Snowboarders Shrug Off Outlaw Rap

For veteran snow-thrasher Bill DeBenedictis, there’s a classic generation gap being played out atop mountain resorts across the land: an older conservative skiing culture turning its nose up at a younger, wilder, often out-of-control snowboarder nation.

Once even banned from many resorts, accused of ruining the runs with their slashing styles, boarders like DeBenedictis have had to ignore the sniffy disdain of the once-dominant skiing crowd to take their place on the mountain.

Recently, however, snowboarding has taken some serious public relations hits that have given skiers much to say “I told you so” about.

Bad-attitude boarders, they’ve been called. Stoners of the snow. The wild bunch.

Some snowboarders--including Canadian Olympian Ross Rebagliati, who nearly lost his gold medal, and two international boarders arrested in Nevada last week--have been publicly linked to marijuana use.

More seriously, several boarders have become lost while venturing off and carving their own runs in unpatrolled wooded areas away from well-groomed ski slopes, prompting expensive and time-consuming rescue missions.

Two sheepish snowboarders were rescued unharmed last month after they strayed away from the Snow Crest ski resort and became lost for 24 hours in the Angeles National Forest.

And the sport has taken lives. Among the most recent casualties was 14-year-old Jeff Thornton, who died last month from injuries suffered when he became lost after straying away from the trails at Mountain High. And promising professional snowboarder Jamil Khan was killed recently in an avalanche near Lake Tahoe.

Last year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 37,309 snowboarding injuries treated at U.S. hospitals, up from 26,270 in 1994. The figures are similar to injuries associated with skiers, the group said.

Like more than two dozen other snowboarders interviewed Sunday on rests between runs at Mountain High near Wrightwood, DeBenedictis is tired of his sport’s roguish rap. He said he has worked too hard at snowboarding to let what he calls a few isolated incidents tarnish its image.

“You can’t write off an entire sport or stereotype the people who do it over a few unflattering newspaper headlines,” said DeBenedictis, a 25-year-old Hesperia resident who has been boarding for nearly a decade.

“That’s like dismissing the whole sport of weightlifting because one jerk injects steroids. Or writing off all of professional basketball because one player decides to choke his coach. You can’t take these incidents out of context. It’s just not fair.”

Disagreement Between Generations

These days, among participants of the fastest-growing winter sport on the planet--which basically applies the balance of surfing and skateboarding to the snowy slopes--there is divided opinion over what’s best for the image of snowboarding.

Many younger Generation-X boarders still enjoy their middle-finger-flashing, counter-culture reputation. For instance, they applauded the decision of 23-year-old Norwegian boarder Terje Haakonsen to boycott the Winter Olympics over what they called the conformity and commercialism of the Games.

They say the sport is getting too big and wish that people who have concerns about the conduct of boarders should just stay the heck away.

But a growing number of older snowboarders are troubled about how recent events may affect their reception at mountain resorts. Many say they’re tired of explaining themselves and defending their sport to non-boarders.

“I’m 44 years old and I’m a snowboarder, and a lot of people still can’t believe that,” said Jon Foster, photography director for Transworld Snowboarding Magazine.

“They treat me like a jerk, try to keep me off their mountain, just because of the board in my hand. I do it because it’s fun. But many people don’t seem to get that, and all they need is a few out-of-bounds stories to feed their little stereotypes.”

Steve Hawk, editor of Surfer Magazine and former editor of Snowboarder Magazine, agreed that many young people are attracted to snowboarding for its emphasis on the alternative.

“It’s not a team sport; there aren’t any uniforms. For a lot of young people, it’s seen as cool and a little off-beat,” Hawk said. “But snowboarders realize that going out-of-bounds into areas that are off-limits is not cool. It’s dangerous.

“Snowboarders want to be seen as Bohemian, but not stupid. These kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. Obviously, there are some idiots out there. But there are idiot skiers too.”

Pot Controversy Irritates All

The pot-smoking tag irritates snowboarders young and old.

That association recently became heightened when Canadian Rebagliati nearly lost his Olympic gold medal after testing positive for marijuana. Last week, one Canadian snowboarder and a member of Denmark’s Olympic team were arrested for possession of marijuana after a traffic stop in rural Nevada.

Carrying his snowboard toward the Mountain High chairlift, Matt Figueroa winced at the thought of pot-smoking and snowboarding.

“All I have to say to people pointing the pot-smoking finger at snowboarders is ‘Do the math, stupid,’ ” said the U.S. Marine, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton. “The demographics of people who smoke pot is young, and those are the same demographics for people who snowboard.

“There’s a huge overlap. But that also means that a lot of young skiers who smoke pot too. And baseball and basketball players. It’s not just the snowboarders. It’s people in their 20s and 30s.”

Added Candace Conover of Anaheim: “Snowboarders aren’t the ones killing themselves by running into trees. Why don’t skiers get the bad rap as being dangerous? If those were snowboarders killed like that, you’d never hear the end of it.”

At Mountain High, where they were once banned at many runs, snowboarders from 16 to 60 are quickly dominating skiers in their numbers.

Outside the lodge, the boarders carry their equipment over their shoulders like surfboards. Since they don’t need any tight-fitting boots, they don’t clunk around as though wearing a pair of cement shoes, like most skiers.

“Dozens of people come in here to rent snowboards every day because they’re bored with skiing,” said Mountain High equipment technician Alex Menendez.

“It’s so busy, that if you don’t get here by 7:30 a.m. on weekends, there aren’t enough boards. We have more than 250 boards and we still run out of them. It’s crazy.”

Snowboarders tell tales of their mothers and fathers trying the sport, which has so grown in appeal, there’s even a new family magazine devoted to the pursuit--Snowboard Life.

“We had an 86-year-old guy here snowboarding yesterday,” said Mountain High clothing store Keri Fox. “He was awesome. He wasn’t like all those people who would put down a sport they knew nothing about. He was out here trying it!”

No matter what its reputation, DeBenedictis said there’s nothing like the high he gets from snowboarding through thick powdered snow, without having to worry about crossing any pair of skis or losing those cumbersome poles.

“One day,” he said with a wicked smile, “there’s gonna be so many snowboarders that maybe we’ll start to call the shots. Then skiers will be the ones banned from the slopes.

With that, he paused.

“Hey, at least I can dream, can’t I?”