The Most Annoying Things Gapers Do

**The Reverend Floater** · 12-30-2003, 12:37 PM

Not to get all high-and-mighty (just high, please), but I mostly love gapers. I love seeing them hacking their way down the mountain, big smiles on their faces or just that look that says "this is the envelope I'm pushing," even though their moving at 5mph. I love watching guys my age hitting snow gun jumps like 10 yearolds, exchanging high fives for their sick mini-daffies and meaning it. This is what our sport is all about--stoke.

The only sort of gaper I don't like are the folks who don't belong in the backcountry. We saw some dude doing laps on our local pass the other day, while his wife shuttled him in their Excusion with Cali plates. The guy was having fun on his snowboard, which was cool, but he was riding a 35 degree pitch that killed two people a few years ago. Upon our warning, he took no notice. That bothers me.

Gape on!

**board** · 12-30-2003, 12:42 PM

Rev I agree with every single word in your post !

**Superstar Punani** · 12-30-2003, 12:45 PM

Gapers that give me gape-rage:

1) Gapers that roll around the bullwheel, thus causing chair to stop. These gapers should have their passes pulled.

2) Gapers who require a chair download after getting to the top then shitting their pants. They should be banned from the mountain for life.

3) Gapers that heckle trollers and/or lifties in line on a pow morning (light-hearted jabs ok, but the ones that say "I paid $61 for a goddamn ticket!! What time will you guys get your shit together?!?!?! I drove 5 hours from the Bay Area for this so hurry up!)

4) Gapers that can't count to 4 when it comes to loading up quads on a powder morning.

5) Gapers that wait until the LAST part of the corral before the loading zone, then stop and wait for their gaping friends

6) Gapeboarders who posthole the traverse should be shot

7) Gapers who drive 10mph in snow, then speed up when there's a chance to pass, should be rammed off the road.

8) Gapers from LA who wear bright "look-at-me-I'm-a-spancered-photo-slut" clothes all by the same manufacturer, such as Oakley.

**xboat** · 12-30-2003, 12:45 PM

most of the time i just laugh to myself and shake my head when i see them do something stupid.

but the one thing that gets me wicked pissed is when someone has their skis over their shoulder and walks into a crowded area like the gondola without a clue. swinging skis like they were nunchucks. whack! "ohh, excuse me"

**MacDaddy** · 12-30-2003, 12:46 PM

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
It's the very peak of gaper season... here are my biggest gaper pet peeves:

What do gapers do that annoys you most?

On the days that I snowboard, what kinda bugs me is, when I am running ( trying not to post hole the fantasy ridge at Solitude) and there are ten super slow skiers trying to side step every incline. and I have to wait

it slows me down and I dont get the fitness that I am looking to get.
----------------------------------------------------------
Oxygen debt is so much fun

and after reading Punanis post I better start wearing my Kevlar vest just in case he wants to shoot me in the back when I run past him

**dubu** · 12-30-2003, 01:04 PM

Urgh, the gaper snowborders at Stevens, whose only way of getting down anything remotely steep is to boardslide all the way down.

<vent>
Especially fun was last friday when hordes of them went "looking for powder in the trees on the back side" and proceded to slide slip most of the little hidden lines and expose all sorts of goodness on entrances to big cheif and tye bowl.

note I dont mind snowboarders who turn, it's just the ones that haven't figured out they can use the toe edge every once-in-a- while or straight line that suck..
</vent>

**The Jackamo** · 12-30-2003, 01:36 PM

you know the gates leading into lift lines? i'm not talking about the lines themselves, but the gates that close off the skis area from the lift area (the ones where you have to slow down to get in). i really love it when boarders stop RIGHT at the enterence to those gates. especially when i'm right beind them. smart move, guys...

**365wp** · 12-30-2003, 01:45 PM

Originally posted by The Jackamo
you know the gates leading into lift lines?

A couple weeks ago, a friend and I were trying to get into line. There was a guy standing in right front of the gate with his skis perpendicular to the lane, preventing anybody from using that lane.

As we passed, my buddy said something to the effect of "what are you doing" in pretty polite manner. The guy replied that he was "waiting for his friend" and continued standing in front of the gate, blocking all traffic down the lane.

It was very surreal experience.

KQ · 12-30-2003, 01:47 PM

Finger & thumb in shape of an "L" on forehead

**365wp** · 12-30-2003, 01:48 PM

Originally posted by The Reverend Floater
This is what our sport is all about--stoke.

Post of the day. I'm a gaper frequently...not as much as I used to, but I can do a mean "crouching flatlander, skidding newbie" turn through the icy gates when I get tired.

**snowsprite** · 12-30-2003, 02:04 PM

Rev, I really liked your post! You've got the best attitude.

Sprite

**Spamhelmet** · 12-30-2003, 02:41 PM

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
It's the very peak of gaper season... here are my biggest gaper pet peeves:

1. Gapers that have mounted their one Naxo on Explosive, the other one on their Gotama

2. Gapers who snowplow at 2MPH down blues with their walkietalkies and mount their Naxos at the same time.

3. Gapers who traverse ALL the way across wide slopes inbetween their turns with all brand spankin new Völkl Gotamas.

What do gapers do that annoys you most?

