Our Sport

I have a question that I'd love to hear some of your responses and thoughts on: How do you view the state of our sport today? The feedback I'm curious about is ideas such as:
-Do you think our sport is stagnant at the moment?
-Do you think it still becoming more and more popular/'cool' in comparison to the sport industry or have we somewhat reached a plateau?
-What about talking to people (who aren't involved in the sport at all), what is their reaction to your being a 'skier'?
-Do you think our sport is capable of ever being more mainstrem as surfing has become? Or is the sport just too expensive and inaccessible for most people to afford?
Also,
-What kind of role do girls in the sport now have?

Am curious at what you all think...

I'm curious to know where the hell you've been. :D

I don't think we'll ever be mainstream. This sport isn't for everyone. I think I'm the only real skier in the office. Others have skis but we're talkin' two time a year, maybe. I don't know why, it just doesn't appeal to most people.

I think that skiing is still growing and going in new directions. I like where its headed. Lots of people are coming back from slowboarding becasue its not about fartbags and race skis anymore. The new direction is fun and good for the sport in my eyes.

he what hu?!?.

since when did surfing beome mainstream..

maby surf clothes are mainstream but not surfing..

you dont ski do you.

Oh I'm around, just lingering and listening in the shadows... :)

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Originally posted by DynaMeg
I have a question that I'd love to hear some of your responses and thoughts on: How do you view the state of our sport today? The feedback I'm curious about is ideas such as:
-Do you think our sport is stagnant at the moment?

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No. Between Bode Miller, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, SethMo and The Cliff Suckstables, yourself, Jamie Burge, it's growing better than ever.

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-Do you think it still becoming more and more popular/'cool' in comparison to the sport industry or have we somewhat reached a plateau?

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Yes, it's getting more cool. Blowboarding is soooooo yesterday.

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-What about talking to people (who aren't involved in the sport at all), what is their reaction to your being a 'skier'?

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Blank stare.."oh...uh-huh" (stirs drinkie)"so you're one of those extra me skiers?"...politely shambles away.

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-Do you think our sport is capable of ever being more mainstrem as surfing has become?

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Absotroutly.

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Also,
-What kind of role do girls in the sport now have?

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The racing support has gotten anaemic, but the freestyle/big mountain/pipe skiing by girls has gotten fantastic in the last year.

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Am curious at what you all think...

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Now don't get to ask too much.

Hey meg,

According to SIA, the fastest growing segment of skiers is 11-17 year olds, by a long shot. That should help answer some of your questions. I'll let the mags to the rest.

heh.

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Originally posted by dubu
he what hu?!?.

since when did surfing beome mainstream..

maby surf clothes are mainstream but not surfing..

you dont ski do you.

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Guess you haven't seen Blue Crush, or North Shore, or Step into Liquid. Surfing's pretty mainstream.

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Originally posted by dubu
he what hu?!?.

since when did surfing beome mainstream..

maby surf clothes are mainstream but not surfing..

you dont ski do you.

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Good work dude. She doesn't ski at all, she prolly sucks in real life. :rolleyes:

Sounds like your boss assigned you some market research and you've got no ideas so you've trolled here. Welcome JONG, I'll play along.

Now for your questions:
Stagnent sport? From a revenue standpoint, meaning the real estate side of the resort developement, yea it's stagnent right now. At least less active than 5 years ago. As for the skiing, for me it's not stagnent, just metamophising to a new found passion beyond the ropes. I don't really care if the industry is stagnent, just if I get stagnent.


Cool? Cool factor is relative and it's an inacurate and lousy measuring instrument for most devout skiers.

People that find out I'm a skier? Those that don't ski just go "oh" like it's just another past-time. Those that are SKIERS rarely ask that question "Are you a skier?" or rarely need to ask that question.

Mainstream like surfing? Is surfing all that mainstream? So what, they did a movie about it with some hot girls. Water/Snow is free when you surf or ski. They both require devotion and time to master. The rewards are beyond feeling and explaination and don't always come when the masses are around. That alone makes me care less about mainstream or not.

Girls role in skiing? Either they participate or not, just like the boys. When a girl rips, it's usually more fluid, more elegant and more enjoyable to watch than the guys. They ad a certain spice to the sport, any sport actually.

Perhaps 'mainstream' wasn't the right word to use, but I was referring to surfing getting publicity in shows such as MTV's "Surf Girls", ABC's "North Shore", etc. And surfing having high profile, household-known names/athletes such as Kelly Slater. And what you also mentioned about surfing being a big influence in fashion....

