conditions were a b*tch. The worst part about their resort is that there are so many flat areas, especially around the lifts. Then on Tuesday another lift attendent said, "Hey what happened to the rest of your skis?" After ten years of skiboarding, we got two (and our first ever) derogatory comments at the same resort. Needless to say we weren't too thrilled with Durango Mountain Resort. They have some nice runs, but there lift attendents are douchebags.

Sempai at Durango Mountain:
<img border="0" src="http://politepooches.com/images2/durango.jpg" width="600" height="450">

[DaWeasle]

Sorry to hear that dude! Are you going to be around to ride when I am in Flagstaff?

[DennisEvans]

Wow, first of all, I commend you, a 43 year old man, on using the word douchebag...That kind of made my day for some reason.

I get comments like this every so offten but usually it doesn't bother me...the only time it does is when I am having a bad day in the park and can't get my grabs solid or can't get my grinds smooth...What usually happens is I will do a nice grab for the first time of the day and be happy with myself and will fall 20-50 feet after the landing and people will attack me and threaten me because I am in their minds an explanitive that I won't post on here. I have flicked them off, which isn't the best thing for our image and I know this but there is only so much I can take before I get the fight or flight reflex going and start yelling to them to come down and talk their shit to my face...They never do, I have never met anyone that has the balls to say something to a guy in a full face helmet when they are right beside him but will talk a lot of smack when well out of fist range.

Biggest thing to remember is that we get the respect that we give for the most part, in my case I spend about 40% of my day talking to really cool people on lifts about skiboards, and they have no problems with them. Some times people aren't too interested in them so I talk to them about their gear and they really get into it, we just need to remember that not everybody understands the concept of respect, just one of the things that gets me irritated about my resorts, sorry for the rant.

[TheTickz]

That's no fun. I've never gotten a bad comment at Snowbowl here in flagstaff. Once a lift attendant asked me what they were called, I was happy to answer and tell about how much fun they are. She responded with general interest and was very nice.


Are you going to be around to ride when I am in Flagstaff?

Also, all 3 of us are hitting up snowbowl for a few hours one day.

[Greco]

those are pretty mild compared to some of the stuff i've heard. the one that made me laugh the most was "do you know what sucks about snowblades?? having two dads".

g

[sempai]

Sorry to hear that dude! Are you going to be around to ride when I am in Flagstaff?When is that?

[TheTickz]

When is that?

16th to the 20th

[ElkCloner]

I imagine you are within your rights to head over to the office and let them know you were insulted by their employees.

[richwhitfield]

I've had a guy who was supposed to sharpen and wax my skiboards give me a hard time once...w/e if he wants to be pre-Madonna, let him, I'll be having more fun and hitting better jibs. just like the rest of us.

[dcox20]

those are pretty mild compared to some of the stuff i've heard. the one that made me laugh the most was "do you know what sucks about snowblades?? having two dads".

g

THAT is FREAKING hilarious!
OMG.

I will adapt and use - hahaha!

[SkaFreak]

Yeah, I doubt the lift attendents were truly trying to be derogatory. Snowblades give powder riding on skiboards a bad reputation. I don't know what boards you were on, or if you were struggling in the powder on the flats, but if so it might have just been them making an observation. That is when you quip back "Yeah, I do wish I were on a pair of 130's today. They have no problem on 5 feet untracked at Wolf Creek." They'll just give you a funny look after that.

[ElkCloner]

I've had a guy who was supposed to sharpen and wax my skiboards give me a hard time once...w/e if he wants to be pre-Madonna, let him, I'll be having more fun and hitting better jibs. just like the rest of us.

I took my boards to a ski shop last year to get them wax/sharpened. I don't even think they did it....

[Branden]

yeah those comments really are not that bad. my favorite is "did you put your skis in the dryer". its really not worth fighting with them, i used to get offended after the first year i just learned to deal with it. most of the people that make fun of them will never be as good as us so let em talk smack. people always do when they are Jealous of something. if you have to say something make it mellow. like "would u prefer me to be a after-banging tall T'd thug of new schooler?". and i'm sure either A) he wont know what your talking about and feel stupid. or B) get mad for insulting his brood.

learn to fight the right battles. just kill it on the mtn. and let them bitch

[sempai]

Yeah, I doubt the lift attendents were truly trying to be derogatory. Snowblades give powder riding on skiboards a bad reputation. I don't know what boards you were on, or if you were struggling in the powder on the flats, but if so it might have just been them making an observation. That is when you quip back "Yeah, I do wish I were on a pair of 130's today. They have no problem on 5 feet untracked at Wolf Creek." They'll just give you a funny look after that.I wasn't put off by the comments that much, but my wife was. The tone of the first comment about having longer skis wasn't bad. I was on my 120s actually wishing I had Sherpas. The tone of the second comment bothered me more because the attendent was trying to be a smart ass. Neither comment was really that harsh. We just weren't use to any negative remarks up to that point, and it helped to add to the miserable time we were already having. Plus for a teen or young twenty-something to make a comment to a peer is one thing, but for them to make comments to people twice their age is both ballsy and rude. I'm just sayin'.

