Photo: Constantin-Ciprian
Snowboarding has always had something of an identity crises, looking towards its older siblings surfing and skateboarding for inspiration. While some might argue that snowboarding was born out of the desire to surf on snow, it quickly started emulating its four-wheeled brother with an almost embarrassing ferocity.
But skateboarding didn’t always look fondly back on its younger brother. At times, skateboarding shunned snowboarding and talked despairingly behind the latter’s back. And skateboarding had reason to be resentful — snowboarders the world over stole their every move, including style and tricks. In fact, snowboarding was so adamant about being skateboarding that it even tried to claim blunt slides, even though that’s impossible without trucks. Snowboarders even dressed like skateboarders; all of the sudden, wealthy kids in Park City dressed like members of the Wu-Tang Clan.
Of course, most of us have endured our fair share of growing pains, especially in emulating our favorite athletes, rock stars, and older peers. Who hasn’t worn a pair of pants so tight that your legs go numb from a lack of blood flow? But like most of us, snowboarding also matured, and after two decades torn between the its natural state on the slopes and its aspirational one in the streets, it instead grew up to look a lot like their eldest brother: surfing.
It started as underground movement spearheaded by garage shapers like the magically creative Corey Smith — seriously how many trends can this dude start for big companies to steal without being hailed as snowboarding royalty? — and quickly developed into every snowboard company in the world having surfboard inspired shapes in their lineup.
And all of this comes with impeccable timing. Maybe this newfound identity is the most intelligent move it has made in its relatively short history. Do these new surf-inspired snowboards float? Because if things continue to look this dismal you might see some of those Lib Tech-…Lost Surfboards collaborations bobbing in lineups from Westport to Swami’s.
They’re calling this winter a “low-tide” season for the west coast, as everyone from Bear to Baker is suffering from low snow conditions. The tide is so low out there that even resorts in the Pacific Northwest have shut down due to lack of snowpack.
So let the great migration begin! Moving forward, I encourage snowboard companies to pair up with a famous shaper. Jones Snowboards has Chris Christenson, while Mervin has Matt Biolos (and their own line of surfboards shaped by Mike Olson), and Signal made a couple boards with Doc Lausch. Soon enough, Burton will hire the rest of the surfboard shapers to corner the market.
When I first heard about this “low-tide” situation, I was generally terrified as the only way my old knees are able to withstand a day of snowboarding is when there is a significant amount of fresh powder — especially after three banger seasons at Stevens Pass. Regardless, I think snowboarding might be onto something as once you realize that surfing feels a lot like riding deep powder, it’s pretty easy to trade in soggy boots for flip-flops and beautiful girls in bikinis.
The worst that happens is: we will all get batter tans; Tahoe will become the new Mavericks; and hell… I’m sure there will be a handful of nice point breaks near the Killington area. I’ve already hot-glued my thruster fins to my Skate Banana, so if I don’t see you at the LBS, I’ll for sure catch you at the Mammoth big wave event.