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Originally posted by KevinDineen
Guess you haven't seen Blue Crush, or North Shore, or Step into Liquid. Surfing's pretty mainstream.

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oh, i can't wait until Fox starts airing "Jackson Hole"

Do you really think it's possible for a sport that costs over $1000/year to keep current with will ever become mainstream?

And do you consider resort skiing a sport?

Though it's cheaper for kids, right?

Ahh, that wasn't that funny.

maybe I'm just a grumpy asshole but I could care less if this sport is popular. I actually love to here about " declining skier visits ". I pray every winter night that I will see fewer and fewer people on the hill. If ski areas shut their doors, no big deal I like to earn my turns anyway. " Skiing industry " good riddance !

dubu, meet Dynameg.
Ha!

http://www.dreamcatcherheliskiing.co...megoster02.jpg

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Originally posted by DynaMeg
Perhaps 'mainstream' wasn't the right word to use, but I was referring to surfing getting publicity in shows such as MTV's "Surf Girls", ABC's "North Shore", etc. And surfing having high profile, household-known names/athletes such as Kelly Slater. And what you also mentioned about surfing being a big influence in fashion....

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Our mostly being pretty heavily dressed, wearing helmets and goggles etc. means we'll always trail behind surfing with regard to nekkidness/sex appeal etc., and it's a pretty well known fact that sex does sell. We might get closer, but will NEVER be able to compete with something like surfing imo.

Btw. I'm as interested as powstash in knowing who'll eventually be buying your writeup on the "state of skiing"?

I'll spill the beans for all those out of the know. DynaMeg is a real-deal, ripping female skier. You've probably seen her in magazines. She's also no JONG.

and her surname rhymes with 'orange'.

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Originally posted by board
maybe I'm just a grumpy asshole but I could care less if this sport is popular. I actually love to here about " declining skier visits ". I pray every winter night that I will see fewer and fewer people on the hill. If ski areas shut their doors, no big deal I like to earn my turns anyway. " Skiing industry " good riddance !

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Less people == less industry money == less innovation & higher prices.

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Originally posted by phUnk
I'll spill the beans for all those out of the know. DynaMeg is a real-deal, ripping female skier. You've probably seen her in magazines. She's also no JONG.

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c'mon man, I was having a pretty good chuckle there...

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Originally posted by phUnk
Less people == less industry money == higher prices.

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Yup, that'd mean less spancerships to go around. Yikes ;)

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Originally posted by jayfrizzo
Do you really think it's possible for a sport that costs over $1000/year to keep current with will ever become mainstream?

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Agreed. Just like mountain biking (which will never take off, I tell ya.)

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Originally posted by Telepath
Yup, that'd mean less spancerships to go around. Yikes ;)

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Or it means no financial incentive to produce things like... fat skis, Spatulas, etc.

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Originally posted by phUnk
Less people == less industry money == less innovation & higher prices.

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No one charges me to hike, but I will be happy to pay more for my season pass if it means less people on the hill.

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Originally posted by bad_roo
and her surname rhymes with 'orange'.

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Doorhinge. What an odd name.

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Originally posted by board
No one charges me to hike, but I will be happy to pay more for my season pass if it means less people on the hill.

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I think what he means is that it will be more expensive to buy the gear you want. Its just like the auto industry. Chevy has to sell tons of the crappy little cars in order to sell the corvette for the price that they do. If you take away the little cars (the low end skis sold to jong's and ski resorts) your gear will be even more expensive than it is now. Maybe you have a $$$ tree but I like paying less for good products.

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Originally posted by board
maybe I'm just a grumpy asshole ...

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Or a(n aging) snowboarder?

Care to join Curmudgeons Without Boarders?

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Originally posted by phUnk
Agreed. Just like mountain biking (which will never take off, I tell ya.)

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You've spent $5000 in the last 5 years on mountain biking? You got ripped the fuck off.

Also notice I asked if it was cheaper for kids. Adults have that kind of money, but adults joining sports don't make 'em mainstream.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DynaMeg

-Do you think our sport is stagnant at the moment?
No. It's probably the most interesting period skiing has seen in three decades

-Do you think it still becoming more and more popular/'cool' in comparison to the sport industry or have we somewhat reached a plateau? .
Skiing reached it's mainstream plateau in the mid 70's. Interestingly, that is about the same time period that the big lawsuits appeared and made skiing much more expensive. While it's becoming a bit more "cool", the new school movement is kind of an underground thing. Most people who ski aren't even aware of it.

