Is Skiing Finally As Cool As Boarding ?

Two long, skinny planks that were not for turning easily at that. The average age of skiers touched the 40-years-old mark, and predictions that snowboarding would sweep away skiers by the end of the 20th century were rife.

But skiing wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Instead ski design copied snowboard design and the tables were turned. Freestyle skiers followed boarders into the terrain park, and barely competent skiers on fat skis followed barely competent boarders into the off-piste powder – now known as “freeride terrain”.

The inexorable rise of the snowboard against the skier slowed and in recent years seems to have been reversed with cool young freestyle skiers following cool young boarders into the Olympics, once again copying events created by boarders and making the ski equivalent.

Credit – Laax

So in terms of market share, the battle seems to be won : skiers have seen off the boarding hordes. But what of the image of skiing – can it ever be as cool as boarding ? Does anyone care ? Is cool even an acceptable word to describe something that’s cool anymore ? Should it be rad ? Or sick ?

I don’t know, I’m too old, so I asked some whippersnappers on snow what they thought:

First up was famous British boarder Jamie Nicholls whose many achievements include his memorable outdoor-indoor-outdoor descent through The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead last year which earned him more than six million Youtube views, of which I’m guessing the vast majority said, “Wow! That’s cool!”

“I have a lot of friends who are skiers and I definitely feel like freestyle skiers are very different to the average skier on the mountain. I think skiing is tech and the guys at the top level are amazing. But skiing is not for me, freestyle skiers are cool, but for sure not as cool as snowboarders …” says Jamie, 22, adding, “Obviously I’m going to say that though!”

Katie Summerhayes, the 19-year-old freestyle skier and Sochi Olympian who also carried the flag at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, disagrees.

“I think snowboarders are cool, but skiers are cooler,” she confirmed.

British snowboard cross athlete and Scottish champion Kyle Wise, 26, gets philosophical and questions who came first, the skier or the boarder ?

“I will always be a snowboarder but have always respected skiers, cool or otherwise. I’ll poke fun at the supposed rivalry sometimes, but deep down I’m fine with skiers. Neither is about how cool you look, it’s about the enjoyment the individual gets out of it,” says Kyle, but there’s a but:

“However, trying to see it from an outsider’s point of view, skiers are doing better than before, but it looks a bit put on and a bit artificial. Snowboarding derives from and is influenced by board sports, and skiing seems to take the same influences from these sports rather than doing its own thing. But who cares anyway, a lot of snowboarders think boardercross is uncool and that racing is for skiers, but when they give it a go they love it – it’s a crazy winter wonderland!”

But 23-year-old Lucy Dore, who works for ski holiday specialist travel agency Ski Solutions, reckons skiing has definitely caught up with boarding.

“I would agree that boarding was definitely the ‘cool’ snow sport during the nineties and noughties; however it is not so much the case now. For me there is no competition; I would always prefer to go down the slopes forwards rather than sideways !” says Lucy.

25-year-old Norwegian freestyle skier Bastian Juell, who seems to be the epitome of cool himself, is the only skier we found who, with superb Scandinavian magnanimity, comes down in favour of boarders being cooler than skiers … in certain circumstances.

“It depends on what you mean with cool,” explains Bastian. “If it’s about having passion about what you do I would say that it’s more common among the boarders. Boarding is more of a lifestyle than skiing is. It probably has something to do with learning to ski or board, as it’s easier to ski than board. But, there are a lot of passionate skiers as well – like me !”

Credit – Laax

So there we have it, incontrovertible proof that if you’re a skier, skiing IS finally as cool as boarding, as far as the skiers are concerned at least, but if you’re a boarder, then it’s still a “Nah, sorry guys.” Peace and love to all.

Boarding Not Cool At Alta – The Battle Goes On

Although most of the snow-sports world has moved on over the past three decades or so, three ski areas in the US remain stuck in a mindset that was prevalent in the 1980s – that snowboarders need to be kept off ski slopes. Why ? Well, that’s always been a bit vague … they’re wreckless young skallywags ? It’s too dangerous ? They cause too much damage to the piste with their boards sliding down, ploughing the powder off ? Who knows ?

Anyway, thankfully, snow-slope equality now exists at 99.99999% of the world’s ski areas, but three US areas – Alta and Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont – still ban boarders.

For the past year or so, a group of four boarders have been engaged in legal action against Alta, essentially arguing that it’s their constitutional right to be allowed on the resort’s slopes.

The group targeted Alta because, unlike the other two, it operates in open US National Forest – or public land, where the US constitution appears to grant access for all. However, the boarders were dealt an early blow when the US government’s National Forest Service backed Alta’s position.

A year ago, a district judge in Utah found in favour of Alta’s ban, but the boarders have now moved on to a higher federal appeal court in the next stage of the legal battle.

Alta argues its ban is about a business model, offering skiers a boarder-free environment, but the lawyer representing the boarders says it’s about an outdated stereotype.

“Defendants have transformed public land into a private country club controlled by those exclusive, elitist, and discriminatory views,” the attorneys for the boarders put in their initial written submission.