Yo Snowboarders

[highpeaksdrifter]

What mountain is the most snowboard friendly and why?

This is an edit. Please don't go the MRG bash route.

 

[knuckledragger]

WHy Mad River of course. Joke!! Sugarbush and Okemo. They make you feel at home right when you walk in.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Sugarbush and Okemo. They make you feel at home right when you walk in.

That's good, but what do they do when you walk in to make you feel that way? I'm not being a prick, I'd really like to know.

 

[knuckledragger]

Some things they do at Sugarbush and Okemo that they do not do at Stowe.
They look you in hte eye while they are taking your money.
They great you at the front entance with them same manner as skiers
they offer a safe place to store boards while you take a break and do not relie on the local cops to sit in the parking lot in a van with a periscope on the roof.
Okemo there were parks all over

 

[SnowRider]

Want to start off by saying this is a great thread and you have made many other good ones recently. On topic now. I will start with mountains I think are good for riding but need to take some things in consideration.

1. Jay Peak - Jay Peak has got to have more flat sections than anywhere I have ever been. The bottom of Beaver Pond. Ullr's Dream flat section at the bottom. And last but not least, taxi. It is also a problem when you want to go from the Jet Triple to Bonaventure Quad. Not saying I hate the mountain...It's sick just hard to get from place to place.

2. Killington - Only if you don't know where your going. If you are on ski's if you get trapped on juggernaut or great northern or eastern you can push your way out. We have to unstrap and "paddle" our way out.

3. Ascutney - Fun place to ride but literally not many snowboarders when I went. It seemed like a very skiing based mountain. Maybe it is because the park does not attract good riders. One time I got in a "fight" with a couple local skiers there. Dont get me wrong there were riders just not many. Maybe it was just that day.

Places I enjoy to ride at:

Sunapee - What a great place. No flats, people on ski's treat us with respect. There park is good and it seems like sunpee has made the effort to accominate riders.

WaWa - Gotta love the board watch...one of the only positives as you have seen in my other post ; )

No other mountains really stick out to me. They dont look at us like a bad thing but dont make us feel special. In a way its a good thing. We are all treated well.

SnowRider

 

[knuckledragger]

Want to start off by saying this is a great thread and you have made many other good ones recently. On topic now. I will start with mountains I think are good for riding but need to take some things in consideration.

1. Jay Peak - Jay Peak has got to have more flat sections than anywhere I have ever been. The bottom of Beaver Pond. Ullr's Dream flat section at the bottom. And last but not least, taxi. It is also a problem when you want to go from the Jet Triple to Bonaventure Quad. Not saying I hate the mountain...It's sick just hard to get from place to place.

2. Killington - Only if you don't know where your going. If you are on ski's if you get trapped on juggernaut or great northern or eastern you can push your way out. We have to unstrap and "paddle" our way out.

3. Ascutney - Fun place to ride but literally not many snowboarders when I went. It seemed like a very skiing based mountain. Maybe it is because the park does not attract good riders. One time I got in a "fight" with a couple local skiers there. Dont get me wrong there were riders just not many. Maybe it was just that day.

Places I enjoy to ride at:

Sunapee - What a great place. No flats, people on ski's treat us with respect. There park is good and it seems like sunpee has made the effort to accominate riders.

WaWa - Gotta love the board watch...one of the only positives as you have seen in my other post ; )

No other mountains really stick out to me. They dont look at us like a bad thing but dont make us feel special. In a way its a good thing. We are all treated well.

SnowRider

Smuggs has some crappy flats too

 

[AdironRider]

Im pretty much freeride only but the mountains that seem to cater most to boarders are Loon and Waterville. The villes park is second to none and Loon does a good job of having like 6 it seems all over the mountain in varying difficulty levels. Both places have no runout where a boarder can get stuck as well.

 

[rogue rider]

I cant say I have noticed being treated any different as a snowboarder at any mountain in quite a long time.

Snowrider brought up the issue about flat spots which is probably the most relevant factor for determining how friendly (maybe suitable would be a better word) a mountain is for snowboarders.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Snowrider brought up the issue about flat spots which is probably the most relevant factor for determining how friendly (maybe suitable would be a better word) a mountain is for snowboarders.

You cant blaim the people at the mountain for flat spots. The didnt make the mountain, and put them their on purpose.

 

[Mad Skier]

High Peaks is lame. He hammered on me one time for no goodly intentioned reason at all. Stay in N.Y. Peaks.

