Burton's "Poach for Freedom" Contest

[OldsnowboarderME]

Good advice from both you and DMC regarding other manufacturers. I will def. broaden my horizons on my next purchase.

Was Never Summer and Unity snowboards mentioned?

 

[catskills]

Sorry but I am not going to take a seat at the back of the bus no how good it makes somebody feels... there is no good reason for the exclusion ... period.

I think your missing mypoint here. I could care less about the poaching thing. What concerns me is we are talking about money making corporation that is promoting snowboarders hassling skiers on the slopes in the Deer Valley video. No matter what side your on, at the end of the day this is not a good thing for the sport of snowboarding.

 

[dmc]

When did you start snowboarding? There's a lot of history behind the Burton brand...some good, and some very bad........

Last year.... Still picking it up... It seems to be a really fun sport... I may even buy one...

 

[dmc]

dmc if you love snowboarding as much as I think you do, then you better be writing Jake Burton to remove the Deer Valley video of snowboarders hassling skiers off their Corporate money making web site. Your either in favor of this kind of behavior or your not. Which is it? Make a stand. This is no joke.

I really don't think it's a big deal... I seriously don't....
And I refuse to make it into a big deal and allow anti-snowboarding camp more fuel for the fire...

 

[dmc]

Good advice from both you and DMC regarding other manufacturers. I will def. broaden my horizons on my next purchase.

I've been riding NeverSummers for a while... thiking about checking deeper into Prior... I have a splitboard frm them and it's really nice...

Got a Ride from a friend who Reps... It's a nice deck...

Haven't bought a Burton since I had a freind repping for them...

 

[Method9455]

Yea I think this is an incredible over reaction by a lot of people here. Get a grip. A snowboarder spraying a snow on some people is immature and out of taste. It is hardly dangerous. Where is your angst for the people (skiers and snowboarders) who ride the terrain park all season and cause injury after injury. People get hurt / die from that kind of stupidity, but all you hear is "it is an open trail I can ski anywhere I want". Thats a hell of a lot worse than this stuff, where is the outrage?

 

[RIDEr]

Letter from Jake Burton:

STATE OF THE MOUNTAIN : POACH FOR FREEDOM
Since the release of our Poachers web story on burton.com, several people have contacted Burton complaining of our actions. While I fully respect their prerogative to voice their opinion, they should in return grant us the same courtesy. We have been snowboarding at major resorts for well over 20 years now and in the process, we have demonstrated our sport to be for real, and of no threat to society. The fact is that two of the four resorts operate on federal forest land, which makes this issue even more frustrating since the taxes of many snowboarders help finance these resorts. I'm confident that if these four resorts outlawed skiing tomorrow, there would be a protest long before 20 years passed, and rightfully so. I want to add that we have been careful not to break any laws, nor to encourage anyone to break any laws (see the Poaching 10 Commandments on burton.com/poachers) in our efforts to liberate these mountains. If you have spent as much time in the mountains as I have, you would know that every mountain has a personality, and while they can be brutally cruel at times, discrimination is not in their DNA.
Jake Burton
Founder-Burton Snowboards

 

[millerm277]

which makes this issue even more frustrating since the taxes of many snowboarders help finance these resorts.

How would that be? The areas are paying the state for the use of the land, so in reality, the areas would be reducing the taxes of snowboarders.

 

[JimG.]

Letter from Jake Burton:

STATE OF THE MOUNTAIN : POACH FOR FREEDOM
Since the release of our Poachers web story on burton.com, several people have contacted Burton complaining of our actions. While I fully respect their prerogative to voice their opinion, they should in return grant us the same courtesy. We have been snowboarding at major resorts for well over 20 years now and in the process, we have demonstrated our sport to be for real, and of no threat to society. The fact is that two of the four resorts operate on federal forest land, which makes this issue even more frustrating since the taxes of many snowboarders help finance these resorts. I'm confident that if these four resorts outlawed skiing tomorrow, there would be a protest long before 20 years passed, and rightfully so. I want to add that we have been careful not to break any laws, nor to encourage anyone to break any laws (see the Poaching 10 Commandments on burton.com/poachers) in our efforts to liberate these mountains. If you have spent as much time in the mountains as I have, you would know that every mountain has a personality, and while they can be brutally cruel at times, discrimination is not in their DNA.
Jake Burton
Founder-Burton Snowboards

Hmmmm....know what?