-What about talking to people (who aren't involved in the sport at all), what is their reaction to your being a 'skier'? .
Unfortunately, when you tell people you are a skier, they generally think you're a rich, turtleneck wearing, Stacy. Or some Eurotrash wannabe. Ar Aspen glitzy. Or Suzy Chapstick. Seth Morrison ar Shane McConkey is NOT the first thing people think of.

-Do you think our sport is capable of ever being more mainstrem as surfing has become? Or is the sport just too expensive and inaccessible for most people to afford?.
No. See previous answer. It's not that people can't afford to ski- look at how huge golf is, and golf is just as expensive. Also, I've tried to get non skiing freinds to try it out, and they're all convinced that they're gonna end up with two broken legs.

-What kind of role do girls in the sport now have?

Girls kick ass.

Living 5 hours away from the mountains I get to really feel out what the average jong thinks of skiing. And most of them love to go skiing, love to go to the mountians but haven't the slightest clue of what has been going on in our sport in the past 5 years. I often get people asking if I'm skiing on those 'new-fangled-skis-with-up-turned-tails'. If I tell them that I'm a pro skier, trying to make a living skiing, I'm usually met with 'wow that's cool' and then immediately followed up by 'how the hell do you make money skiing, are you an instructor or something.'
Skiing in my opinion is growing. Kids are sticking with skiing instead of going straight to blowboarding. And honestly it's the jibbers that have kept those kids around. But I also think true skiing, big mountain skiing, is getting to get more respect again and that's a good thing for skiers like meg and myself. And altough skiing is growing it will never be up there with skating, bmx, or surfing. Surfing has a large sex appeal that grabs many jong's attentions even if they live hundreds of miles inland. And skate and bmx is accesible to everyone. Skiing isn't sexy (except for in Freeskier) and isn't as accesible, but it doesn't mean we can't continue to show the world that skiing is the sickest, gnarliest and best sport in the world. Oh yeah and meg, will you marry me? ;)

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Originally posted by DynaMeg
Am curious at what you all think...

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I'll play (after all, it's a DynaMeg thread: all aboard!)

I'll address the female presance in skiing issue. It really boils down to a sport v. industry question.

In the sport sense, the we're all out here having a great time in the snow sense, women are 100% equal to men. If you beat me up the skin track, the first line is yours. If you want to huck a cliff, there's no force which is going to prevent you becuase of your gender.

In the industry sense, women are not equal. There is obviously fewer pros, less gear that addresses issues like the differences in the way women's bodies are built, etc... This is a function of the old "voting with your wallet" issue. If more women spent more money on skiing gear, then the amount of choices they would have would increase.

How to fix that inequality is a tough one. I bet nearly every single guy here has tried bringing a girlfriend to the mountains, generally with luke-warm success. That's been my expirence for sure.

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Originally posted by DynaMeg
How do you view the state of our sport today?
-Do you think our sport is stagnant at the moment?
-Do you think it still becoming more and more popular/'cool' in comparison to the sport industry or have we somewhat reached a plateau?
-What about talking to people (who aren't involved in the sport at all), what is their reaction to your being a 'skier'?
-Do you think our sport is capable of ever being more mainstrem as surfing has become? Or is the sport just too expensive and inaccessible for most people to afford?
Also,
-What kind of role do girls in the sport now have?

Am curious at what you all think...

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It's not "stagnant" at all. There's constant progress and improvement in terms of equipment, clothing, gear, etc.

Whether it's "popular or cool" depends a great deal on your geographic location. To some, the only exposure to skiing they'll ever get is to watch the Winter Olympics. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, neither surfing OR skiing will ever be "mainstream". It's a matter of access. On a scale, I'd say skiing is considerably more mainstream than surfing, though again - I myself am not exposed to the surfing culture. I didn't grow up in it, so I have little interest in it.

The sport IS expensive, there's no question. For many, it can only BE a part-time recreation. Again - depends on location. I could buy a season pass at any large Western area for about $300. To ski on my piece of shit 600' local hill, it's gonna cost me $600. For a family to spend a day skiing together, you're looking at an EASY $250-$300. Honestly, how many families can afford to do that on ANY sort of regular basis? (Not many that I know of.)

As far as women in the sport ~ They're more prominent now than they've ever been. Household names? Victoria, Picabo, Kristen, Wendy, Allison... (I couldn't name a surfer to save my life - male OR female.)

Young or beginning women skiers have a dozen different role models to choose from. Looking back 20 years ago, who was there? Suzy Chapstick? Did anyone really ASPIRE to that?

