Following
up on my post…a short essay, really…on how
snowboarding has become mainstream…which is not how it started…I thought it was interesting to note that there are
a mere four resorts in the country have maintained a "no snowboarder" policy. Top among them is
snowboarding terrain anyway. Deer Valley, I am sorry to say…and apologize now to the PR people who are sure to
take umbrage at this comment…is largely a resort for old people whose knees, hips and backs have gone out, and
who feel the need to be endlessly pampered like the spoiled rich Americans they are. Ouch. That sounded harsh. Let me
retract part of that…naw, let it ride.
Anyway, the other ski-exclusive resorts are Alta, southeast of
mystery…or at least I suggest it varies from place to place, and is largely based on exaggerated notions and
fears that there are vast armies of snowboarders made up entirely of pot-smoking, baggily-dressed youth who have little
regard for the long-established protocols of ski area etiquette. Are these fears founded? Probably not. For the most
part I think snowboarding has gone mainstream, which was largely my point in this earlier post. But, yes, there are
most certainly vestiges of the tatterdemalion armies cutting turns on slopes around the country. But should we keep
certain places off-limits to them? I’m not so sure.