This is as silly as the over-reaction to the original post.

When did sliding around on snow begin needing commandments, protests, and liberation?

Sounds like ski school.

 

[Method9455]

Hmmmm....know what?

This is as silly as the over-reaction to the original post.

When did sliding around on snow begin needing commandments, protests, and liberation?

Sounds like ski school.

Jake Burton, love him or hate him, you have to agree he has absolutely no idea what the constitution says. And he really like hyperbole. I'm a snowboarder, and I'm really not that mad about those 4 mountains saying no to snowboarders. If they opened their doors to us tomorrow, I have 30+ mountains I want to ride before I'd get MRG, Taos, and Deer Valley. Alta maybe but everyone says there is a lot of traversing, not great on a board anyway. What am I going to do bring snow shoes? Fine for real hiking but you would look like an idiot on the lift.

 

[AdironRider]

I fully support this campaign. There I said it.

You guys are freakng out about this as if theyre promoting killing skiers or soemthing. I think this whole skier snowboarding thing is so stupid its mind boggling. This is just Jakes way of trying to put the nail in the coffin. You can sit here and talk about it, and get nowhere, or you can go out and do something about it.

 

[JimG.]

Jake Burton, love him or hate him, you have to agree he has absolutely no idea what the constitution says. And he really like hyperbole. I'm a snowboarder, and I'm really not that mad about those 4 mountains saying no to snowboarders. If they opened their doors to us tomorrow, I have 30+ mountains I want to ride before I'd get MRG, Taos, and Deer Valley. Alta maybe but everyone says there is a lot of traversing, not great on a board anyway. What am I going to do bring snow shoes? Fine for real hiking but you would look like an idiot on the lift.

A voice of reason.

Why get obsessed with 4 ski hills in the whole country when there are hundreds of others that welcome you?

Their loss, not yours.

That said, the exclusion rules are pretty crappy. And before any skiers chime in name one hill that bans skiing and allows only snowboarding first.

 

[riverc0il]

I fully support this campaign. There I said it.

You guys are freakng out about this as if theyre promoting killing skiers or soemthing. I think this whole skier snowboarding thing is so stupid its mind boggling. This is just Jakes way of trying to put the nail in the coffin. You can sit here and talk about it, and get nowhere, or you can go out and do something about it.

I think what people are "freaking out about" is that Jake Burton is doing more to open the coffin than put a nail into it......

 

[AdironRider]

Im not going to try and argue my stance, as I know its going to fall on deaf ears. But everyone freaking out about a snowboarder slapping someone on the ass is overkill. THEYRE ENDANGERING SKIERS!!! is a bunch of crap and you know it. They didnt hurt anyone, nor are they promoting the hurting of anyone.

The whole stance of the campaign is that these resorts are saying F you to snowboarders, so Burton is promoting the notion of saying F you to the resort. You think sending them a kind letter is going to do anything? No. The point of the campaign is to try and innundate these resorts as a way to try and force them to change, similar to a union going on strike, picket lines, etc. force companies to change theyre ways. Snowboarders cant boycott these resorts, so this is a good way of getting theyre message directly to the resorts themselves. People can talk about it online, or in public forum, but it doesnt change anything, By bringing snowboarding to the resorts by poaching, they attack the problem directly, in an arena that promotes the problem. Think the freedom rides through the south... Northerners held debates, what have you, but by protesting directly in the face of the problem, changes were made. Not a direct correlation I know, but you get the drift.

 

[millerm277]

And before any skiers chime in name one hill that bans skiing and allows only snowboarding first.

There aren't any that I know of. If someone created one, I wouldn't care/mind. Who am I to tell them what to allow on their property?

This is just Jakes way of trying to put the nail in the coffin. You can sit here and talk about it, and get nowhere, or you can go out and do something about it.

