Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992 TAG: 9201200245
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
SNOWBOARDING IS CATCHING NEW WAVE OF POPULARITY
Legend says it all began 10 years ago in California (where else?) when a bunch of teen-age skateboarders went looking for a new thrill.They removed the wheels from their skateboards, strapped the wooden slabs to their boots with bungee cords and surfed a bowl-shaped section of a snow-covered garbage dump.
And the snowboard was born.
Snowboarding has become the first new thing to hit the slopes of American ski resorts since day-glow and neon.
It has also forced ski resorts to accept and accommodate snowboarders not just as the latest fad, but as paying customers of the future.
In the Southeast, the first snowboarders were seen about five years ago at West Virginia's Snowshoe resort. Now every resort in Virginia and West Virginia allows snowboarding and offers rentals and lessons. Wintergreen Resort was the last to accept the trend and began allowing snowboarders on its slopes this season.
"It's been extremely popular," said Wintergreen spokesman Mark Glickman.
But resort operators have remained wary.
The only way you can rent a snowboard at Wintergreen is to first take a 1 1/2-hour lesson.
"We don't want people just going out there who have never snowboarded before. It makes for a safer experience for everybody," Glickman said.
And it's no trend. Snowboarding is here to stay, as shown by the fact that about 700,000 of the fat single skies have been sold so far.
With that in mind, The Homestead hired Guenther Moser of the Austrian snowboard racing team as an instructor. His presence has enticed people to try the sport, increasing its popularity over the three years that the resort has allowing snowboarders.
A few times each day, Moser cruises down the mountain on his snowboard to show how it's done.
"I feel like it has increased because he makes it look so graceful and so easy," said assistant ski school director Elfie Allman.
It may look simple enough, but it's not.
"Everybody wants to try it. But some people give up after they try it because it's not that easy," Allman said.
Snowboarding is more akin to surfing or skateboarding than it is skiing. There's nothing that says a good skier can automatically be a good snowboarder, or vice versa.
But Allman said many of the snowboarders she sees are true blue skiers who got into snowboarding because it's something new. Since their heart belongs to skiing, they snowboard for a few hours and then revert back to skiing.
"I think skiing is still dominating."
Greg Hughes, who has been snowboarding four years, said most of the snowboarders he knows come from the surfing and skateboarding scene, rather that the skiing scene.
That can create some tensions, though, because those folks don't always follow the skier's "responsibility code." Too often, they think they're the only one on the slope, just like they'd be the only one on a wave.
Hughes still called snowboarding the "fastest growing segment in ski sports."
Snowshoe Resort is conducting informal surveys of snowboarders this year to see if there is enough interest for a "halfpipe."
Halfpipes are half-cylinder shaped bowls that snowboarders glide through doing tricks and flips off the edges of the bowl, just like a surfer would twist off the tip of a wave.
About 175 American resorts have built halfpipes.
Massanutten has experimented with makeshift halfpipes in the past but may build the real thing next year.
Massanutten spokesman Steve Showalter said snowboarding has become so popular, their 10 rental boards are not enough. But they haven't been able to buy new ones because manufacturers weren't sure how popular they would be this year and didn't make enough.
He expects the sport to grow next year when new equipment explodes on the scene.
"I think last year was kind of the development year. And next year I think you'll see new products come out, and a lot of it."
Staff photographer Stephanie Klein also contributed to this story.
\ Where to do it and what it costs
Bryce: Rentals, $18. Only four snowboards in stock, no boots. Lessons not available.
\ The Homestead: Rentals, $14. Private lessons only, $35.
\ Massanutten: Rentals, $20 weekend, $16 mid-week. Only 10 boards in stock. Group or private lessons, $12.
\ Wintergreen: Must take $20 1 1/2-hour lesson to rent snowboard. Rental fee after lesson an additional $5 to $10.
\ Canaan Valley: Rentals, $20. Group lesson, $15.
\ Silver Creek: Rentals, $23, but must provide own boots. Lessons, $15 group, $30 private.
\ Snowshoe: Rentals, $20 all-day, $25 with boots. Lessons, $18 group, $38 private.
\ Timberline: Rentals, $15 half-day, $25 all-day. Lessons, $15 group, $25 private.
\ Winterplace: Rentals, $25, but must bring own boots. Lessons, $12 group, $28 private.