Until now, an adult snowboarding manual might have been titled “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Snowboarding, But Were Afraid to Ask … a Kid.” Well, times have changed. As the popularity and acceptability of snowboards increases, some shrewd shredders are cashing in on what they believe will be the next wave in the industry: adult snowboarders.
One entrepreneurial effort is being led by brothers Kevin and Brian Delaney, World Cup and national snowboarding champions who aim to introduce the entire adult population to their preferred play land. Two years ago, the brothers began converting adults from skis to snowboards with the Delaney Adult Snowboard Camps at Whistler, B.C.
Last season, the camps expanded and moved to the Rockies with two sessions at Ski Cooper and one at Eldora in Colorado, and one session at Sun Valley, Id. Each two-day session attracted about 50 participants. This winter, the brothers are contracted to hold 11 camps in Aspen, using the facilities of the Aspen Skiing Company’s ski school.
Because the people attending the Delaney camps range in age from 20 to 75 and the male/female ratio is about 50/50, the Delaneys don’t try to mold campers into rebellious board-rats capable of catching fakey air or rad rail slides. Instead, they try to recreate the image of “snowboard man.” Snowboarding, they say, is fun. That’s all.
“Snowboarding has this image that it’s a real young person’s sport, really aggressive, really radical and the only people doing it are the people who want to catch air,” said Brian Delaney. “As evidenced by the people who are turning out at our camps, that’s not true. People just want to snowboard because it’s fun, not because it’s cool.”
The expanded program at Aspen is the first step toward achieving an even greater goal, say the brothers. With the assistance of Glen Head, a skier who attended one of the camps last winter and swore off his boards forever, they have formed Delaney, Inc., with aspirations to act as the catalyst to introduce the sport to the Olympics. But first, they hope to build a snowboarding facility to host camps in the Rocky Mountains, another on the West Coast and a third on the East Coast. Ideally, facilities would eventually be built in Europe and Japan. “That would give us five world class training centers around the world,” Head said. “The challenge is finding the right mountain that wants us.”
Shredder stereotypes are thrown out the window from the moment campers meet the brothers, the snowboarding equivalents of the Hardy Boys. Their clean-cut appearance and professional attitudes are complimented by a fun-loving approach toward teaching their favorite pastime.
“By simply introducing ourselves as pro snowboarders we show that you don’t necessarily have to have an attitude that is generally associated with snowboarding,” Brian Delaney said. “We show people that it is just another winter activity that is fun as hell.”
The camps make the activity even more fun by providing food, hot tubs, video analysis, T-shirts and apres-shred parties for participants. Some coaching techniques are borrowed from the PSIA, but the Delaneys rely primarily on teaching methods they have picked up snowboarding competitively over the last decade. Adults, who tend to be more injury-conscious, are treated with a lot of patience and are given “learning aide poles,” similar to kayak paddles, to assist with balance and help them get off the ground in the event of a fall.
In the past, camp prices varied depending mainly on the cost of lodging, ranging from $170 at Ski Cooper to $250 in Sun Valley everything included but equipment. Arrangements were made at local snowboard shops for discounted rental equipment. The price for the Aspen camps this winter will be $325 for two days instruction and three meals, with lodging, equipment rental and lifts extra.
While there are those who feel a camp for adult snowboarders is a dangerous venture, the Delaneys believe their product, and their market, will continue to grow and to improve. “The market is out there, but I don’t think anyone is really tapping it yet,” Brian Delaney said. “Even if we are a little early in getting into this next crowd, it’s better than being late. We are confident that eventually a lot of people are going to catch on.”
Others in the industry are starting to believe the brothers may be on to something. On Vail Mountain, for instance, the most heavily targeted snowboard crowd is the 30-something crowd. The Vail Snowboarding School encourages older skiers to snowboard by downplaying its punk image.
Richard Wellsmore, owner of Cherry Cherry Pow Pow Snowboard Shop in Vail, offers half-price rentals for 30-year-olds. A native Australian, he saw a large market in his home country that has been largely neglected in the U.S. and decided to take advantage of it. And in order to teach an old American ski dog a new trick, Wellsmore believes you have to throw him a bone every once in a while. The first year of Wellsmore’s promotion worked out very well, increasing his adult business by more than 200 percent.
“The more snowboarders that are out there under control and efficient, the better the sport looks and the more it is going to be accepted,” Brian Delaney said. “That is not only going to help us out, but is going to help everybody involved in the sport.”