The question is, will this help put the nail in the coffin, or start moving backwards? The reason the bans exist, is at least partially due to the negative perception of snowboarders as being rude, obnoxious..etc. (I am not saying that's true by any means, but that is the stereotype). It seems unlikely that acting like the people in the video will solve that, and even if you are acting nicely, you disregarding the ban will most likely only strengthen it.

Also, if they wanted, they could probably get you arrested, if you and 20 of your friends show up, that might happen.

That is all my opinion, feel free to agree or disagree.

 

[riverc0il]

Adiron, do you really think this "campaign" is about really trying to get these places to change? This is not a civil liberties issue in which public support is going to change the issue. What is keeping these ski areas snowboard free is dollars (and in the case of MRG, the owners desires with what to do with their property). As long as there is a demand for areas that do not allow snowboarders, these areas will continue to thrive. This type of campaign only alienates and entrenches people and these areas in their beliefs. It only causes a knee jerk reaction to keep the status quo. If this was really truly an effort to enact change, it could not have been done in a more worse way. This is exactly what I would have recommended if these people wanted to "prove a point" knowing things wouldn't change regardless. This is not a civil rights issue and swaying public opinion is not going to change anything. Ski areas vote with dollar signs and the people reacting worst to these videos only cling more strongly to the non-snowboard policies of these ski areas.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

I remember "poaching" the halfpipe when only snowboarders were allowed to ride it...so I'll try to avoid sounding like a hypocrite. Only thing I have to add is as a former retailer who bought quite a lot of merchandise from Burton...they are the 800lb gorilla in the industry...and what does an 800lb gorilla do...whatever the hell it wants. They are corporate to the core and soooo not "core." I'd have more respect for the initiative if it came from Rome or Capita, not from the marketing giant.

 

[AdironRider]

Adiron, do you really think this "campaign" is about really trying to get these places to change? This is not a civil liberties issue in which public support is going to change the issue. What is keeping these ski areas snowboard free is dollars (and in the case of MRG, the owners desires with what to do with their property). As long as there is a demand for areas that do not allow snowboarders, these areas will continue to thrive. This type of campaign only alienates and entrenches people and these areas in their beliefs. It only causes a knee jerk reaction to keep the status quo. If this was really truly an effort to enact change, it could not have been done in a more worse way. This is exactly what I would have recommended if these people wanted to "prove a point" knowing things wouldn't change regardless. This is not a civil rights issue and swaying public opinion is not going to change anything. Ski areas vote with dollar signs and the people reacting worst to these videos only cling more strongly to the non-snowboard policies of these ski areas.

Yeah, actually I do believe that to an extent this is a campaign to get these resorts to change. Sure they are a corporation, and as a result the end result is to make money, but you have to remember Burtons roots. Jake still gets out and rides 100+ days a year at Stowe and other resorts. Hes the godfather of the sport regardless of your opinion of him, and I believe he truely believes in what hes doing. I disagree on you alienation claims, it brings the debate to the resorts themselves. Sure people there are going to be pissed, but at least the situation is being confronted. Boarders can sit around and talk about change, but these resorts and theyre customers are, for the most part, not even going to notice. By poaching, they cant help but notice. Sure most of the resorts in questions skiers are going to disagree with the campaign, but it still brings the situation to the forfront of their day. And if it happens to change a few peoples minds, then its a step in the right direction. Considering for the better part of three decades "talking" about the situation hasnt changed these resorts minds, what other alternative is there other than to just poach?

 

[ski220]

Perhaps it's the persons on the boards that these ski areas don't want. There is a lot of truth to stereotyping as much as people want to say otherwise. Profiling works and thats a fact.

Snowboards ride over powder and pack it down, unlike skies that cut thru it. How many times do you see a boarder side slipping a chute pushing all the powder out as he thinks he's a bad ass dude ripping it up? No grooming allowed. As Alf Engen said (in his unique accent) "Snowboarding will never be allowed at Alta. It ruins the snow."

 

[ski220]

And the clown face posted over Steins face? ??