Watch the X Games?

So did you watch the X Games?

I saw a few segments: the men's one-trick competition, the men's superpipe final, some slopestyle heats, and perhaps the skiers slopestyle.

Even though I can't do any of those tricks--and given the risk of injury had I tried, I don't really want to attempt them--I can enjoy them. It's much like watching a PGA professional stick a fairway shot to three feet within the hole. I frequent similar venues and use similar equipment, but the results just aren't the same.

Last year I put together a list of 30+ year old competitors in the X games. Of the 18 podium slots available to snowboarders (men's and women's superpipe, slopestyle, and boardercross), only one was snared by a 30+ rider, 30-year old Soko Yamaoka, who took third in the women's superpipe competition.

It looks like this year's version of the official site, EXPN.com, doesn't have bios of every invited rider. If you happen across a link, drop me a line in the comments.

Do the Discount Deal

One of the best deals in snowboarding is the newbie package. (In the business, first-timers are often called "never-evers.") Whether it is called Get Hooked, Beginner's Magic, Learn to Ride, or something else, the idea is the same: give new snowboarders a three-fold package of snowboarding gear rental (boots, binding, board), a lift ticket, and a group lesson. It's common for the package to be spread out over two or three different sessions, meaning that you don't have to conquer everything in one day.

The package price is better than what you would get by purchasing all three items separately, often, better than purchasing just two of the items on separate days.

For example, the "Beginner's Magic" program in Aspen gives you three days of tickets, equipment, and instruction, for $339. If you bought those items separately, the cost would be $675.

If you simply bought tickets and rentals, the cost would be $338, if you purchase at peak times.

For the fee of $1, you get some great instruction.

Similar deals can be found elsewhere. At Wild Mountain, in Minnesota, a $99 "get hooked" package gives you rentals, tickets, and instruction for 3 days. Purchase tickets and rentals alone, and that sets you back $186.

Much like retail stores sell loss-leaders in hopes of getting you through the door to buy something else, ski areas offer deeply discounted packages to newbies in hopes of creating lifelong customers.

It worked with me. It might work for you, too.

Don't Try This at Home!

Remember those stunt commercials, usually of precision driving, with the disclaimer "Stunt driver, closed course," or something like that? Keep that in mind when you watch the Winter X games.

I received a press release from a major corporation, announcing a program they have to promote winter sports safety. All well and good.

The goal, the statement said, was to "communicate important safety messages to consumers before they head to the slopes and try to imitate what they've seen on television."

I immediately thought "Don't try this at home."

No, I don't mean "don't try snowboarding." Do try it. But don't try to go 15 feet out of the halfpipe, spin three times, and then land back in the pipe. Not unless you're, oh, 19 years old and have been working your way up to those feats.

But you already knew that.

What bothers most about the disclaimer is that it encourages the thought (as does the X games) that snowboarding is all about wild flips, spins, and big air.

For some people, it is. But the folks who compete in these events have as much in common with ordinary snowboarders, especially Grays on Trays, as you and I have with NASCAR drivers when we get behind the wheel of the family automobile.

I admire the ability of snowboarders who compete at the highest levels. But my freestyle ambitions are much tamer, and I know that.

And that's fine with me. Keeping on board on the ground provides enough enjoyment.

Are We All Skiers Now?

A basic point of many studies in sociology is that groups of people go to great lengths to define themselves. Often this means making up or exaggerating differences with another group. So Group A goes to great lengths to define itself as being different from Group B. This is true even when the group speaks the same language, practices (by and large) the same religion, and so forth.

We see this phenomenon played out in the long-running theme of "skiers versus snowboarders."

Some snowboarding folks have invested a great deal of energy in defining themselves in opposition to skiers. "We're NOT skiers," they insist. They chafe under the fact that in the Winter Olympics, snowboarding is a discipline within the umbrella of skiing. The International Olympic Committee decided to let the FIS (the international ski federation) decide who enters the games as a snowboarder.

I imagine that there is also a dispute within the U.S. Olympic bureaucracy over the distribution of training funds between the snowboarders and the skiers.

So what is the response of an ordinary guy who simply likes to ride, and talk about it?

When I take my gear out to the mountain, what am I'm doing? Am I "going snowboarding" or "going skiing?" Or should I comply with the snowboarding language police, and say that I will be "riding?"

What about my destination, that place with chair lifts, groomed trails, bumps, lodges, and the like? Are they "ski areas?" Or perhaps, in the spirit of inclusion, "ski and snowboard areas?" The latter approach is as clumsy as the "he or she" formulation that sometimes appears in attempts at gender-neutral language.

Here's another question. Since some of these places seem to have more folks on snowboards than skis, are they actually "snowboard areas?"

Face it, the term "ski and snowboard area" is ungainly. Even worse would be "ski, snowboard, and tubing areas." Some "ski" areas also offer rides on inner tubes, you know.

I'd say that most of the time, "ski" and its variants is good enough. If someone says "are you going skiing this weekend," I don't get indignant. Sometimes the person knows that I'm on a snowboard these days, but they resort to "ski" out of convenience. If they don't know that, I may something like "yes, but I'll be taking my snowboard." I do that to introduce the idea that yes, grown-ups can ride.

I first was a skier for several years before I took up the snowboard, so that's one reason why the "ski versus snowboard" controversy has all the reality of "professional wrestling" to me. But the reasons to be say "ski" or "ski area" have more to do with ease of communication than anything else.

