Snowboard industry and wake industry parallel?

Interesting read on the demise of snowboarding popularity. Obviously not a new topic, however while reading this one I couldn't help but draw some similar parallel concerns with wake industry - specifically about the "age" items.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor...s-Screwed.html

Great article. A lot of points towards the end explain why, as parents, we were happy to see our girls gravitate to wakesurfing from wakeboarding.

Interesting... here's the rebuttal piece.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor...wboarding.html

Both make good points.. the snowboard industry does seem to loathe the middle-aged rider, and ski schools won't teach little kids to snowboard - only skis until about age 5 (at which point, they know how to ski). Just look at the boards and clothes.. definitely not aiming for the 'you can afford a vacation at Vail' crowd.

The marketing numbers and doomsday articles are for selling magazines. The real numbers, the amount of people out on the hill strapped in a snowboard binding, make a very different statement: Snowboarding is here to stay. I just rode Keystone/Breck last week. Trust me. It isn't dying. For nearly two decades, it was growing so fast that it was bound to eventually level off. A slight decline doesn't mean it's "dying". Skiing isn't going away, either. I didn't ever think that snowboarding was going to replace skiing. Kind of like water sports, wakeboarding and surfing seem to be growing, but waterskiing isn't going to die. Once the growth spurt of wakesurfing ends, there will be doomsday articles about it, too. And they'll be just as inaccurate as this skier who says snowboarding is dying (does anyone else find it funny that the author is a skier?!).

An internet voice that is much more in-tune with snowboarding: http://www.angrysnowboarder.com/snow...ing-one-skier/

While we're talking about snowboarding/wake parallels I thought people would enjoy this article
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-s...n-white-2014-2

I seriously doubt anyone actually thinks snowboarding is going away. As always, headlines and pull quotes are typically just written for attention.

I find it more interesting in the "accepted" variety that has become skiing as an example, where as snowboarding and wake haven't been accepted as such yet amongst their own communities.

"Haters hatin" all over in those two board sports. Proper style, proper attitude, cable vs. boat, Shaun White, etc, etc. I'm not saying all skiers sing harmonious camp fire songs, but there doesn't seem to be much of the hatin going on.

The fact is likely that the sports are just young in general. Skiing as an example has seemingly went through endless transformations over several decades where it's gotten to the point that practically everything is accepted by the community.

All this is at least from my narrow perspective of the world.

I showed my wife the articles.. and she said the same 'they both make good points'.

That said - I have to agree that the snowboard industry hasn't seemed to figure out that there are lots of snowboarders over 20. We're in our 40s and snowboard/wakeboard - and when my wife went to get some new snowboard pants, it was difficult.. they're all made for teenagers. Style-wise, cut/shape-wise.. definitely not much in the way of stuff for grownups. Even look at so much of the board graphics.. lots of stuff that a 40yo professional probably wouldn't be into carrying around the slopes.

I'm sure it's not as bad as the first article makes it out to be.. but it does seem that the ski industry actually makes stuff for grownups whereas snowboarding just kind of says 'find something you can live with'.

I would say the same thing for most of the board graphics lately, nothing but neon.

I personally believe that skiing got a reflash in coolness because it pulled elements from Snowboarding. They became twin tipped and shaped to allow carving which you could only do at the time on a snowboard. Without snowboarding skiing may not have gotten to where it is today. I snowboard and I have for 21 years (34 years old) and I still love it because I can ride both switch and regular equally as well bombing hills. I will probably go back to skiing here in a couple years once I start teaching my son. I believe it's easier to teach someone how to ski then snowboard because it's a mind #### to have your feet attached to the same board......but, once you know how to snowboard it's easier than skiing. Time will tell if I then go back to snowboarding or stay on ski's.

Originally Posted by bcrider

I personally believe that skiing got a reflash in coolness because it pulled elements from Snowboarding. They became twin tipped and shaped to allow carving which you could only do at the time on a snowboard. Without snowboarding skiing may not have gotten to where it is today. I snowboard and I have for 21 years (34 years old) and I still love it because I can ride both switch and regular equally as well bombing hills. I will probably go back to skiing here in a couple years once I start teaching my son. I believe it's easier to teach someone how to ski then snowboard because it's a mind #### to have your feet attached to the same board......but, once you know how to snowboard it's easier than skiing. Time will tell if I then go back to snowboarding or stay on ski's.

