Thought I'd start a topic from the dark side...

You know I really believe it is all about the individual rider/skier consideration and respect for others and not the equipment, and I am sure there are many considerate skiers out there...and when they make good turns...wow..they really look good...but

-do you ever notice how some skiers have all that loose gear, like skis and poles, and when they reck they yard sale all over the slope and that gear goes flying everywhere and they walk up the hill to pick it up or they slide down on their [censored] to fetch it or they sit there helplessly waiting for someone to bring them their gear right in the middle of the slope

-do you ever notice how some skiers in the terrain park wedge up and over all the take offs of the features and destroy them while everyone is screaming at them not to

-do you ever notice that skiing is so easy that even begginers can head to the top of the hill and figure 11 down the slope at mach 3 totally out of control, blowing through slow and trail merging signs without any consideration for other people on the slope

-do you ever notice how some skiers park their skis on the slope at the lodge like its a parking lot instead of using the ski racks

-do you ever notice how some skiers ski through the parking lot through traffic to their cars like its a slope

-do you ever notice how some skiers think its cool to "chinese downhill" and recklessly ski down crowded slopes as fast as possible without considering anyone else on the slope

-do you ever notice how some skiers only use ski poles to stick them in your face when you ride the lift with them

-do you ever notice how some skiers use their poles to get off the lift and stick them in the snow so people riding the lift with them have to dive out of the way just to get off the lift

-do you ever notice how some skiers would rather turn their head and wait for the next chair just because both your binding are mounted on one board

-do you ever notice how some skiers like to bash on snowboarders then their kids end up snowboarding

...damn snowboarders...

That's right! All those #%#!%! knuckle draggers!

How about wedging down the off ramp? That doesn't always leave a lot of space for me. If there is a lift line, I'll ride the chair with skiers, but when it's not crowded, I'm glad they don't want to ride with me.

I agree about the good ones. Some of the ones with plastic boots and carving skis are a joy to watch.

I love snowboarding... and I miss it.
This year, I suffer from a rare but real Trifector's Dileama: not enough time to do all three... YET:
Skiers can be quite embarrasing at times.

Two skis, one ski, heals or no heals... and the forbitten snowboarder BEWARE: take a lesson if you are just starting out. Your safety, AND fun is at risk - as well as mine.

Skiers: you have no excuse now... and so the next time you hit someone, please stop and apologize or I will send Baba after you.

Who is Baba you ask?
He's a lot bigger than me... and he can't stop either while skiing.

Tucker: You forgot...
That "snobby" look from a skier; the look "to kill" - that says it all, only because you have two feet on one board.

I love that look!

So what's the deal with all this animosity between skiers and snowboarders? I don't get it. I have problems with *some* teenagers on the slopes, at least when they ski/ride in wolfpacks because they tend to be the jerkiest folks on the runs. Not all of them, of course, but enough that it's noticeable and you keep an eye on them if you see them coming around.

Generally, at least at the places I ski, people are nice as can be. Heck, even at Breckenridge last year people would apologize if they tapped your pole or nicked your ski on accident. The courtesy was contagious. And crowded trails are crowded trails. You take a look at the person who nearly swiped you (or did swipe you), check out what equipment they are using and they form in your mind- particularly if they are riding and you are skiing, or vice-versa- "damn skier/rider". But really it's just the crowds and people getting in each other's way.

And face the fact: the ski industry could not survive if we eliminated all skiers, or all snowboarders. It's both of us that make the lifts keep turning. So if someone gets their yucks off riding differently from you, so what? If being on a mountain with people who do things differently than you irks you, take up telemarking and go hit the backcountry. Of course, the popularity of that is increasing too, as are the flame wars... so I guess you're out of luck.

In short, the only people I want to see less of on the mountains are people with this entitlement mentality that somehow everyone else isn't doing exactly what I want is spoiling the mountain for "people like me." When you're on a mountain and it's not crowded and people are doing what they want to make themselves happy, it is an absolutely marvelous and delightful moment to witness people at their finest.

Roger, I couldn't agree with you more..I was just jokin(hopefully that was evident) and trying to show how stupid the entire conversation is. I was laughing outloud when I read K's response.

However, having ridden a board for 15 years or so I can definetily gaurantee you that boarders get bad looks and stupid comments thrown at them all the time for no reason. It's funny most of the time, but gets old after a while...sometimes you can tell people are down right nasty or condesending about it. On the other hand some snowboarders like the "bad" association. I don't know I just like pow and ridin/skiin with friends.

I really never understood the hole bro/bra, locals rule deal either. I guess it's kinda useful in that it is easy to sort out who is going to be fun to go out and ski/ride with...and who is well...a dick.

As far as collisions and people complaining about stopping or sitting in "my line"...I think it's laughable, especially in the Mid-Atlantic. Resorts in Mid-A pack as many people in as possible on limited terrain...with a lot of beginners who don't know how stop, turn, or control themselves let alone know the responsibility code. I have been struck dozens of times while standing still during a lesson or at the lift. In 1997 when working at Snowshoe I was at the bottom, right beside the lift line with a lesson, when a skier who couldn't stop struck me full on....two cracked ribs. Second day of the season. That is when I decided I needed to wear a helmet.