Ski is one syllable. Snowboard is two syllables. Skiing is two syllables; snowboarding is three.

The term that some folks prefer to describe what happens on a snowboard--riding--is as long as the word skiing, and thus has no advantage in the ease-of-use category. Again, it comes back to that need to be different. Eh, if you wish.

Now there's one time where the distinction makes a difference, when precision is important, and that's when you are talking about techniques. In skiing, you make parallel turns. In telemark skiing, you have a free heel. In snowboarding, you alternate between heel and toe edge. And so forth.

Whatever you call it, go out and do it while winter is on.

Grays on Trays T-Shirts Now for Sale

GraysOnTrays.com is all about spreading the joy of snowboarding to adults. And now we've got t-shirts to prove it! The shirts come in gray (naturally!) and feature a colorful emblem.

These shirts are long-sleeve cotton tees. You can get further information (including a close-up of the stylized graphic) and order shirts at the Grays on Trays t-shirt page.

Step-In Bindings: Another One Bites the Dust

The other day I took a family friend out for a private lesson. It worked out fine, with numerous top-to-bottom runs. But the session was another example of the changing market in bindings.

Read this blog (or its associated web site) for long, and you'll know that I'm a vocal fan of the kinds of bindings produced by Flow: one large cap over the foot, secured by four ratchets adjusted in the shop (or at home), and one lever in the highback.

Snap the highback into place, and bam!, you're sliding. No need for threading ratchets after every run, stopping over for two minutes at a time, or getting wet butt syndrome by threading the ratchets while sitting down.

So today I go to one of the local ski hills. It's not one that I have been to yet this season, though I always enjoy going there.

I guided my student through the rental shop. First we got the board, and set the bindings ("goofy with a slight duck," I said.) The bindings were the standard-issue straps.

It made me long for the days of step-in bindings. Not that I prefer those to Flow bindings, but I do prefer them to straps, especially for beginners. I always say that learning to ride is hard enough without having to deal with ornery bindings.

Sure enough, I was right. My student today did very well in sliding and making turns, but had a lot of difficulty with the straps. Since the runs in the Midwest are at the most 2 minutes long, that is a significant sinkhole for time.

Someone in the rental shop told me that they replaced all the step-ins last season. They couldn't get enough of them, or something.

So that makes two ski hills that I know of that have dropped step-ins in the last two years.

I've got a word for the shops: go with the Flow(s).

Legs and Toes

Yesterday I also gave a lesson, to a 13-year old girl I'll call Ambre. Ambre had trouble with heel side turns, as do many novices. But on toe side turns, she did pretty well, especially for a never-ever.

She did even better once she starting standing up straight from the waist up. Though there are times when you want to be close to the ground, casual snowboarding isn't one of them. Make your turns by applying pressure to the appropriate side of the board, but don't try to help things by leaning your torso over the board. That only makes you into a Tower of Pisa--though in this case, a tower that will fall soon, not centuries from now.

In creating the edge pressure required to turn, use your legs and especially toes, and heels.

Demo Day

Though I've never been much of a gearhead, yesterday I tried out two new pieces of snowboarding gear.

The first was a new set of gloves. They've got some built-in wrist guards, designed to disperse the forces of a sudden impact so that you don't suffer a fractured wrist. Did you know that wrist injuries are the most common injuries in snowboarding? I've suffered two mild sprains in my time, the first coming on my second day out.

I'll have more to say about these gloves later, but I was pleased with their performance as gloves. I didn't get to sample their effectiveness in avoiding injury, thankfully.

The second piece of snowboarding gear I sampled was an all-mountain snowboard. Thanks to being an instructor, I came across a guy who is a sales rep. He hooked me up with a new board for a few hours. When I held it in my hand and compared it with my current board, it didn't feel any lighter. But it felt lighter when it was attached to my feet. Perhaps that's because it seemed to have a quicker edge-to-edge response.

It didn't ride too well for me, though; I wiped out on heelside turns several times. Though I rarely fall these days, it could have been operator error--an unfamiliarity with the board. Perhaps I'll try it again next week.

Learning to Ride from a Deck of Cards

Can you learn to ride from playing a game of cards? Not likely, but you might benefit from some Snowboard Training Cards.

Produced by Sport Moves, the pack contains 60 cards. The cards are coated, just like the standard set that you would use for poker.

Each card has information on both front and back side, with both text and graphics. The graphics of snowboarders engaged in various movements are keyed to numbered paragraphs.

Here's the table of contents:

Before the lift covers stance, edges, board flex, the fall line, the responsibility code and trail markers, and a variety of basic movements.

Getting moving tells you about surface and chair lifts, slide slips, traverses, garlands, the falling leaf, and connecting turns.

Riding conditions take you through how changes in the snow and terrain can affect what you do while snowboarding.

freestyle and park cards address safety concerns and a variety of trick maneuvers, including grabs, rails, and the halfpipe.

Competition is a short topic, with one card each discussing the basics of alpine racing, boardercross, halfpipe competitions, and slopestyle.

The home practice routine gives a workout routine.

Bonus drills continue the theme, but require equipment such as a balance board or a trampoline, or getting on the mountain.

Finally equipment cards describe the "3 b's" of boots, boards, and bindings, helping you figure out what to buy.

The cards won't substitute for lessons or time on the snow, but they can be a helpful introduction or refresher. At under $10--about the cost of an over-priced, greasy lunch slopeside--it could be money well spent.

You can buy a pack through the Grays on Trays store.