Beginner skiers definitely have more control... it's really easy to face forward and make 'pizza' and stay in a reasonable amount of control. It's far harder to get a beginner snowboarder to learn to stop. This is why the ski schools won't teach snowboarding until about age 5.

^ Don't disagree at all

Originally Posted by bcrider

I personally believe that skiing got a reflash in coolness because it pulled elements from Snowboarding. They became twin tipped and shaped to allow carving which you could only do at the time on a snowboard. Without snowboarding skiing may not have gotten to where it is today. I snowboard and I have for 21 years (34 years old) and I still love it because I can ride both switch and regular equally as well bombing hills. I will probably go back to skiing here in a couple years once I start teaching my son. I believe it's easier to teach someone how to ski then snowboard because it's a mind #### to have your feet attached to the same board......but, once you know how to snowboard it's easier than skiing. Time will tell if I then go back to snowboarding or stay on ski's.

This is on point. Skiing definitely got a makeover when boarding took hold. I can also agree that most gear you find front and center at the first board shop you walk in to is aimed at the teens and twenty something crowd. But that's for a reason. Most 30-40 yr olds have already established what they're into (two planks or one). And a 30yr old snowboard "vet" more than likely knows where to get gear appropriate for his/her age. Or he/she has a friend/spouse who does. And he/she will buy a setup that they will take care of for years to come since they spent their own hard earned money, whereas teenagers are still using mommy and daddy's money to buy new gear each season. They don't take care of it since they didn't work for it. Hence the marketing is mostly done for the big spenders, aka the teenager spending their parents money.

There are most likely more snowboards than snowboarders in the world today and most of these snowboarders are weekend warrior type that only ride a handful of times (if any) a year.

All of the big companies are trying to grow each year and smaller companies keep sprouting up to try and take some of the competition from the bigger companies which leads to and overkill of snowboards being made each year.

These boards dont break easy and will last years (7 on avg according to the article).
People realize spending $1000 on a new setup isnt worth is because then you need to dish out another $100 for a lift ticket each time you want to ride.
These same people then go to forums or ebay and buy a used set up for cheap.

Cant sell more than last year = plateau in industry from companies perspective

The one thing you will never do on a pair of skis is ride switch, you can ride backwards all you want and call it "switch" but in reality you are just riding backwards.

I skied from 5-24 years old and started snowboarding when I was 21. I am 33 now and consistently ride 20-30 days a year. After my second ACL reconstruction from wakeboarding, skiing is not an option and I love snowboarding. I think snowboarding is definitely easier to learn and to see the whole mountain. At the same time, I still feel like I learn new things almost every day on my snowboard and i am always trying to progress. That is what keeps me coming back every week.

I have 3 kids and my oldest if 5. We started him on skis when he was 2 and this year when we went to buy him a new set of skis and boots, he declared that he was a snowboarder and didn't want to ski any more. He has done exceptionally well on the snowboard and I don't see him going back any time soon, but I do think that he would have had a harder time on the board at an earlier age.

Alan, My 8 year old daughter has been skiing since she was 3, and is doing very well. I'm thinking about moving her to a board and was wondering if you had any tips. She's easily discouraged, and has a history of dismissing things that she doesn't pick up right away.

Jarrod, my nine year old told me last weekend she wanted to try snowboarding. She has skied since she was 3. I have never pushed it on her but figured she would want to try it some day. I told her she will have to start out in lessons if she wants to do it. If they show the initiative to want to learn, I think the rough first few days will be easier for them to get thru. If you puff her to try it, the rough days are going to be really rough.

Snowboarding is definitely not dead but it's not growing like it used to either. It does bring up the larger point that snowboarding has alienated a large portion of their consumers where skiing has done the opposite. Most skiers I know have at least two or three sets of skis and most snowboarders I know have only one board. I skied from 3-20 then jumped on a snowboard for about 5-6 years but now I'm back to skis because most places I go require either traversing or hiking and on a snowboard that is no fun. Also, I missed going fast.
I think this doesn't really have the same affect in the wakeboard industry because most wakeboard companies are also wakesurf, wakeskate, and waterski companies too.

Lol, that was one of the worst and most bias articles I've ever read.