Snowboarding in serious decline?

SnowRock · Dec 3, 2013

I think when this came up last year I said something similar.. but really I just think you are seeing a sport go through its life cycle. Never ending growth is not a realistic expectation and periods with a plateau or even decline in participation numbers makes sense to me. Remember how young the sport really is.

Ice Queen · Dec 3, 2013

It's all demographics, I bet. The population of children in the U.S. increased a lot during the 1990's and very little during the 2000's (children are under 18 years old) and the entire increase in population of kids during the 2000's was among groups other than non-Hispanic whites. So, the population of kids most likely to come from families with plenty of money to blow on snow sports (white ones) remained stagnant. Add to it the recession, and you get fewer snowboard sales. I think when kids get to be in their 20's they're off trying to make their own living and not having mom and dad pay for new snowboards and lift tickets. Here's a link to my source: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=fUuO7Ctn7KCYluZklq7XzQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.cWc

BenedictGomez · Dec 3, 2013

dlague said:
Lets face it there is a whole lot more ski porn out there made by the bigger name production companies like WM, TGR and Sherpas. Kids see that!

Disagree.

The media responds to the culture. When snowboarding was very popular, WM movies got to the point where it was about 50:50 skiing and snowboarding. This years WM movie has almost zero snowboarding. The "cool kids" are skiing now, and the films react to that.

thetrailboss · Dec 3, 2013

BenedictGomez said:
Disagree.

The media responds to the culture. When snowboarding was very popular, WM movies got to the point where it was about 50:50 skiing and snowboarding. This years WM movie has almost zero snowboarding. The "cool kids" are skiing now, and the films react to that.

In all fairness both reflect each other to a certain extent.

dlague · Dec 3, 2013

BenedictGomez said:
Disagree.

The media responds to the culture. When snowboarding was very popular, WM movies got to the point where it was about 50:50 skiing and snowboarding. This years WM movie has almost zero snowboarding. The "cool kids" are skiing now, and the films react to that.

Thanks - to my point!

BenedictGomez · Dec 3, 2013

thetrailboss said:
In all fairness both reflect each other to a certain extent.

Absolutely, but I think it goes far more in one direction than the other.

I dont believe the average person is a helpless lemming, powerless against the pulls of media. Though to play Devil's Advocate, you could make the logical argument that the young people in question are far more likely to fall prey to "lemming behavior" than adults are.

Cannonball · Dec 4, 2013

BenedictGomez said:
Disagree.

The media responds to the culture. When snowboarding was very popular, WM movies got to the point where it was about 50:50 skiing and snowboarding. This years WM movie has almost zero snowboarding. The "cool kids" are skiing now, and the films react to that.

I think this in true to some extent. But there is another component to consider when talking about Warren Miller (and other) movies. These movies are less "art" or "media" and are much more in the category of advertisements. Very heavy product placement and corporate logos abound. The locations are usually paid for by the resorts or tourism bureaus. And the equipment and athletes represent specific companies that are funding the film. When I look at the poster for this year's WM movie I see the following sponsors: Kastle skis, Icelantic skis, and K2 skis among other things. But I don't see a single snowboard manufacturer sponsoring the movie.

So perhaps the recent rise in skiing vs snowboarding is partly result of a smart, focused, aggressive marketing effort on the part of ski companies in repose to the declines they saw awhile back. It will be interesting to see if this dip in snowboarding results in a similar response from snowboard manufacturers and if that will swing things around again in a few years.

Abubob · Dec 4, 2013

“Parents in this town see that the twin tips still have the graphics and the baggy clothes, but they ﬁgure that at least their kids are not going over to boarding,”

That made me laugh. They can wear the pants around their knees and smoke weed but God forbid they should snowboard!

Cannonball · Dec 4, 2013

Abubob said:
“Parents in this town see that the twin tips still have the graphics and the baggy clothes, but they ﬁgure that at least their kids are not going over to boarding,”

That made me laugh. They can wear the pants around their knees and smoke weed but God forbid they should snowboard!

I know right!? But you have to really know Duxbury to understand a comment like that. Let me give you one example of a family I know very well.... They moved to town by buying a $900k house.They justified the move and cost by pointing to the "good schools". They then took their 2 kids out of the school and put them in a private elementary school at $30k/year each. The kids didn't like the private school after the first month. So even though they had pre-paid for 2 years, they put them back in the public school.

Appearances are everything to these folks, so the quote is completely believable to me. And it's why I don't buy this shop as representative of the industry.

