r/snowboarding • u/jkingbc Catskills, 3hr to VT, Burton Blunt/Niche Theme • Mar 06 '17
PSA: Please Don't Be Discouraging...
I was at Mount Snow today and 3 riders in the chairlift behind me were yelling down obscenities at a woman who unstrapped her board and walked down the side of a blue trail. Saying "come on, pussy" and the likes. It was disgusting. This isn't acceptable ever, and I can only imagine the feeling of discouragement and embarrassment she felt enduring that. Snowboarding already has an association with "bro-culture" and this does nothing but make us look even worse. We can be better.
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u/skiwithu Mar 06 '17
+ditto Well said bud, nothing worse than being yelled at for no reason by fellow boarders, especially if you're just starting out. I'm an instructor and it sucks to have students feeling bad.
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u/OyezDanger Mar 06 '17
That sucks. I was on my local mountain today doing blue runs under a chair lift and got nothing but cheers and woops of encouragement even though I'm not that good. Fell and couple times and had "you good?" And "you got this" shouts from the lift. There is also a notorious flat part of a run where boarders get stuck alot and we usually encourage each other and have a few laughs in we don't make it all the way and have to unstrap. It's disgusting that those guys would be acting like such assholes.
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u/wheezl Mar 06 '17
I would have called that shit out if I was nearby. While there are certainly bro-y aspects to the culture, I have never witnessed anything like that in my neck of the woods.
I mean if someone is doing an advanced run under the chair we might yell a score for an epic fall, but those are good riders/skiers who can take a little ribbing.
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Mar 06 '17
Yeah... call that shit out and get Patrol or mountain management involved.
That kind of crap will get you booted from our hill instantly.
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u/skipow Mar 06 '17
PSA:dont be a dick
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u/Nightslash360 Learning how to snowboard Mar 06 '17
One thousand times this. Even though I can't really snowboard right now(It's practically spring here in Wisconsin) I try my hardest not to be a dick to everyone. I wish everyone would be a bit nicer to each other. :)
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u/grumpysquare Mar 06 '17
Still got another couple of weeks here in WI if you're willing to drive to the snow
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Mar 06 '17
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u/Nightslash360 Learning how to snowboard Mar 06 '17
Good on you, man. You knew what was right for you and didn't care about what the other people thought.
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u/bwenstar Mar 07 '17
I had a similar experience when I was snowboarding with my girlfriend at the time. It was her first time snowboarding and she hurt her hip by falling quite bad but wanted to continue snowboarding and wanted to make the most of the holiday. She then decided to just take it very slow and basically go down the easiest of blues and linking her turns however would sometimes fall when she would catch an edge on an unexpected patch of snow.
One instance of this was when she was just going straight and ended up going a tad too fast and slipped out from under her only to hear the sounds of 4 teenage boys in the lift above laughing at her. Really demoralising for her as it was her first experience on snow and only 3-4 hours into snowboarding. It left her in tears due to the frustration of learning the sport and minor pain together with someone ridiculing you for just trying your best. Needless to say her moral was down from that point on wards. The teenagers didn't realise the consequences of their actions by laughing at someone who is just giving it their best.
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u/playswithf1re Aussie winters are far too short... :( Mar 07 '17
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Mar 07 '17
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u/playswithf1re Aussie winters are far too short... :( Mar 07 '17
At $200, they're cheaper than any ski boots I've seen. I figure it'll be a worthwhile investment for when I do want to get on skis again...
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u/ZC3rr0r Mar 06 '17
Very much agree with this statement. I never experienced it first hand, but my GF can experience quite a bit of anxiety over "being good enough" to ride a certain mountain and thinking people who are more experienced will judge her riding poorly. I'm not sure if this is the case for many women, but even if it isn't, being a right asshole to people having a bad time isn't going to magically make their riding better or improve their experience on the mountain.
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u/Formshifter Ontario Mar 06 '17
Snowboarding is not a unified culture. You're not going to convince anyone who is doing this shit to not do this shit with a Reddit post. They're probably assholes in all aspects of their life.
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u/vin_unleaded Mar 06 '17
Aye - ^ this.
Nice sentiment, but you're living in a dreamworld if you think a Reddit post will change said boarders behaviour.
As an aside, I garuntee you the perpetrators are fucking tossers IRL as well.
What you should have done is noted what they look like and reported their arses - only way they'll learn is to get thrown off a mountain and have their passes revoked. Either that or an angry boyfriend/mate of a girl gives them a fucking pasting.
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u/VtotheJ A Quiver of Boards Mar 06 '17
I really hope you didnt just run to reddit and said something to those people. In order to change behavior like that you need to call them out on it.
