Deferred Gratification: Celebrate February

It's the day after Thanksgiving. The sun is out, and the local ski areas are open for business today. And I'm in my office, cleaning up.

Sigh.

Writing in the Boston Globe, Tony Chamberlain makes the case for avoiding early season skiing and snowboarding, and instead putting the emphasis on the end of the season:

"Not that I mind the battle of press releases that goes on this season -- hey, it looks good to have your lifts running first -- but it seems an awful lot of expense and psychic energy gets wasted to market snowsports in the thinnest of seasons. Skiers and riders would do better to stay interested through March and into April, when the cover is still usually deep and the climate most genial."

As I noticed last season, the best days of riding may be in mid-to-late February and March, not early December and certainly not November--unless you live in the high mountains, at least. I figure that I've got only a limited number of days that I can leave my work behind for a day on the snow and in the sun; I'm simply swapping a marginal day today for one, much better is my hope, later on.

Shop at the Grays on Trays Store

PBS has pledge weeks. ESPN has commercials. Grays on trays.com has ... a modest revenue stream.

If you need some snowboarding gear, check out the GOT store at Amazon.com. Referral fees help increase the outreach of Grays on Trays to existing and prospective adult snowboarders.

Right now, there are no snowboards listed there. I've set it up so that the categories are as clean (that is, having no extraneous material) as I can in a reasonable amount of time. Setting up other categories, such as the boards themselves, may take more time.

A New Web Site for Your Favorites Folder

Colorado Ski Country is worth looking at. It's a mix of a traditional web site and a blog.

Snowboarding is Good for Your Brain

If you think that snowboarding is good for your mind, you're not just imagining it. Scientific research shows that exercise can actually make people smarter.

OK, so that's the high-level, PR-pitch. I'm still collecting information, but what I have seen looks very interesting and encouraging. See for example some reports from 2003:

A press release from the University of Illinois:

"Interestingly, we found that fitness per se didn’t have any influence on brain density," said Kramer, a professor of psychology and member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois. "It is fitness as it interacts with age that has the positive effects. Older adults show a real decline in brain density in white and gray areas, but fitness actually slows that decline."


An abstract from a gerontology journal:

"These findings extend the scope of beneficial effects of aerobic exercise beyond cardiovascular health, and they suggest a strong solid biological basis for the benefits of exercise on the brain health of older adults."


A popular-level survey from 2006 (LA Times, registration may be required):

"Aside from genetics, four factors stood out as good predictors of how well people keep their mental edge as they age, says Marilyn Albert, a cognitive neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who sat on the panel.

The fab four, Albert says, are physical activity, mental activity, social engagement and cardiovascular health."


And another newspaper review, from the Wall Street Journal (good for the next week or so before it goes behind a subscription firewall):

"For the first time, scientists have found something that not only halts the brain shrinkage that starts in a person's 40s, especially in regions responsible for memory and higher cognition, but actually reverses it: aerobic exercise."

So get out there and ride ... and ride fast!

Some Skiers Just Don't Like Snowboarders. Live with it.

The Salt Lake Tribune asked its readers to declare their favorite and least favorite mountains for snow sports. It revealed a continued dislike of snowboarders, at least among skiers. The Salt Lake region has two mountains that are ski-only, and that fact drew some positive comments.

In the unscientific "survey," which drew over 1,100 responses, "Alta ultimately came out No. 1 as the 'Favorite Resort,' its prohibition against snowboarders and overall ambiance elevating it over Snowbird.

"Of the 294 people who designated Alta their favorite resort, 114 (39 percent) cited no snowboarders as one reason why. Conversely, 43 of the 60 people (72 percent) who ripped Alta as their least favorite resort based their answer on the snowboard ban, as did 22 percent of those who designated Deer Valley, which also prohibits 'boards, as their least favorite."

Among the people who complained about Brighton, 80 cited its reputation as a popular hangout for snowboarders. In the words one reader, the teenaged riders "have a very short and inattentive span to the fact that others are also on the mountain."

OK, I'll say it now: Bad snowboarders. Bad.

As a big believer in the power of free markets to peacefully raise standards of living and arbitrate among various interests, I don't know ski-only resorts. Banning snowboards is their business decision to make, whether it's based on the personal taste of owners, or a calculated decision that doing so will increase revenue.

The sooner that advocates of snowboarding adopt this attitude, the sooner the bad-boy image will subside. Then again, that would be the worst thing to happen to a few riders.

Source: "Snowboard, Alta charm the masses in Tribune poll," Salt Lake Tribune, November 14, 2006.

Spreading the News About Adult Snowboarders: Competitor Magazine

(Bumped to the top and updated with a new URL.)

