turbospartan

Actually, I think Vail is $129 a day now.

As for budget of snowboarders vs. skiers - I think its much cheaper to snowboard. Top of the line snowboard boots cost what, $400 maybe $500? My skier buddy (actually, most of my friends are skiers here) just dropped $1700 on new boots. $1700. That's more than my rent in the Denver suburbs combined with my seasonal rent in the mountains. High end snowboards cost $600-700, almost all skis cost that much. Bindings are super expensive for skiers as well. Shit is crazy, actually.

That all said, I actually enjoy riding with skiers. Ever been in a flat and think... damn I'm gonna have to unstrap and start skating? With my skier buddies around, they'll be ahead of me and use their pole to slingshot me forward. Not that that's the only reason, but its definitely a plus.

poutanen

You certainly can buy boards much more expensive than $600-700, that's probably the top of the mid-price range.

On average though I'd say you're 100% right. Most people pay $300-500 for a board, $200-250 for bindings, and $200-250 for boots. So $700-$1000 for a complete setup I would say is AVERAGE.

Skiers probably pay close to double that on average.

BurtonAvenger

No one counts your custom made mono skis dude.

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brownSnow

/\
well said!

poutanen

What about the Burton Mystery?!? Boo ya...

There is a market of $700+ snowboards but it's small. Cause the average snowboarder is a poor "anti-establishment" hippy...

RockyMTNsteeze

3 years ago we had snow. Snow brings a lot more people out. Just 3 years ago I was often walking out to my truck in the morning with a shovel in knee deep snow. The brush on my ice scraper did not cut it.

Back to the subject.

I don't contribute much in snowboard company profits. I have not bought a current season snowboard ever except one I proformed. I bought a used board this season, and have not bought any new snowboarding stuff for this season, except discounted boots. All of my stuff is either old or was bought very cheap. I had some of the most beat up looking equipment until I recently replaced boots, jacket, and started riding the new board.

I am poor, but I ride about 3-5 days a week. I can get to the mountain for free because of the bus and spend 0 dollars snowboarding. I never spend any money at the resort, except for some independent village businesses. I eat all their granola bars and drink the free cider. I probably cost them money. I have like 50 days thus far, so I have rode my monies worth on my 500 dollar pass. I worked 2 jobs in the summer and was working 60 hours a week for about a month, got a pass. the edge is there for me.

The snowboard companies need to rethink their marketing. I know so many people in my ski town who have children who never have been on the mountain. Maybe companies should start contributing to programs that introduce school age children to snowboarding in ski towns. There's so many kids in my neighborhood. Since a lot of these children are dependents for Vail employees, they already have a pass, but don't have equipment. They recently removed the school's ski/ride program too. A lot of the young adults who grew up here do not ski or snowboard.

I skied and rode when I was young and probably would not be snowboarding now if I never went as a child.

You would be surprised to find out how many people live in mountain towns actually don't ski or snowboard. A lot of people hate us snowboarders. So their kids don't either.

Another thing is young people might be spending all their money on all these fancy touch screen devices and technologies. Since I spend all my extra money on snowboarding, I have a 4 year old duct taped notebook computer. Can't buy no computer, dropped my tax return on a pass.

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BurtonAvenger

You think I don't know we had snow 3 years ago? Kind of lived here for almost a whole decade kid. Should do your facts and check the economy along with the local tax roll and see where our money for your free bus comes from.

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Angry Snowboarder Because someone has to call it how they see it!

mikez

I think there's something in this. Snowboarding is great - especially in powder - but let's be honest here, you can do everything on skis now too (probably more, and faster). In Europe, at least, snowboarding is no longer "cooler" than skiing.

I know a few very good multi-discipline folk who have opted for skis and only really bring their boards out for heavy powder surf days. They insist skis are just easier and more flexible.

Toecutter

I'll agree here. I don't even think of grabbing my snowboard on a hardpack day, and on big powder days skis have the advantage when the terrain flattens out. My rockered fat skis have as much or more surface area as my powder board, and I can't say I miss having to swim out of deep snow lying down on my board.

But...

I like snowboarding simply because of how it feels. Skis might have as much flotation and more adaptability, but those factors only are a part of the equation. Snowboarding in deep pow gives me more of a feeling of euphoria for some reason. I don't understand why really, because I'm sliding on snow either way but facing sideways versus facing forward.

t21

question,would you do it if they ask you? i've seen more new people go for ski lessons than snowboard except yesterday, the bunny hill was full of riders and i thought that was cool.

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