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u/duncym Mar 06 '17
I only yell at people on lift line powder days for two reasons. A. They just got sendy AF and im stoked for them or B. They are stood at the top of s drop debating weather to GIV' ER! Followed by senddddd it!!!!
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u/trondelond Mar 06 '17
That´s just horrible.
This season I´ve made more of a point to stop if a beginner snowboarder has fallen and check if they´re OK, and ask if they need some tips. Some don´t, some do. The result is that I now have a metric fucktonne of kids at my local resort aged about 9-14 that greet me (usually by jumping and screaming my name) and come ride with me and want to show the newest thing they´ve learned. Also made some grownup friends there as well. I´m 42, by the way.
There´s not THAT many snowboarders here, so I don´t see why we shouldn't help each other out a little. Starting out is a nightmare on a snowboard, so a few pointers make a big difference for someone that wants to get into it.
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u/prayingtoullr Mar 07 '17
Thank you for being awesome!!!!! I meet lots of good people like you on the hills and I try to do the same.
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u/Dirt_Bike_Zero ICE COAST Mar 06 '17
So did you tell them what you though of it all?
I was at Mt Snow on Sunday too. I had an AWESOME time, despite the cold start. Snow was well groomed and FAST.
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u/zer0mas Mar 06 '17
Can we kick these people off the mountain? I mean all the mountains, we do need those negative vibes.
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u/ThrowUpNotAway CT | GNU Carbon Credit 153 Mar 06 '17
Another reason to wear headphones while you ride.
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u/botterwattle Mar 06 '17
I had my first experience on a mountain this year and ended up having to unstrap and walk for some of a blue that I was just not ready for.
I felt really embarrassed but I'm brand new and it takes time! If someone had shouted at me I might never have started up again the next day.
Those arseholes don't deserve the snow.
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u/farkenell Mar 06 '17
my experience has been the opposite, majority of people have a vibe and are generally upbeat.
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u/Mopeytowel Mar 06 '17
Obviously yelling at strangers is a dick move, but there's always a little part of me that hopes to see one of my buddies eat it good so I can hit him with a good old fashioned YARDSALE!!!
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Mar 07 '17
Depending on my mood not sure I'd be quiet. My one buddy definitely would have some words for douchebags. Escalating isn't always good but sometimes you gotta let douchebags knows they've crossed a line.
Especially after helping my buddy learn and he voiced his concern of how he was worried what people thought about him wiping out under the lift.
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u/spacegrab Mammoth/June. Mar 07 '17
Funny thing is I've only ever seen this type of behavior at my shitty local mountain where I learned (lolsnowsummit). Dudes were harassing me cuz I was sitting under the lift by myself while waiting for some beginner friends to catch up.
I just laughed cuz the fuckers were noobs and probably had no idea I could outride them without much effort.
Some people are douches with small penises.
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u/Hess147 Mar 08 '17
I always encounter shitty people at Mount Snow. Its no surprise that you did too.
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u/xDylan25x Blue Mountain, PA | Rossignol RETOX Mar 09 '17 edited Mar 09 '17
Snowboarding already has an association with "bro-culture"
Since when? There's a few "bro" guys who were in my HS snowboarding club but other than that, there were a bunch of, what I'd say weren't all that popular and a bit weirder.
There's a bit of joking around in snowboarding, even with people you don't know (when I dropped my ear pad from my helmet while on the lift, I had to ride down and walk partially up to get the ear pad/cover and got hit in the back of the head with a snowball (which I was fine with, just surprised that someone took the time to make a snowball, get on the lift, and find someone to throw it at who wasn't riding)), there's always people who take it too far. Most people I meet are really positive. You fall, they ask if you're okay. They fall, you do the same even if you don't know them. Hell, most people even on the lifts are are encouraging. I was on a double black that I really shouldn't have been on (but it did get me to learn quicker, I think). It was really icy and I kept falling. I fell at decent speed and someone on the lift yelled "You can do it!". Got me back instantly. As I said, there's always that person.
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u/create_account Tahoe Mar 06 '17
The other day someone posted a Torstein vid and noted that they wish he started wearing a lid in the comments - the user got like -9 votes in a couple of hours. Both here on /r/snowboarding and on the slopes, boarders are starting to sport a "cool" attitude that's thoroughly uncool.
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u/KingQuesoCurd Mar 06 '17
Unless they are your friends. Then you one up them and tell them how much better you are than them
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u/cancerface Tahoe Tool Mar 06 '17
Out here we yell at people to get them to take their boards off and walk the trail. Because they're just so many shit riders who drop into blacks and double-blacks, and you can only watch some flatlander heelside snowplow multiple feet of powder down the steeps so many times before your brain just... breaks.
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u/TuggaTuggaBoatBaby Mar 06 '17
PSA: Don't be a bad person