This is the first of three installments of a series that focuses on snowboarding – examining the early years when the snow sport was forbidden worldwide, it’s humble beginnings, and its eventual rise to prominence in Lake Tahoe.
The loathing was initially intense. But a disdainful group of youthful individuals could have cared less and was demanding equal access at ski resorts throughout the world.
Haven’t heard of the bitter animosity that once existed between skiers and snowboarders? Back in the late 1970s, the friction between the two groups was extremely caustic and caused considerable uneasiness as ski resorts continued their outright ban of snowboarders, frequently citing safety concerns, insurance issues or claiming the “rebellious” image would disrupt their skiing clientele.
Some contend the bias was based on looks alone. Snowboarders were urban skateboarders with a grunge fashion sense and outlaw attitude. They didn’t just look different – the prevailing feeling was snowboarders harbored a disrespect for rules that skiers conscientiously obeyed.
WHO ARE THESE KNUCKLE DRAGGERS? The outlaw snowboarders were mockingly referred to as “knuckle draggers” and the sport was known in some circles as snurfing. The name and the image were rampant in the early 1980s in Lake Tahoe and throughout California, where snowboarding was almost universally forbidden.
“Originally, the (ski) manufacturers supplied the idea that these people were rebels, misfits, people thumbing their noses at polite society,” recalls Bob Roberts, former executive director of the California Ski Industry Association. “And there definitely was a quasi-outlaw element out there. We had some problems.”
More than four decades later, it seems preposterous that ski resorts worldwide weren’t budging. Yet they were strong in their convictions. No matter the country, snowboarders couldn’t gain access at any resort.
TAHOE RESORTS BEGIN WELCOMING SNOWBOARDERS: However, there were a few exceptions, and one of them was a tiny, obscure Tahoe ski resort that still exists.
According to its former owner Norm Sayler, in 1980 Donner Ski Ranch became the first U.S. resort to sell a lift ticket to a snowboarder. The news spread and the resort quickly became a popular destination for snowboarders and some of the nation’s best got their start there.
Besides adding snowboarding, back in the day Donner Ski Ranch was among the first resorts to loosen rules in the conservative times, also allowing skiers to jump and do tricks that other ski areas in the region deemed dangerous and prohibited.
“If you wanted to buy a lift ticket, I would sell you one,” said Sayler, who took over management of Donner Ski Ranch in 1958 and ran it for the next 46 years, eventually becoming the owner. “As far as I was concerned, you could have a snowboard in one arm if you had a $10 bill in the other.”
However, conflicting research indicates Donner Ski Ranch was not the first to allow snowboarding. That honor is often credited to Suicide Six Resort in Pomfret, Vermont in 1982. The resort’s acceptance of snowboarding was largely due to the efforts of Jake Burton, founder of Burton Snowboards, the first snowboard factory. That same year, the inaugural National Snowboarding Championships took place on an icy run at Suicide Six.
In Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe (then Sierra Ski Ranch) and Boreal Mountain were going out of their way to attract snowboarders in the late 1980s, seeing it as the key to their future in competing with larger area resorts. In nearby Nevada, Slide Mountain (now Mt. Rose) was also waving in the “rebel” snowboarders as a way to increase its numbers.
RISE IN POPULARITY: Resorts nationwide were easing the ban as well. By 1985, an estimated 40 U.S. resorts began welcoming snowboarders, even though some resorts required assessment tests to ride and they were allowed only on certain designated runs.
In the early to mid-1980s, Slide Mountain initiated a snowboard certification card. Snowboarders had to pass a basic test conducted by ski patrol and ski school, then pay a small fee to receive their snowboard safety certification card. Only then would they have access to the mountain on a board.
After years of being restricted to the Lake Tahoe backcountry and a handful of smaller resorts, Tahoe’s riding scene received a major breakthrough in the spring of 1987 when Squaw Valley allowed snowboarding on a trial basis for the remainder of the season. The next season Squaw officially opened to snowboarding.
The prevailing national ban and its stringent rules were gradually loosened and by 1990 snowboarders were allowed on roughly 476 resorts throughout the country and sport was welcomed into the Olympics in 1998.
Yet to the delight of local hardcore skiers, one Tahoe ski resort kept snowboarders away. Alpine Meadows didn’t budge, posting a sign at one time – “Welcome to Alpine Meadows, the Skier’s Mountain. No Snowboarders, Please.”
Alpine eventually caved, opening its slopes to snowboarders on a trial basis for the last week of the 1995-96 ski season and fulltime one year later.
“We feel the sport (snowboarding) has grown up,” said then Alpine Meadows spokeswoman Brinn Talbot. “Our guests’ needs have also changed. A lot of families have snowboarders in their midst, and we want to welcome them, too.”
To some people’s amazement, snowboarding is still not allowed at every U.S. ski resort. As of today, there are three ski resorts that still ban snowboarders.
- Alta Ski Area, Utah
- Deer Valley, Utah
- Mad River Glen, Vermont
In 2005, Deer Valley director of mountain operations Chuck English made this statement regarding the snowboarding ban. And apparently the policy remains – “if you want to snowboard, go somewhere else. It’s exclusive and not at all apologetic. And as long as there is a market of skiers who support it, change is unlikely.”
WHAT’S ON TAP: Part II of the series examines the roots of snowboarding.
