Are today's ski slopes still cool?

[Pat Donnelly]

From the Summit Daily News . . .

http://www.summitdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040417/NEWS/104170014&rs=1

[mirror70]

It seems to me that the slopes, at least in the east and in particular southern Vermont, get more and more crowded every year.

Then again, that may just be because I keep going faster and faster.

[AlpentalRider]

There's a huge wave of 15-25 year olds hitting the slopes now then ever before. Plus I've noticed in Washington that there are far more females entering the sport as well. 10 years ago, you could count the amount of girls on snowboards on your hands. Now you need a calculator. So I think snowboarding and skiing are safe.

Then again, even if it wasn't "cool" and almost everyone quit riding, it wouldn't effect me. I'm going up until the day I die, even if I have to hike my own terrain weeeeeeeeee

[Baka Dasai]

The 70s boom in skiing was when skiing first became easy enough and affordable enough for it become mainstream, at least among white middle-class Americans. It was the good life, but with enough left-over counter-cultural trappings to make it fashionable to the 70s generation.

But becoming mainstream means it can never again experience that initial boom. Mainstream is <b>never</b> cool.

Snowboarding was a brief blip in the cool factor, but it too is now mainstream. It's in the Olympics, and you can't get much more mainstream than that. I'm not in America, but tell me, do you have snowboarder's faces on breakfast cereal packets there?

My prediction is that snowboarding will become spectacularly uncool in the next 10 years. The emphasis on freestyle will lead snowboarding to a place alongside figure skating in the cool rankings. The type of sport where you are judged by the aesthetics of the angle of your little finger and the fixed smile on your face while you spin in the air.

<img src="http://www.webwinds.com/kwan/kwan85308.jpg">

[Jim Callen]

Coming from a family of figure skaters, I really have to say that the sport of figure skating is nothing as you portray it. The majority of the points come from technical marks, how you perform a certain jump and how well you land it. Not how big your smile is. The artistical aspect is often times overlooked, as it is becoming more common for the winner of a competition to have incredibly technique but little in the way or artistry.

[Baka Dasai]

Originally posted by Jim Callen
I really have to say that the sport of figure skating is nothing as you portray it...

Well, it's true that I don't know much about figure skating, although it's obvious that the athleticism involved is equal or better than any other sport.

But the photo doesn't lie! Look at the silly outfit, the fake smile, and the daintily pointed wrist!

[thomas_m]

Ice Dancing is the one I can't figure out. Oh yeah, and Curling.

T.

[Jim Callen]

Perhaps she just enjoys what she's doing? I know I tend to smile a bit when I'm riding. Not that I'm comparing snowboarding to figure skating. Obviously we know which is superior.

[Jagger]

Originally posted by thomas_m
Oh yeah, and Curling.

T.

Bocci on ice. :D

[Zcarver]

Yeah the cleaning broom sticks and coffee pot on ice.

Sugar anyone?:D

[underdog]

coming from a city known as the snow capital of the us (bcuz of one measley storm in the 70's\ & and maybe those 2 days in 2001 when we got 7 feet) it still amazes me that people don't snowboard or ski. i started skiing in the eighties to alleviate boredom between hockey games during the winter(i hadn't discovered drinking yet). i think snowboardings boom came in the past 3-5 years when every little grommet wanted one(and mommy usually boght it) i also think it will come to a grinding halt soon, alot of people of all ages try it and just give up. "it's too hard, too cold etc..." but the thing that got those people out there to begin with was the media coverage-xgames, olympics etc. my problem with the media is every kid with 500$ (or parents with 500) wants to jump on a board and do 1080's without learning how to 'ride'. that's where we come in boys and girls. take the time to teach someone on a lunchtray how to turn-not even carve-but turn......it will make the slopes a more hospitable place for every one.
what a round-about way to make a point.

chris