When the chill is on, crowds flock to snow sports websites

Just as the weather starts to cool down in mountain resorts, the traffic on snow sports websites starts to heat up.

Visits to these sites increase as the first snow falls in early November and peak around Christmas, according to Hitwise, a website tracking service. The hottest sites for the week ending Nov. 13, it said, were Snowboard.com and Onthesnow.com, which will appeal to very different types of snow sports enthusiasts.

Snowboard.com, a 4-year-old site, has become the most visited snow sports site on the Web, according to Alexa.com, a website tracking service. It boasts an online community of nearly 600,000 registered snowboarders.

“Before [Snowboard.com], there was no way for snowboarders to meet up,” said Rick Godwin, president and founder of Snowboard.com, based in Whistler, Canada.

The site was designed to “enhance the sport through the fun of interacting with other snowboarders,” Godwin said.

Membership is free, though complete access to the site costs $4 per month or $20 per year. The average member is 20 years old. Men outnumber women 3 to 1.

Members can post personal ads and exchange tips and trick ideas in one of the 45 forums and chat with or leave messages for other snowboarders. When I looked recently, the conversation appeared to be as much about flirting as snowboarding. One member claimed to have met his snowboarding fiancee on the site.

If they are going snowboarding on their honeymoon, Snowboard.com can help in planning a trip.

Members can post questions in geographically specific forums and get answers from locals familiar with the area.

The forums give you access to “real people to talk to who know exactly what to do” as well the possibility of meeting up with locals to join you on the slopes, Godwin said.

The site also offers insight for new snowboarders. A recent poll asked the question, “Snow pants: tight or baggy?”; 91% said baggy. Such knowledge of slope fashion could save the new snowboarder embarrassment, and might have saved Mom and Dad a small fortune on tight snowboarding pants.

Onthesnow.com is the online arm of Mountain News (formerly AMI), which since 1968 has provided snow and ski reports to radio, television and newspapers. Onthesnow.com was launched in 1996, and its snow conditions reports are distributed to other websites, including latimes.com/travel/latrskireport3.special.

“It is the first and oldest snow sports website,” said Rob Brown, publisher and president of Mountain News, based in Orinda, Calif.

The most popular sections on the site are resort web cams and the daily reports written by regional ski editors.

“People live vicariously through the ski reports,” Brown said. “They love the cams. They want to make sure there is enough snow.”

Onthesnow.com is geared more to an older audience, people in their 30s with kids looking to take a family vacation or couples looking for a ski getaway, Brown said.

The travel section of the site is popular. “Skiers like to spot-check pricing, look at lodging, air, lift tickets and put their own packages together versus an all-inclusive package,” he said.

The site does not have a booking engine. Resorts pay to have their properties listed, and travelers click through to make a booking directly with the supplier.

In a nod to the popularity of online forums, Onthesnow.com is planning to launch forums this month that are similar to the ones on Snowboard.com.

James Gilden can be reached at www.theinternettraveler.com.