Monday, February 23, 1998
Too cool to ski
SPORT Since its debut at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, the
snowboarding craze
continues to attract many enthusiasts who prefer its simplicity
over skiing
By Meghan Ward
Daily Bruin Contributor
If you have never heard of carving, nose slides, tail grabs and
540s, then you have not yet joined the latest craze in snowtime
entertainment. Debuting this year in the Winter Olympics in Nagano,
snowboarding is the fastest growing winter sport in the world.
What’s the big fuss? Why are kids of all ages rushing out to buy
snowboards instead of alpine skis? Maybe it is because brand name
companies like Levi’s, Mountain Dew and American Express have used
snowboarding as a marketing tool to reach Generation X and
Generation Next.
Neil Ishibashi, captain of the UCLA snowboarding team and
snowboarding club, thinks that younger kids see snowboarding as an
extreme sport.
"When I was a kid, I was into Star Wars. Their idea of cool is
the Mountain Dew image. Freestyle is more for the aggressive type
of person. You have to take risks."
Freeriding is snowboarding down a hill, carving big turns.
Freestyle is making use of the snowboard park and the half-pipe.
The snowboard park is equipped with jumps, spines and rail slides.
The half-pipe is a long, narrow run with steep sides similar to
those in in a skateboard park and attracts advanced riders who
prefer to spend more time in the air than on the mountain.
Snowboarding began in the 1960s when an inventor named Sherman
Poppen got the idea from watching his daughter Wendy ride down the
neighborhood hill standing on her sled. He tied a rope onto the tip
of a board and called it a Snurfer (snow surfer).
Over the next decade, Poppen sold over 1 million Snurfers in toy
stores throughout the country.
In the early 1970s, Dimitrije Milovitch was the first to
incorporate metal edges into the snowboard. His Winterstick became
famous in the first snowboarding video, "Apocalypse Now." Soon
after, Jake Burton, a surfer and skier from Long Island and Tom
Sims, a skateboarder from New Jersey, developed their own versions
of the snowboard.
Until the mid-1980s, most ski resorts considered snowboarding to
be a dangerous threat to skiers, limiting access or denying it
altogether, forcing snowboarders to head for the back country where
they would have to snowshoe up the mountain in order to
practice.
Mountain High claims it was the first resort in Southern
California to offer snowboarding. Alpine Meadows, in Lake Tahoe, is
allowing access to snowboarders this winter for the first time,
with a brand new snowboarding park and half-pipe.
Between the giant slalom, the bordercross and the half-pipe, the
challenges are endless. Ishibashi explains that in the bordercross,
four to six racers go down a hill full of jumps, beams and gates,
and the first two down advance to the next heat until one winner
remains.
In UCLA’s most recent competition as part of the Southern
California College Ski and Snowboard Conference, competing against
schools like UCSB, Cal Poly and USC, Ishibashi won first place, and
Mike Rockwell, the team’s president, took second.
Overall points are calculated for each event, including the
bordercross and the giant slalom. To date, the UCLA men’s
snowboarding team has taken first place in every competition.
Rockwell explains that snowboarding has a much higher learning
curve than skiing. "If you surf, that’ll help you to pick it up
really fast."
Cory Stein, fourth-year sociology student and member of the UCLA
women’s snowboarding team, agrees.
"If you can get through the first three times, you’ll really
enjoy it. Your first time you’re going to be on your butt, but once
you get it, it’s so much fun."
Stein skied for several years as a child, but never really
enjoyed it. Five years ago, she tried snowboarding, and now she
rides at least once a week at Snow Summit and Mammoth Mountain.
Joining the snowboarding team was a way for Stein to meet other
snowboarders and improve her skills. Not quite ready for the
half-pipe, Stein prefers freestyle and freeriding.
Rockwell describes the maneuvers judged in the freestyle and
half-pipe competitions as divided into various grabs, spins and
inverts. A grab is when the rider touches his board while he’s in
the air. Spins are rated by how many degrees the rider turns as he
flies off a jump or the lip of the half-pipe, and inverts are
backflips. Rockwell explains that "you get rated on how big you go,
variety of moves, and fluidity."
David Cash, a third-year anthropology student, prefers
freeriding to freestyle. "If you took a surfer, I’m more of a
longboard surfer – a soul surfer. I go on the mountain to make big
turns."
Cash skied for 10 years before trying his hand at snowboarding.
"There’s so much to pay attention to when you’re skiing. You have
to worry about keeping your feet together and your poles. On a
snowboard, you can be more creative. You’re one mechanism going
down the hill."
Newcomers to the sport may feel more like one mechanism
face-first in the snow. For beginners, Rockwell advises that you
borrow a board from a friend or rent one the first couple of times.
He recommends making a day trip out to Snow Summit with a group of
friends who are also learning to snowboard so as not to get too
frustrated.
If possible, take a lesson and be sure to wear clothing that
will keep you dry.
"Because if you get wet, you’ll be miserable," Rockwell
assures.
Anyone interested in buying used equipment should contact either
Rockwell or Ishibashi via the Wooden Center. For those prepared to
buy a new set, Stein recommends Val Surf in North Hollywood.
This season’s gear may run from $500 to $800 for boots, bindings
and a board.
If donning the latest innovations in technology and design is
not your primary concern, a set from last season will run for
considerably less.
On the upper body, wear a light shirt and fleece under a
water-proof outer shell, snow pants to keep dry, and gloves with
reinforcements in the hands especially designed for
snowboarding.
According to Chris Duffy, manager of Val Surf, the best-selling
brands in both equipment and clothing are Burton, Morrow, K2,
Joyride, Lamar and Sims. For daily updates on snowboarding
conditions all over the world, check out Yahoo’s ski report at
www.la.yahoo.com/external/ami
In California, Snow Summit at Big Bear, Mountain High, Mammoth
Mountain and Alpine Meadows at Lake Tahoe are all equipped with
snowboard parks, half-pipes, snowboarding rentals and lessons.
A warning to all novice snowboarders: Snowboarding is a highly
addictive sport.
Stein plans to move to Lake Tahoe after graduation to be a snow
bum, Cash has his heart set on the slopes of Colorado and Ishibashi
claims he’ll be in the Olympics.
"I told my parents I’m going to be in the Olympics in four
years," he said. "My mother said, you’re going to college so you
can be a snowboarder?"