The only gapers that i personally have problems are THEESE GUYS!!
http://geowww.uibk.ac.at/tirol/innsbruck/images/ski.jpg

They wont let me play with them

**Tippster** · 12-30-2003, 03:00 PM

Reverend, I agree with you whole-heartedly. However, if I have another snowboarder get "bored" on a cat track and try some dumb-ass trick only to fall right in front of me while I'm not exactly creeping along... well, they may get skewered. I NEVER understood the need for that, and I saw plenty of boarders and skiers get taken down the hill after one of these incidences.

Please. If you snowboard, save the tricks for the park or a SLOPE. If you can't go 5 minutes without trying an "Ollie" or a grab then you have ADHD and there's medication for that...

**HyRUPz** · 12-30-2003, 05:02 PM

Most annoying thing gapers do = Exist

**tywhy** · 12-30-2003, 05:09 PM

when they're trying to traverse somewhere and can't even ski or board well enough to traverse and they're going slow as hell in front of you. my favorite examples from snowbird are: the cirque, baldy, and the worst of all - Powder Paradise in Mineral. fucking gapers.

**365wp** · 12-30-2003, 05:09 PM

Originally posted by The Reverend Floater
The only sort of gaper I don't like

is the kind that grabs the back of your jacket when they're learning how to snowboard on a catwalk...yes, this happened to me...yes, I should have known better than to go to Breckenstone opening weekend...wow that was a bad call. Of course, first season out here, blah blah blah.

Blurred Elevens · 12-30-2003, 05:13 PM

Gapers annoy me, but not as individuals, more of like the masses they're in.

Here is the real problem. Our sport is so foreign to any other sport that it can be overwhelming to the n00b. This has people completely focused on themselves, which is a problem with daily life as well. (people driving slow talking on cell-phones)

Gapers are focused on not being too gapish, and don't have the mental capacity of being considerate of others too. It's just too much to ask of them....I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just the way it is.

I will say that most people skiing on the MTN that are fresh off the plane from Texas and Florida are the MOST stoked skiers on the mountain, hands down. They have the stoke, they're not telling people on the mountain what to do...they could care less!

**iskibc** · 12-30-2003, 05:16 PM

Originally posted by Blurred Elevens

I will say that most people skiing on the MTN that are fresh off the plane from Texas and Florida are the MOST stoked skiers on the mountain, hands down. They have the stoke, they're not telling people on the mountain what to do...they could care less!

good point. I've never seen someone more fired up than a Texan wearing his/her cowboy hat hootin' and hollerin' riding up the beginner chair

. That's what the sport is about no matter what your level may be.

**schuss** · 12-30-2003, 05:18 PM

being a part time gaper myself, I can't bitch too much, but seriously, people need to learn how to get on lifts. I saw a guy on a board the other day at mount snow who boards right up to the line to load where his wife is, THEN sits down to unbuckle, then just pushes forward without looking and gets wanged by a chair, causing everyone to have to wait for fifteen minutes while they try to restart the damn chair because he was too stupid to look. That's the only thing that pisses me off. All the other ones I can ski around.

**Ski Monkey** · 12-30-2003, 05:38 PM

Two things I don't like:

1. The turn of death.

2. When someone combines the turn of death with trying to hit the little jumps around lift towers, edges of trails etc, and sweeps accross the trail to get 6 inches of air. Want air? Go to the park.

Everyone else, if you're having fun then rock on with your bad selves. That's what it's about. Other things annoy me, but then, I'm a bit short tempered at times and have my own issues to deal with.

**Mountain Junkie** · 12-30-2003, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by The Jackamo
you know the gates leading into lift lines? i'm not talking about the lines themselves, but the gates that close off the skis area from the lift area (the ones where you have to slow down to get in). i really love it when boarders stop RIGHT at the enterence to those gates. especially when i'm right beind them. smart move, guys...

Same thing happened to me last weekend. This is just a plain lack of common sense.

**mr_gyptian** · 12-30-2003, 06:33 PM

Originally posted by iskibc
good point. I've never seen someone more fired up than a Texan wearing his/her cowboy hat hootin' and hollerin' riding up the beginner chair . That's what the sport is about no matter what your level may be.

I second that, or third. The Steamboat Cowboy days is hiilarious. Those doods point'em.

**jayfrizzo** · 12-30-2003, 07:09 PM

Originally posted by Ski Monkey
2. When someone combines the turn of death with trying to hit the little jumps around lift towers

Those are fun. But then again, I am from Florida.

J-

**powstash** · 12-30-2003, 07:28 PM

not sure if this has been said since I didn't take time to read this entire thread, but this happened to me today:

I exit one tree stash to a bump run and pass 3 gapers, a boarder and 2 skiers. I then make a quick right hand turn into another line I cut a couple of years ago. Not a soul has been in there so there's some ardious trail breaking on a flat for about 35 yards. Just as I get going I sense someone behind me and I turn around to see said gapers and he says, "Hi" I ignore him and say to myself, "You're not skiing my stash and benefitting from my trail breaking" so I start to zig zag like I don't really know where I'm headed. I spread my legs really wide so I'm not making a clean trail. After a couple of zigs and zags they say, "Hey, are you headed for that cliff drop?" They're clueless as there isn't a cliff drop for miles. I ignore them and just as I pull over to take a wiz, I turn around and they're gone. I proceeded another 10 yards and nail said stash line.