[adeehr]

I've actually had the second comment said to me before and by a retiree in a lift line in upper michigan. I just turned around and told him that I chopped them off cause I didn't need all that ski. He just smiled at me and we continued on. Those types of things I don't hear too often. But I always make jokes back at those guys when they say stuff. Shuts them up quicker instead of insulting them.

[t21]

i guess its just human nature to some people to make comments on what they think its funny about what they don't know much about, "ignorant" i think is the word for that. a lift attendant about 30ish of age two weeks ago made a comment to me and my son as we approach the lift and said" hey look, fruitbooters!" to his other partner. i just said "what's up man,having fun down here?" the next time we came up again he just said "hey,are those fun? and i said it's a blast! and he never said anything again after a few more times. I guess he figured that we were riding down black runs that our skiboard are no joke and were having so much fun:)

[CAN]

I got those two comments from lift attendants and often chalk it up to employees that are trying to make conversation with the riders, and like t21, if you return to the lift they keep asking more questions about them such as how we like them or how they ride in certain conditions. I've even given them a Revel 8 card. I did regress once when a snowboarder up on a lift said " I wish I could snowlerblade" in the most condescending tone ever. I invited him to come down and "discuss" his wish but he never made it. Other than that it has always been curiosity questions. On most comments, just wait it out, and you will see they are just trying to be funny or strike up a conversation but are not good at it. It will often lead to a positive question or two if you meet up again.

Chad

[dcox20]

... if he wants to be pre-Madonna, let him...

just FYI - it's Prima-Donna which technically means first-lady, but was used for leading ladies at the opera who were typically egotistical... technically this guy would be a Primo Uomo (which is the male version) feel free to pronounce it Primo-Homo LOL

Pre-Madonna is the time period before Madonna became popular

just trying to enrich everyone's vocab today.

D

[rgzip]

I had it happen with a couple young guys in a lift line once, They we're mean at all just kind of making fun. But I remembered my old surfing days and turned it around on them. something like
" Ya those are sure some long skis you've got there, what do you call them aircraft carriers? I guess if I needed that much stability I'd stay in the lodge."

Everyone laughed and we went on our way.

[DennisEvans]

Normally lift opps give me a bit of crap, we joke for the few seconds we get to talk, it's all in good fun...on thursday when I was out the only comments I got from any staff were, "Damn...those things have some amazing float. How much did those things cost you?" Twas shin deep pow and even when I fell, nobody said anything about it...at least when I wasn't in the park.

[t21]

just came back from skiboarding today,no deragatory comments but a similar question from different people,"are those trick skis? i'm not sure if they are referring to it as twin tip skis they see around but shorter, but i just tell them its a skiboard and they have never heard of it. a little explanation and what it can do seems to satisfy their curiosity so thats fine with me :)

[EmptiMind]

I've gotten to know most of the staff at my local mountains, so I get crap from them every time I see them. Doesn't bother me much, the park staff respect me pretty good. A lot of them are interested in the skiboards, but they're too sheepish to get out and try something besides snowboarding.

Best thing in parks to get respect, is go BIG! That way, if you land it, it's like "HOLY SHIT!" and if you don't, it's at least a magnificent crash, and people will usually ask if you're okay, hardly ever laugh at you.

[nate]

I generally just get some curiosity.

[pinkkid]

I think the lift operator get very bored or irritated and people... so when something different comes along they feel compelled to let some steam off, or to joke around, or to say something clever- just depends upon how there day has been going.

[MitchK]

I get a fair number of comments from the lift operators. The way I see it though, its a way to break the boredom.

I quite often try to get a quick chuckle out of them before I go up, the way I see it, its like lifeguarding at a pool (which I've done), its boring, but someone has gotta do it, so its always great to have someone break the monotony a bit.

[rie202]

if they said "Hey what happened to the rest of your skis?" or the dryer thing to me, i woulda been like "what happened to the rest of your penis?" haha jk

[DennisEvans]

To be honest, I get a ton more crap about my fedoras than I do about my skiboards.

[rie202]

^^ haha fedoras! jk man

[str33t]

what were talking about here is just the other side of the coin: If you stop beeing "sheepish" as somebody said it to the point, you get the good comments and discussion of interested, openminded people and you get the bad comments of the guys being jealous or just to sheepish that they even forgot that theyre sheeps^^

but about the comments from lift operators I wouldnt take them too serious because as chaosaura says, theyre bored.

and again its in human nature to fear everything thats unknown/different.


So far I had 90% positive comments and about 3 negative ones. what I did there was this: Putting on the greatest smile I can, pulling down the goggles and laying down some nice hard carves (on the reds and blacks).
At one of the 3 times I met the guy again, he followed me, said he was sorry and wanted to know more about skiboards:)