I think by far the most dangerous people on the mountain are skiers/boarders that can make turns and ski fast through crowds or blow through slow, trail merging signs. They might say well I can make turns and avoid people...bull [censored]...there is no way you can predict what someone skiing/riding infront of you is going to do. The only thing worse then a skier/rider who rips through crowds or ignores "traffic" signs is a group of skiers or riders who do it together. It's one thing to wait for the slope to empty then rip it, but there is no reason to go ripping through a crowd of people.

But as far as people who can ski/ride who just don't care about other people around them or courtesy...I saw first hand how they are created. It was two years ago at the T-line. I was teaching a 1/2 day lesson on the bunny slope. About an hour into the lesson I was standing with one foot strapped in towards the side of the trail when I was struck from behind by this little girl on skis. She was about five years old, she couldn't stop and she ran right into the back of me. Of course I'm built like a brick [censored] house and can bench press a small sedan so it didn't hurt...but nonetheless I was about to say something like "you are going to hurt someone...bla..bla...bla" but then I saw her dad right behind her so I thought surely he would apoligize or make her apoligize or tell her she has to be careful. But he simply picked her up and kept on going without saying a word. Two runs later she hit me again and again her dad said nothing. I then said to her Dad, "you really need to teach her the responsibility code"...he told me "to mind my own business" and skied off. In the next hour I watched her run into several people and then just keep skiing. Unbelievable right. But it was all good...like any dilinquent damn snowboarder would do I figured out which SUV was his at lunch and slashed all his tires...just jokin...........I just slashed one...

Hey Brickhouse...you could have at least challenged the Dad to a snowball fight

OK, OK maybe I exagerated my bench pressing ability...I can atleast bench press a mountain bike...one of those new light weight models...besides...you should have seen the size of his snowball throwing arm!

Right on, Roger.

Tucker, I don't appreciate you hijacking my post. Now get back over to http://www.dcski.com/ubbthreads33/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=51515#Post51515

Sorry about the hijack, couldn't help myself, on a completely different hi-jack note I "grew up" in Midlothian off of Robios Road (sp?).

Tuck no offense taken, I figured you were just posting this thread as a spoof on the other, mostly the reason I put that small screed here is I was tired of reading the other thread.

I know what you mean about where people learn that habit. I had something very similar to me happen at Roundtop. The kid didn't hit me though (I was trying to teach my girlfriend to ski that day). When I skied up to his parents I told them that he needs to take lessons or get on easier slope, they said "but he's just learning so he needs to be there!" I told them he is either going to hurt someone else or himself, or both, and then repeated myself. The only reason they seemed a little cowed was because they weren't skiers, so I think they must have thought I was a jerk. Whatever. I didn't yell at the kid. It's not a six-year-old kid's fault, it's the parents that let the kid turn into a pocket rocket.

I mentioned being on an uncrowded mountain as being part of the joy of skiing/riding. Case in point, last weekend, at a certain undisclosed location in southern CO. After we got our snowstorm Fri night and Sat, I saw some kids making a big ol' jump at the bottom of one of the faces. It was at a small lip so they could catch big air, and on an area of the mountain that could easily be groomed. The kids were jumping off of it, but every time I saw folks jumping it they had at least one person downhill spotting the landing area (very good form, that!). I figured for sure that either the ski patrol would mark the jump off, or the groomers would plow it under that night.

Neither happened. The next day, the jump was still there. The two times I took the lift over it, no one was jumping it, but that may have changed later. Uber-kudos to the mountain for letting the jump stand! That's the kind of stuff I really dig about skiing.

Cool. I'm only about 10 minutes from there.

Don't let Tucker fool you guys...

1. He wears a helmet because of some huge Tucker-ish cliff jump in which someone landed on their head, or something like that...you can straighen the story out, Tucker.

2. When Tucker got ran over by the 6-year-old, he was wearing camouflage...how was she supposed to see him???

Ok Ok Ok..you guys are rippin my stories apart...but I'll take the bait Girlboarder...I started wearing the helmet after a boardslide gone wrong on a natural log slide with a good sized drop exit in the woods at Breckenridge later that same winter(man that was a painful winter...broken ribs...head injuries)...anyway the boardslide went vary wrong and I was lucky to be wearing a helmet the next day and not ridin' in a wheel chair...I'm gettin old and forgetting things...I wonder why you remembered that story...maybe I told it to many times...maybe it was because the incident involved a board slide???

you mean he was dressed all in white?
The Colonel

No, it was a joke because it was literally a camouflage jacket, should have been easily seen.

You see, Tucker, if you had just concentrated on nailing the slide instead of nailing the skier at the end of the slid who was almost certainly your true target (I mean, why else would a snowboarder go barreling down a log anyway!?!?), you would have been fine.

Thats funny!..I was thinking about posting that when I saw it not to long ago
I'm the New & improved Fishnski after all & I didn't want to stir the pot..say no to insensitive posts!..

PS..Yeh right...