This season, problems with a faction of snowboarders have pushed many resorts to review their snowboard policies. Some areas which had previously greeted snowboarding with open arms, began to feel the problems brought by a few problematic snowboarders might outweigh the revenue generated by these boarders as a whole. Others, however, have had great success integrating snowboarders through on-hill structures and comprehensive management.
Defining the Problem
The lines of communication were opened up this season at two discussions on snowboard integration. The town meeting style discussions—at Copper Mountain and in Las Vegas—were attended by representatives from manufacturers, media, retailers, resort management and law enforcement.
Everyone agreed that the problems of property destruction and abrasive attitudes stem from within the “new school” faction of the freestyle snowboard community. New school riding is characterized by groups of riders doing skateboard-style tricks that use stationary objects, like snowmaking equipment and picnic tables, as ridable terrain. This style is quickly displacing halfpipe riding as the sport evolves.
Within the snowboard industry, new-school riders are considered the second generation of snowboarders; most take ski area access as a given and don’t have the perspective of the first generation which worked for that privilege.
Most freestyle snowboarders respect the Skiers’ Responsibility Code, but there is a small faction of bad apples causing the majority of the problems. The problems experienced by some resorts run the gamut from simple ignorance of ski area etiquette to blatant and complete disregard for property and the law. Others have no unique problems with snowboarders that they don’t have with their traditional skiing guests.
Getting Perspective
To understand some of the problems, an area manager might well try seeing things through the eyes of kids of the 1990s, who are challenged every day by guns in school, gang violence in the streets, a lack of values at home (if not violence there, too), AIDS and drugs. These are no longer urban problems alone, but have spread to the suburbs and into socio-economic communities that can afford to ski. You see it on the news; they live with it.
“Kids today are deeply angry about their world, and blame the generations before them for ruining their future,” says Dee LeBlanc, a University of Denver Law School professor and v.p./founder of The Meditation Center, a Denver-based group that has worked with urban schools to mediate disputes among kids — between gangs, on playgrounds, in lunchrooms, within families, etc. “They didn’t cause AIDS, they didn’t pollute the environment, they didn’t put the nation into debt,” she explains, “but they understand that they’re left to clean up the mess. Furthermore, the ones that caused the mess are constantly saying “no” to them: no sex, no drugs, no skateboarding.
Snowboarding can be a positive outlet for their aggressions, but when you say “no” to them on the hill, you’ll get a quick dose of their anger. Especially with two sticks on your feet and a ski area jacket, you’re just another authority figure—the enemy.
And if a patrol reprimands a group of snowboarders (known as a “posse”), verbal abuse may arise that a lone individual might never instigate. That’s just simple group dynamics or mob mentality that can be seen from union pickets to kindergarten classes. Patrols must remember they are not confronting a gang, but a social group of friends.
Educating the Masses
The majority of snowboarders were not brought up in skiing families, but come from skateboarding, surfing or other non-alpine backgrounds. Thus, there is the further problem that they have no grounding in ski area etiquette. As pointed out by Lee Rogers, snowboard director at California’s Snow Summit, “Rules of surfing dictate that a dispute in the water is resolved by a fist fight on the beach.”
Copper Mountain started an education program this past year that they called “Shrediquette.” They passed out pamphlets listing the Skiers’ Responsibility Code and two additional rules: “Never ollie or rail slide any man-made objects such as signs, tables, railings, hydrants, trash cans, etc.;” and “Profanity is not acceptable.” Copper offered free board storage to those carrying the pamphlet and had a snowboard-suggestion phone number.
Although the effort was well-intentioned and pro-active, it was generally considered ineffective, which frustrated Copper. Many snowboarders felt they were being singled out and blamed for all the problems. It was suggested at the Copper meeting that any future on-mountain education programs target all guests, not just snowboarders. Everyone agrees there can never be too much on-hill education.
It is understood that the responsibility of educating snowboarders cannot be placed solely on the shoulders of resort operators; all partners in the industry must do their part. Manufacturers need to re-evaluate their advertising and marketing images, retailers need to promote positive attitudes, the media needs to quit showing illegal maneuvers, and snowboarders need to start viewing themselves as members of a larger community of mountain visitors. SIA’s snowboard committee is working on an education program to be implemented next fall.
