Now that skis are getting so easy to use the Los Angeles Times says many people are ditching snowboards, according to a business story titled Snowboarding craze cools as new designs make skiing easier.
Sales of snowboards and snowboard equipment have slipped 21% over the last four years, while sales of skis have climbed 3% in the same period, according to SnowSports Industries America, a trade group that tracks the $3.5-billion snow sports and apparel industry. . . Baby boomers aren’t the only ones bailing. Last season alpine skiing replaced snowboarding as the most popular snow sport among kids ages 6 to 17, according to the trade group.
We’re reminded of something crusty surfers are always overheard saying, “Fewer surfers means more waves for me.”
[Link: LA Times]
more waves for me? not if all the SUP’ers are taking em…..or in this case, if all the new skiers are taking my pow turns
Skiing is growing because the sport has embraced new innovations, a broader definition of what skiing is, and a willingness to try products that are less about top end performance and more about fun.
Same with surfing, as the shortboard revolution gave way to a resurgence in longboarding, the emergence of SUP, and funboards.
Snowboarding, and it pains me to say it, is declining and will continue to decline as their is little to no true innovation—the boards and bindings are fundamentally no different than they were 40 years ago. If the market continues to be driven only by 18 year olds in the pipe/park, then the sport will continue to decline.