Lifestyle or Recreation?

Look at snowboarding magazines and web sites long enough (say, 20 minutes, max), and you’ll encounter all sorts of blather about “the snowboarding lifestyle.” This is usually accompanied by complaints about those who have “sold out.”

In bald terms–never stated this way, of course–“selling out” means things that the rest of the world has taken for granted: getting a job to support one’s self and one’s family, and recognizing that, by golly, snowboarding is a great activity, but it is not a means to achieve world peace or some sort of spiritual state.

Oh sure, I am thankful to God for the ability to ride, both fiscally and financially. Tonight, I’m going to hear some people describe a trip they made to west Africa. And when I consider that some people struggle to get by on less money each year than I spend on my season pass, snowboarding looks, not like a “lifestyle,” but a frivolity. Something to enjoy and be grateful to, but that’s about it.

“Selling out” also means, I think, the quite ordinary and commendable acceptance of the fact that there are other things to do in life besides strapping on a board, no matter how deep the powder, awe-inspiring the terrain, or remarkable for the moves you made on the slopes the other day.

Yesterday morning I went out to my home base–the third time this season, and the second trip for which more than a single run was open. It was a blast. Snow lingered on the trees, and powder, a rare event quantity around here, was on the ground.

I could have stayed until late the evening. Instead, I bailed out around 1 in the afternoon.

Why? I had a Christmas party to go to. And though it was hard to leave, I enjoyed myself at the party, and it was a smart move to go.

This morning, I sense the appeal to strap on the board again. But I also have other things to attend to, and, perhaps this is the old guy status kicking in, I’m not feeling great. Combined with an ongoing cold, I feel a little sluggish. So I will most likely not ride today, and instead wait for another time even if the conditions are not as good.

Selling out? Perhaps. I call it having a life, not a snowboarding lifestyle.