If You Build It, They Will Come
Many resorts around the nation have built snowboard parks which are often adjacent to, or include, a halfpipe. They feature obstacles that new school freestyle riders want, such as rail slides, snow mounds, whales, quarterpipes, tree stumps and even the police benches the boarders ruined the season before.
Squaw Valley’s all-terrain park, for instance, has a 15’ x 30’ “volcano” with 6’-high walls and a 15’ x 15’ “fun box” with 9’ walls. Snow Summit’s park, one of the first in the nation, features a life-size wooden car painted like a local police car.
Snowboard parks are effective because they give new schoolers a controlled environment in which to do their tricks. They can learn new tricks from each other, just as they do outside the mall on skateboards. It says “yes” to the boarders.
“We are making the sport safer by giving snowboarders a designated area where it’s OK to jib and bonk,” says Squaw’s Kronkhyte. “Our snowboarders realize that in return for our offering this park, they need to ride responsibly and safely—not just in the halfpipe and the park, but on the entire mountain.”
Terrain parks not only better fit what snowboarders want these days, they are about one-third the cost for building and maintaining a halfpipe. They can even be changed easily throughout the season. Further, they are an attraction for snowboarders: at the Copper Mountain meeting, a local rider said he rides at Breckenridge specifically because they have a park and Copper doesn’t. Some have balanced the snowboard-exclusive parks by designating a run for skiers only. Stratton Mountain has a run for skiers only and Bear Mountain has two such runs.
Covering Your Butt
Currently, there is no added liability with the addition of a snowboard park, but Peter Rietz, defense counsel to over 20 resorts, recommends covering yourself well. Among other recommendations: fence the area so there is a single entrance with prominent warning signage. Squaw Valley has “caution” signage 20 feet in front of each and every obstacle.
Squaw’s park is open to all guests, which Rietz does not recommend. “These parks should be designated as snowboard-only, because that’s the sport the obstacles were designed for,” he says. “You don’t let an alpine skier go off your 50-meter jump, or a telemarker go down your bobsled track.”
Although waivers are currently being upheld in courts, their implementation at parks is logistically prohibitive. However, a monitor at the park is a good idea, minimizing horseplay and helping to prevent activities that might kick in an exclusion to your coverage. Areas should strictly require that leashes be attached to some part of the body at all times, even when the guest is walking back up the hill. It is difficult to shovel with a board attached to your arm or leg, however, so there could be a hitching post where snowboarders can tie their boards.
“Check with your legal counsel,” Rietz advises, “to see if there are particular provisions of your state’s ski statutes that you should comply with for your park’s design and signage.”
Total (Snowboarding) Quality Management
Building a snowboard park is only one aspect of a comprehensive program for integrating snowboarders. Ray Sforzo, Vail’s snowboard director, credits their success to having one central snowboard office that coordinates, and cooperates with, other departments.
Squaw made a smart move by enlisting the help of local professional snowboarders; they also sponsored 10 pros with season passes, thereby getting them on the side of the resort. The pros have been Squaw’s best ambassadors and advocates of safe, legal and fun snowboarding because the boarders have respect for the pros. No hard cash was put out, either.
Mt. Bachelor got even more mileage out of such a program by having their sponsored pros wear an area hat and/or patch when competing or doing photo shoots. Pros will get you increased exposure, and their board sponsor will welcome such a program because they currently pay for their riders’ passes. And don’t just go after the goody-goody boarders: if you empower the “bad-boys” and get them on your side, their leadership will emerge and you will be cool in the eyes of the kids.
Having mountain hosts and/or patrols on snowboards helps because kids will respect the words of a peer. Patrols on skis are often seen as policemen whose authority is not heeded.
Bear Mountain started a program this year where snowboarders who simply were ignorant of etiquette were given a second chance before their passes were pulled. They were escorted to the bottom to watch a video about snowboard safety, which featured the world’s top snowboarders explaining the logic behind each of the Skiers’ Responsibility Code rules—and in snowboard vernacular. Snowboarders who pulled an attitude on patrols, however, were not offered this second chance.
What about the fact that the bad apples of the crowd are usually the ones who won’t listen to anyone, even pros and peers? Wire cutters and, if need be, prosecution. The snowboard industry supports a no-tolerance policy toward illegal behavior.
