The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Snowboarding has Forced Skiing to Innovate

January 19, 2010 - Some of you have noted that I don't write equally about snowboarding. A few have even implied that I may be anti-snowboard.

Let me explain. When I think of the sport of sliding downhill on snow, I call it "skiing." Whether your board of choice includes two skis, one snowboard, a mono-ski (rather rare in Maine, more popular in Europe), telemark skis or even snowblades (very short skis that make me chuckle), I think of all of these as "skiing." Some of my colleagues use the term "snow sports" to be all-encompassing, but to me that opens the door to snowmobiling, which requires a separate classification. Non-motorized snow sports might cover it, but that is wordy.

Snowboarding is a cool sport, pardon the obvious pun. I tried snowboarding once, and therefore have immense respect for a sport that I just couldn't grasp. Incidentally, I also have respect for my wrists, so snowboarding and I didn't hit it off after my first forward flop. Can't type a column with two wrist casts.

When snowboarding is done with proficiency and the right snow conditions, there is nothing more elegant. A single board floating through snow in a seemingly effortless series of arcs is art. I could argue it is prettier than skiing when done to this degree. It's like surfing on a sparkling wave of snow.

Skiers and snowboarders alike have so much to be grateful for since the advent of riding. There is continuous debate over who dreamed up the snowboard. Tom Sims created a board in 1963 called a skiboard. Sherman Popper invented the snurfer with a rope handle in 1965, and Jake Burton Carpenter debuted his first fiberglass board in 1979 on the slopes of Stratton, Vt. What is indisputable is that a whole new energy ensued as snowboard riders took to the slopes in the 1980s and ever since. Along came manmade jumps, table tops and eventually terrain parks on which snowboarders played and performed tricks, which to this day continue to escalate.

Snowboarding also propelled a new spirit and style in skiing. Traditional ski manufacturers soon emulated the shaped-side cut of a snowboard, and shaped skis became the rage among two plankers. Twin tip skis were next as skiers wanted to ride backward and forward like snowboarders in the terrain parks.

Today's ski clothing has clearly been stylized by snowboarding's casual culture. A more urban street smart style with baggy pants, belts with bling and crazy colors have all been inspired by the modern (three decades old) movement of snowboarding.

Wait until you see the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team's outfits for the Vancouver Games. Seth Wescott and teammates will be wearing Burton uniforms featuring a plaid jacket and torn denim pants look. The style is very hip, resembling the worn-out pants high schoolers wear – not your typical ski team uniform. But at least it is red, white and blue – phew.

"Although we are creating a uniform," said Greg Dacyshyn, senior vice president at Burton, "our first objective is to express the individuality of snowboarding. We are taking vintage American looks and interpreting them in a unique and unexpected fashion. Yet performance and function are not jeopardized. The result will be a progressive and fresh look that challenges the former conservatism of the Olympics."

Snowboarding continues to push the limits of the perhaps conservative ski industry, from technical aspects to cultural clothing and a volcanic eruption of trendy terminology and slang. In the next few weeks, we will witness further evidence of snowboarding's influence on competitive ski events.

Snowboarding halfpipe and racing debuted at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and snowboardcross arrived in 2006 with Seth Wescott winning Maine's first winter Olympic Gold. This February's Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (Feb. 12-28), skier cross will debut, following in the footsteps of boarder cross.

Skiing has a long Olympic history; Nordic skiing debuted in the first-ever 1924 Winter Games. Alpine skiing arrived in 1936, and alpine ski events have slowly evolved to include all disciplines of racing, plus freestyle moguls in '92 and aerials in '94. The snowboarding curve has been far speedier. I wonder if we will see ski or snowboard Big Air or halfpipe sanctioned by the Olympic Committee, and if so, which first?

I am excited to watch the upcoming 14th Winter X Games hosted at Aspen's Buttermilk Resort on Jan. 28-31. Who knows if skier Simon Dumont of Bethel would be competing in Big Air, superpipe or slopestyle ski events if snowboarding had never been invented?

Watching our U.S. Ski Team fly down the slick downhill and Super G Olympic courses (especially with the promise of Bode Miller theatrics) is always a thrill, but I now find equal excitement seeing Shaun White fly like a tomato on his board above a snowy superpipe in contention for X Games gold.

While as a skier (by equipment definition), I enjoy a traditional ski day at Deer Valley or Alta in Utah (where snowboarders are banned, along with Mad River Glen in Vermont), I am also grateful for the vibrancy and innovation that snowboarding and its creative startups like Burton have brought to ski resorts.

When snowboarders spend their day in the terrain park practicing their "misty" like monkeys in a playground of metal rails and whales, leaving the remainder of the ski resort to me, I like that too.

Is it politically incorrect that I said "ski resort"? I know many resorts offering both types of snow sliding have changed their names to include "mountain resort" rather than "ski area" or "ski resort" in an effort to welcome all skiers and riders to their slopes.

So if snowboarding has not received equitable verbiage or been singled out more often in my columns, it's because I view the sport in its entirety – not in two-plank versus one exclusivity. I hope to see you out skiing (and riding).

HEATHER BURKE, Portland Press Herald, January 14, 2010


Lakes:
Regions:


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News