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Snowboard Canada Magazine - Dec 08 - Letter to the Editor


Riceball

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Carving it is not a matter of boots you can carve well in both (unless is icy), it is a matter of stance and technique. It is a little sad that people who write this kind of stuff for magazines (also the letter) fail to recognize it.

And lets face it, carving is boring . You carve left and then you carve right and than you do it again. There is a reason they cover freestyle were guys would do inverted 720s.

Now you can flame me.

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It is interesting how many questions we get as a family when we are all in our hard-boot gear at the hill. There are also comments from people after they see us ride about how fun it looks and quotes like "I really want to try that" or "Where can I rent some gear?".

We are not carving bigots though and typically carry a full arsenal of equipment to the hill which includes a full soft-boot setup so we are prepared for any condition.

It would just be nice to get a little bit of coverage somewhere by somebody to promote the sport. Even NoBoarding got a full spread in this same issue.

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Too bad they are succumbing to monetary, commercial and 'trendy' pressures. Considering that the publisher/senior editor, Steve Jarrett, was an ex windsurfing racer/canadian champion, you would think he would give a little back to the racing/carving community in term of small free articles or such. I was hoping he would not forget that the little but high quality guys (Coiler/Prior/etc...) cannot afford the high price ads in his magazines, esp. since those are canadian companies of world class reputation in his own backyard.

This has been going for years, and I'm not holding my breath.

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that the media decide what we will like.The cool thing about that attitude is that it allows us to feel like true mavericks for pursuing our hobby with total disregard for what the rest of the world's lemmings think.

If it were only about boredom Nascar would be dead.It's about packaging and presentation and relatability.The sport itself is only part of the draw to an event.Also,there are more and more creative carvers pushing limits and breaking new ground as far combining freestyle elements with freecarving.The crowd reaction I get wherever I ride suggests that a backside 720 is old news and not in any way relatable to the vast majority of skiers and adult boarders that happen to see some of us creatively carving up the slopes.The most popular spectator sports all have some connection to the distant possibility of "hey I could do that".ie,drive a car,throw a football,hit a baseball,carve a turn.Oh,and in tribute to our newly elected president;shoot a basketball:)

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Too bad they are succumbing to monetary, commercial and 'trendy' pressures. Considering that the publisher/senior editor, Steve Jarrett, was an ex windsurfing racer/canadian champion, you would think he would give a little back to the racing/carving community in term of small free articles or such. I was hoping he would not forget that the little but high quality guys (Coiler/Prior/etc...) cannot afford the high price ads in his magazines, esp. since those are canadian companies of world class reputation in his own backyard.

This has been going for years, and I'm not holding my breath.

So true....especially Chris Prior and Bruce were/are also great windsurfers :biggthump

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Eff softboots and snowboarders. I don't even tell people I snowboard anymore. I just say I ski.

I think alpine has a lot more in common w/ skiing anyway. We wear hardboots, face forward, dress like adults, and actually use our edges! In addition to my alpine boards, I have a pair of skis and an all mountain/freeride board (I ride it w/ plates though).

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Funny, I usually say I'm going "skiing" too, even though I haven't been on skis since I switched to snowboarding 20 years ago.

Also funny--how snowboarding has lost that rebel spirit that it once had (except for us of course). To me, freestyle snowboarding is about as "interesting" as vanilla ice cream and McDonalds. I don't read most snowboard magazine anymore either, as they're mostly advertisements geared towards teenagers.

Lastly, the industry is eventually going to have to deal with fact that snowboarders are going to age. Will they ever start catering to more mature riders? Who knows? We may have to be content being PBS in and MTV world.

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This editor has know idea what he is talking about. I train/teach out at a local hill here in Wisconsin. We have around 50+ highschool age students teaching at the hill where I train. They all love to check out the hardboot setup and have questions everytime it's on the snow. I split time between soft and hard setups and know that many of them would love to try it out. We dedicate a lot of time each winter trying to show them what it really means to get up on an edge, and when they feel it, they love it.

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Lastly, the industry is eventually going to have to deal with fact that snowboarders are going to age. Will they ever start catering to more mature riders?

i think alpine fit this growing niche well, and there's opportunity for solid growth in the not too distant future. it's also got an alternative fringe element to it that appeals to certain demographics (now that softboot snowboarding is mainstream & has well defined stereotypes that many do not care to be associated with - as shallow as associative stereotypes are).

granted, the very limited availability of gear is a huge hurdle, but online sales have been a huge boon to hardware access & sites such as these have done much to disseminate knowledge & foster a sense of 'community' within the small numbers scattered across the globe - both factors (i'm assuming) contributing to further growth.

modern alpine snowboarding is just way too fun to remain in obscurity indefinitely.

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let me get this straight,

If they dared to place 1 picture, article, or add with plastic boots or carving boards in amongst the 100+ pages of adds featuring "gangstas on a rail" their readership will plummet.?:confused:?

it takes a gangsta to blow that much smoke up my:smashfrea

This is the key, has anyone sent a letter back telling them that they would not only not lose readers, they would actually gain some because us carvers love to spend our money on anything about us?

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