Originally Posted by
YetiMan
One more point:
A/T is the new snowboarding.
Here's why: skiing steep, hardpacked, bumped out trees is very hard. If you don't want to put in the time and effort and injuries and all the bullshit it takes to get to that point of being able to enjoy that kind of skiing there's always some kind of shortcut. You used to be able to get on a snowboard and be a great snowboarder in a year and be super hardcore. "I'm a great snowboarder and skiers suck, look at those lame skiers, I rip on a snowboard and snowboarding is the coolest newest thing you can do." Now it's A/T...if you can buy some dukes, and skin up a track to some low angle pow you're the hardest core guy in the wasatch and fuck all those inbounds skiers, I'm super hardcore backcountry low angle pow guy."
It's a shortcut to a status.
This isn't to say that people don't do it just because it's fun and they love it, but when something comes along that's an easier way into being the cool kid they're going to take it.
Plenty of truly great skiers went to snowboarding just because it's fun, just like lots and lots of truly great skiers tour because they love touring and skiing good snow in the BC. But both of those things have also been poser magnets.
The same strong skiers are going to be in the same place they've always been, lapping the tram, lapping the collins... 10 years ago the posers were getting snowboards, now they're getting dukes and skins to go XC and ski low-angle pow. It's another shortcut to being the cool kid because skiing is hard.