Puck it · Dec 4, 2013

Cannonball said:
I know right!? But you have to really know Duxbury to understand a comment like that. Let me give you one example of a family I know very well.... They moved to town by buying a $900k house.They justified the move and cost by pointing to the "good schools". They then took their 2 kids out of the school and put them in a private elementary school at $30k/year each. The kids didn't like the private school after the first month. So even though they had pre-paid for 2 years, they put them back in the public school.

Appearances are everything to these folks, so the quote is completely believable to me. And it's why I don't buy this shop as representative of the industry.

Hey, I live in Wilmington not Duxbury. Just kidding. I own one such child we'll adult now 22 yrs. old switch from boarding to skiing in high school. But the pants are still around the knees. Not quite.

thetrailboss · Dec 4, 2013

Abubob said:
“Parents in this town see that the twin tips still have the graphics and the baggy clothes, but they ﬁgure that at least their kids are not going over to boarding,”

That made me laugh. They can wear the pants around their knees and smoke weed but God forbid they should snowboard!

This kind of attitude, demonstrated by that quote from the Globe, is why I did not stay too long in Massachusetts. It's kind of like the folks who tell me that they believe in civil rights, etc. and then tell me in the same breath that their kid can't play sports teams from the towns with lots of black kids because those teams are "oh so rough." This kind of two-faced lying just irritates me.

dmc · Dec 4, 2013

You guys think that Ski videos are the only thing out there?
And snowboard videos aren't popular?

TGR rider Jeremy Jones CRUSHES!!!!

http://www.windwardboardshop.com/sessions/the-best-2013-snowboard-videos/

BenedictGomez · Dec 5, 2013

thetrailboss said:
This kind of attitude, demonstrated by that quote from the Globe, is why I did not stay too long in Massachusetts. It's kind of like the folks who tell me that they believe in civil rights, etc. and then tell me in the same breath that their kid can't play sports teams from the towns with lots of black kids because those teams are "oh so rough." This kind of two-faced lying just irritates me.

That actually happened?

I'm more annoyed at the, "parents are raising pansies" aspect of that tale than any perceived Civil Rights angle.

Smellytele · Dec 5, 2013

BenedictGomez said:
That actually happened?

I'm more annoyed at the, "parents are raising pansies" aspect of that tale than any perceived Civil Rights angle.

Some parents of kids on my son's soccer team when we were told of a tournament they were playing in actually said "we do not want to play in that tournament we'll get beat". They all held their kid out of tournament and my sons team won it. Maybe they shouldn't be on the team with that loser mentality!!!

Cannonball · Dec 5, 2013

BenedictGomez said:
I'm more annoyed at the, "parents are raising pansies" aspect of that tale than any perceived Civil Rights angle.

Exactly! Same could be said about wanting your kids to ski instead of snowboard :wink:

twinplanx · Dec 5, 2013

dmc said:
You guys think that Ski videos are the only thing out there?
And snowboard videos aren't popular?

TGR rider Jeremy Jones CRUSHES!!!!

http://www.windwardboardshop.com/sessions/the-best-2013-snowboard-videos/

Can't we all just get along?
I really don't understand why there seems to be segregation in ski/snowboard videos. This does not seem to me to be an accurate representation of what I see on the hills. OK I guess no one wants to watch a video of a bunch of shmos running amok around there local ski hill. But for the most part I think everyone does ride the lift and play together nicely. Does that change when you start jet setting around the world and take the heli to your favorite peak? Idk, stupid media...

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witch hobble · Dec 5, 2013

I knew we could work the civil rights aspect in to this. Surprised it took 8 pages.:wink:

Terry Kidwell = Rosa Parks

cbackman · Dec 5, 2013

Most of the new snowboard gear I have bought has been online and not at a local ski shop. Think they need to account for how many snowboard purchases are being made online versus in store, I tend to find much more selection and deals online

twinplanx · Dec 5, 2013

witch hobble said:
I knew we could work the civil rights aspect in to this. Surprised it took 8 pages.:wink:

Terry Kidwell = Rosa Parks

It was a Rodney King reference actually...

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thetrailboss · Dec 5, 2013

Smellytele said:
Some parents of kids on my son's soccer team when we were told of a tournament they were playing in actually said "we do not want to play in that tournament we'll get beat". They all held their kid out of tournament and my sons team won it. Maybe they shouldn't be on the team with that loser mentality!!!

I've heard that one too.

My point was not to insert civil rights but to point out the stupidity of the comment in the article about kids wearing clothes and looking like snowboarders but skiing. It was a really stupid comment...especially coming out of the mouth of a retail manager who sells at least some snowboard gear.

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