The story of snowboarding adults has made its way to Competitor magazine. A story that I wrote about adult snowboarders appears in the November issue (now online).

Competitor bills itself as "the trusted monthly guide for active, affluent sports participants across the country."

According to the magazine's media kit (PDF), Competitor has a circulation of 100,000 and a readership of 285,000. Distribution is through Rubios, a chain of upmarket fast-food Mexican restaurants, sporting goods stores, and LA Fitness (with 160 locations, including some far from California), 24 Hour Fitness, Jamba Juice, some sporting goods stores, and other locations.

The average household income of the magazine's readers is $74,000, and over one-third claim an income of over $100,000.

The mountains, equipment, and gear sellers who want to follow the money would do well to look into this publication--and the market of adults who ride snowboards.

Update: Apparently this publishing company is bigger than I thought. The article has made it over to Florida Sports Magazine. It's the same magazine, repackaged and with some editorial modifications. Stated circulation is 75,000 with readership of 225,000. According to the media kit (PDF), 14 percent of readers are downhill skiers, but only 7 percent are snowboarders. Still, with an average age of 41, the number of Floridians who are grays on trays could exceed 15,000.

Update: The word is spreading! See Texas City Sports. Circulation: 80,000; Readership, 240,000.

Lito Tries Sliding

The other day I mentioned that ski guru Lito Tejada-Flores had written favorably about snowboarding in one of his travel books.

Several years ago--prior to the release of the updated version of the travel book--I wrote a note to Mr. Tejada-Flores, something about his books and snowboarding, and got a gracious response. But I had wondered he he would take to a snowboard some day.

Looking deeper into The Unofficial Guide to Skiing and Snowboarding in the West I saw that he had tried snowboarding. Here's what he says, on pags 1998-1999. It does a good job of capturing some of the dyanmics that cross-over skiers face. I don't necessarily endorse all his tips, but it's a worthwhil read. (And buy the book if you want to know your way around Western resorts.)

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Few things are as humbling or as stimulating to a good skier as abandoning the security of a sport already mastered to become, once again, an awkward beginner. This is true on cross-country skating skis, on telemark skis, on monoskis, and especially on snowboards. Recently I strapped on one of these amazing contraptions for the first time and loved it. Here's a little of what I learned.

Which foot forward? Snowboarding, like surfing and skateboarding, is a sideways-standing sport. To discover your natural stance, find an icy stretch of pavement or a frozen puddle, run a few feet, and let yourself slide across it. Which foot do you instinctively stretch forward? That’s your front foot on a snowboard.

To get started, pick an easy hill with soft snow. What precisely does one do with a snowboard? There are several competing approaches in snowboarding instruction, but this is what worked for me. Go across the hill first. You will gain more confidence and control more quickly, if you develop a traversing/side-slipping/braking pattern first, before heading straight down the fall line. Unlike skiing, traverse across the slope on a snowboard is quite different depending on which way you’re heading. You will have a back-side traverse (back to the mountain) and a front-side traverse (facing the mountain). The back-side traverse is a stronger, easier maneuver, because the high plastic spoilers of most snowboard bindings give you more support from this direction—you can lean back against them to increase edging. On the front-side traverse you feel like your standing on your toes, and it takes more strength to control the board. Experienced skiers seem to react differently to snowboards than those whose only experience of sliding over snow has been on a board. Instinctively, the skilled skiers who tries snowboarding wants to develop strong edge control. The shortest route to this end is to use hard plastic snowboarding boots than soft Sorel-type felt-lined boots and wraparound bindings. Hard boots greatly strengthen your front-side edging.

While you traverse the slope, flatten and slideslip your board from time to time; to stop, push the board away from you, twisting it up the hill, while you let it slip. And—very important—when you get in trouble, sit down! In fact, you can sit down and flip your board around between traverses until you’re ready to turn downhill. As in skiing, the downward turn is the soul of the sport, but don’t try it until you feel comfortable just sliding sideways and across the hill. When you’re ready, start your downhill turn by committing your body in the direction you want to go—leading with your front hand—and then swivel your board with your feet to catch up to where your body is. The feeling is almost like falling into a turn, insecure but very effective.

This thumbnail sketch doesn’t take the place of lessons, and nowadays most ski schools have become ski and snowboard schools, so it won’t be hard to find good snowboard lessons at most ski areas. Five years ago it would have been a challenge, ten years ago impossible. Good riding!

Ski Guru Says: Snowboarding No Longer Novel

Want more proof that snowboarding isn't just for kids anymore? Consider the words of a ski guru.

