What the deal with the beef between snowboarders and skiiers?

Question

Please give me your opinions, positive or negative, on skiiers vs boarders?

Answer 1

In days of yore I really hated snowboarders...this was in the infant days of snowboarding and few people knew how to ride properly. Boarders wouldn't (or couldn't) carve so they would push all the snow off the hill. They also used to gaggle up in the center of the hill.

Recently, the gaggles seem to only really happen in the parks, and there seem to be less boarders on the main slopes. Since I avoid the parks, I guess I just don't put myself in a position to get pissed that they are just sitting around on the slopes. Out of sight...out of mind.

Some of it is just good natured rivalry, but there is a bit of general dislike between the two factions. It's not something to get into a fist fight about, but there's nothing wrong with poking fun at the other guy...skier or boarder.

Answer 2

They can carve up the runs differently, making the skiing or boarding much less pleasurable for each other.

Answer 3

Boarders take wide fast turns and tend to hog the slopes.  Skiers like to take smaller, narrower turns and aim to get a nice line down the hill.  Boarders always get in skiers way.

Answer 4

Part of it is that skiers have been around for longer so the upstarts bombing around on trays was new and frightening, causing a bit of friction.

From the skiers point of view, you get a lot of novice boarders barelling down the hill at speeds they can't control because a lot don't take lessons (and it's pretty easy to pick up too much speed on a board). Some novices also slice all the powder off the hill in well travelled spots making it icy. I've been hit by more out-of-control boarders than skiers.

From the boarders point of view, skiers can be unaccepting of boarders and boarders find ski-friendly features like moguls a pain. Skiers are also sometimes thought of as stuffy and less fun because they don't (usually) do as many tricks. Skiers also don't often appreciate the difficulties for a boarder (eg. exiting the chairlift, keeping lots of speed for flats) and their traversing style, which may involve sudden turns, often gets in the way of boarders.

I'm off to France next weekend taking a board for powder days and skis for some high mileage cruising and steeps.