 

[riverc0il]

High Peaks is lame. He hammered on me one time for no goodly intentioned reason at all. Stay in N.Y. Peaks.

did i miss something in this thread? good topic HPD, i have enjoyed reading the boarder perspectives. . i have noted many ski area maps have logos specifying that certain trails are "not snowboarder friendly" such as east bowl at burke. i would suspect at least pointing out which trails may require some kicking/walking would be helpful. even though skiers handle these areas better than boarders due to ability to skate and pole, flat run outs are not very skier friendly either.

 

[wintersyndrome]

I really do not feel there is any mountain that makes me feel more welcome than others, I dont ride the park, and Im not looking to be "cool" by any stretch of the means. I cannot say I've ever felt unwelcome anywhere except when they wouldnt sellme a lift ticket at the Glen (kidding) If I did notice anything it was when I was young and just started snowboarding ecause I needed to do something different than my older brother I was probably 15 or 16 and had been skiiing since I was nine so I took up snowboarding. And this was when snowboarding was not allowed at all montains I think the first year I started riding mount snow still had an area where they "allowed" snowboarding, so back then Stratton was the most welcoming. In the years since nearly 50% of all skiing visits are by snowboarders, mountain management has smartened up and allowed snowboarders. and most areas are cognizent of snowboarders needs by letting you know where the flat areas are...and my two plank bretheren can usually assist by lending a pole or slingshotting me...thanks guys

hey post #69 ;p

 

[rogue rider]

You cant blaim the people at the mountain for flat spots. The didnt make the mountain, and put them their on purpose.

I dont blame the mountain for the flat spots. Even if the trail could have been cut differently, it was probably there before the time of snowboards and I wouldn't expect the trail to be re-cut. My point is that since flat sections and crossover trails can be a PITA, mountains with few such sections could be considered better suited to snowboarders.

 

[AHM]

Try this..............

Some snowboarders I ride with keep a small collapsable(sp) pole with them. Now some poles still might be long, but the Life Link Women's pole collapses quite short, has enough length to get through a bad flat like Jay's bottom area etc. I see this on a lot of snowboarders out west. Buy a pr, give one to your buddy and push along the flats like the skiers do.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

WaWa - Gotta love the board watch...one of the only positives as you have seen in my other post ; )

They have one at Whiteface too. It use to be that riders would bring their boards into the lodge and lean them against the windows, an unsafe condition. The boarders didn't like it when this pratice was banned. Rather then just tell them too bad, that's the way it is, WF created a fenced in area for them to leave their boards that is watched, free of charge.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Smuggs has some crappy flats too

At Jiminy Peak when you get off the Summit chair you have to go left or right over flat terrain when nite skiing. As a skier I find it annoying to skate and pole across these areas every run. Then I see boarders jumping forward, doing the one leg shuffle and crawling on their hands and knees. I to think myself they must really love riding to put up with all that

 

[2knees]

used to ski primarily with a boarder friend. He would always want me to slingshot him across flats.

 

[thaller1]

Some things they do at Sugarbush and Okemo that they do not do at Stowe.
They look you in hte eye while they are taking your money.
They great you at the front entance with them same manner as skiers
they offer a safe place to store boards while you take a break and do not relie on the local cops to sit in the parking lot in a van with a periscope on the roof.
Okemo there were parks all over

I'm a skier and I felt the same way you did at Sugarbush.. nice nice people. We are all out there to have fun and they let you know that.

 

[freeheelwilly]

Then I see boarders jumping forward, doing the one leg shuffle and crawling on their hands and knees.

With all due respect to the boarders here - that's just ridiculous. I think it's bad enough on fixed heel stuff to travel across flats - just another reason to give up that bondage gear. But for snowboards! C'mon! Those things seem so impractical to me. But I'm not one of those guys who hates on snowboarders (those guys are annoying). One of my buddies who lives out West rides and at Mammoth a few years ago, after watchin' him flail around all week to get across the traverses, it really hit me. What a PIA! By the end of that trip he was sayin' the same thing. Snowboards seem impractical to me but however you choose to slide - it's all good.

 

[AdironRider]

Usually unless the run out is rediculously bad, its the boarders fault he got stuck and just didnt carry his speed. All the more reason to keep a good layer of wax.

And some would argue Willy that when skiers blow out their knees on a wipe out that it was a stupid move not picking up snowboarding. Just to fuel the fire, haha.