But today ~ Ask any young female boarder OR skier who "Victoria" is, and they'll know who you're talking about. And they'll also know that she rips. Right alongside the big boys. In many cases, doing it with more style & finesse.

And you? What's the latest?

EP -- Where in the Midatlantic are you?

Ok,
How do you view the state of our sport today?

I love it - for me it's not a team sport. I'll look out for the safety of others but essentially I do it for no one else but me.


-Do you think our sport is stagnant at the moment?

Frankly I don't care and having read Downhill Slide, I'd rather it did stagnate. As long as I'm pushing my own boundries it's not stagnating
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-Do you think it still becoming more and more popular/'cool' in comparison to the sport industry or have we somewhat reached a plateau?

Yeah, it's reached a plateau.......next?

-What about talking to people (who aren't involved in the sport at all), what is their reaction to your being a 'skier'?

Normally a yawn. Middle of summer, at a party, talking about skiing? it's not normal is it...... Fact is I can't help it. I'm surprised I've still got a wife.

-Do you think our sport is capable of ever being more mainstrem as surfing has become? Or is the sport just too expensive and inaccessible for most people to afford?
In comparison to surfing?....Definately too expensive. You want to surf? buy a board for $350 and you're made. Want to ski? start adding...



Also,
-What kind of role do girls in the sport now have?

In a word.....Icons. Girls that ski (well) are sexy. Even if they've got a face like the back end of a lorry, they're still sexy (from afar). It's something about them being able to ski and the mystery of what lies underneath all those layers......

phUnk, you should paste all your responses in this thread into one, because you're right all the way. Meg rips, more exposure and more money is good for the sport, etc., etc.

Board, you gonna carve your next snowboard? Or would you prefer that a viable industry continue to produce boards and perhaps even better boards than are available now?

Bottom line is that every person who buys a piece of gear or a lift ticket helps our sport, and good on 'em.

Oh, yeah...You morons who don't know who Meg is and called her out are wicked fackin' lame-o's, fackin' stupid bastids. And I faht in yer general direction.

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Originally posted by DynaMeg
Am curious at what you all think...

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The real question D-Meg, is why do you always come to us with obtuse questions? Why don't you just tell us what's on your mind, or what's bugging ya? Reality TV knocking on your door or something?

I've got a related general question: When did this sport start to grow?

I've heard repetetively in ski mags and from ski industry types that there was actually a loss during the mid and late '80s and zero growth through most of the '90s, both in terms of number of skier-days and dollars per year; i.e. skiing was a dying industry in the late '80s, then levelled out but didn't grown in the '90s.

Does anyone know of any sources of raw data to support or negate these ideas?

And, no, skiing will likely not become mainstream in the foreseeable future. However, if you look at other countries... It's far more mainstream in the European countries, but that's mostly because it's so much more ingrained in thier history.

On the other hand, Japan (which is roughly the size of California) has almost as many ski areas as the entire U.S. - I remember hearing something like 725 ski areas in Japan vs. 750 in the U.S. I'll bet this includes X-C ski areas in addition to all the little 250' vert mom n' pop resorts. In addition, Japan's more densely populated then the U.S. Thier population is 127,333,002 (July 2004 est.) vs. 1: 291,950,153 (Sept. 2003 est.).

However, it's a clear indication that the sport is wildly more popular and mainstream there then here.

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Originally posted by Ubersheist
On the other hand, Japan (which is roughly the size of California) has almost as many ski areas as the entire U.S. - I remember hearing something like 725 ski areas in Japan vs. 750 in the U.S. I'll bet this includes X-C ski areas in addition to all the little 250' vert mom n' pop resorts. In addition, Japan's more densely populated then the U.S. Thier population is 127,333,002 (July 2004 est.) vs. 1: 291,950,153 (Sept. 2003 est.).

However, it's a clear indication that the sport is wildly more popular and mainstream there then here.

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The Japanese love any sport which allows them to dress up in bizarre clothing. hence, their obsession with golf and the popularity of skiing.

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Originally posted by jayfrizzo
You've spent $5000 in the last 5 years on mountain biking? You got ripped the fuck off.

Also notice I asked if it was cheaper for kids. Adults have that kind of money, but adults joining sports don't make 'em mainstream.

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Your claim was that skiing required $1000 a year to "stay current" meaning "replace all your gear with new gear."

My post was supposed to point out that there's no need to do that in skiing or any other sport. I was lazy and didn't try to explain it because your post was retarded to begin with. :p