One of my favorite ski writers is Lito Tejada-Flores, whose book Breakthrough on the New Skis: Say Goodbye to the Intermediate Blues (3rd Ed)helped me get my start in alpine sports.

Lito is also the editor of The Unofficial Guide to Skiing in the West, a review of, well, ski areas in western North America. Here's what he has to say about snowboarding (pp. 64-64).

A new form of "skiing" has appeared as well. By this, I mean snowboarding, a controversial rarity a decade ago, now quite common at one Colorado ski resort.

[He's speaking, in 1999, of Aspen Mountain, which has since dropped its ban--ed.]

Snowboarding is challenging and graceful, but above all, it's new. And that is exactly why it's attractive to the youngsters who, on the slopes as in every day life, delight in anything that sets them apart from their parents' generation. Far from being a subversive threat to the integrity of our sport, as some over-reacting ski area managers initially perceived it to be, snowboarding has actually brought more families to the slopes together; it has given more kids a reason to accompany their parents willingly rather than grudgingly on annual Colorado ski jaunts.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, I thought, as I re-read this passage. I'm thinking that Lito is enough of a snow enthusiast that he has at least secretly tried out riding. So why the emphasis on kids and their desire to be different from the parents? Still, give him credit for saying that it's not subversive.

I dug some further digging on Amazon and found that the book has been updated, and given a new title. Here's what Lito has to say in The Unofficial Guide to Skiing and Snowboarding in the West:

Fifteen years ago, snowboarding was a controversial rarity. Now skiers and riders share the slopes at all Colorado ski slopes and at all but one in New Mexico. Snowboarding's initial appeal was to youngsters who, on the slopes as in everyday life, delight in anything that sets them apart from their parents' generation.

But those first-wave young riders have now grown up, and even their parents have taken up the sport. Snowboarding has actually brought more families to the slopes together and has given more kids a reason to accompany their parents willingly rather than grudgingly on annual Colorado ski jaunts. Mountain snowboarding is challenging and graceful, while Colorado's abundant half-pipes, quarter-pipes, and terrain parks still bring on that adrenaline rush, not just for single-plank snowboarders, but for new-school skiers.

He's right on several accounts. The initial reaction has been corrected, kids love it, and adults can enjoy its grace and challenge.

If someone in your family still prefers skiing, you might wish to peruse Lito's web site, Breakthrough on Skis. Check out his threeDVDsas well.

Has Snowboarding "Sold Out?" Who Cares!

I am alternately amused and appalled by one hardy perennial: the anxiety over whether snowboarding has "lost its soul" through "going mainstream." This was most famously evident in the 1996 Olympics, when "the snowboarding community" did not know if it should rejoice or reject the invitation to enter.

I believe that you see a similar phenomenon at work in skateboarding. (I recall reading something about this in the August or September issue of TW Skateboarding.) And in the 1960s, you probably (I was too young to notice) had surfers lamenting that the Beach Boys were, by promoting surfing in a superficial way, destroying the sport, the life, the universe and everything.

Whether you see riding as a fun diversion from life or something approaching a religion, what other people think of it--and whether or not it is used to sell cars and trucks, telephone service, or denture cleaner--shouldn't matter. Enjoy it for what you get out of it, not how it is popularly defined.

Opening Day!

Opening day this season isn't at all like my last day of the last season, but it will do.

In April of this year I closed out the 2005-2006 season with a trip to Vail. (See day one, day two, and day three for the account and some photos.) Today I opened the new season, back in the Midwest.

It's not quite the same.

I was at Wild Mountain, a Twin Cities-area ski hill that prides itself on always being the first place in Minnesota to open. The people are great (I've met the owner and many members of the staff), and they introduce a lot of people to the joys of skiing and snowboarding.

Vail has thousands of acres; Wild has somewhere under 200. Vail has something on the range of several thousand feet in vertical drop; Wild has several hundred.

But unless you live near a big mountain, what are you going to do? Here's what you do: make the best of what you have available. That's why Midwesterners flock to their hills when they aren't traveling to the Rockies.

So what was my experience like today? One intermediate run was open, a broadway that goes in a line from the top to the base. I did not get there until mid-afternoon, so some of the snow was gutted out, especially near the top.

Midwestern ski areas depend on their snowmaking abilities, and Wild had at least seven pieces of equipment lining the top of the run. They weren't going during business hours, but being spaced about 30 yards apart like staggered steps, they did increase the challenge level. I took a few runs, and wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. But it's very good to be back on the snow.

This day is more than two weeks earlier than last year's opening day. Given that I went golfing just three days ago, it's amazing that Wild was able to offer any terrain. Chalk it up to good equipment, a financial committment, and ownership's desire to get the season underway.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!