What's with all this hate for Burton?
My step-dad works for Burton, and all I've heard from it is great. They really aren't THAT large of a company.. They've got an HQ in Burlington, and a few stores in Chicago, NYC, LA, and Tokyo. The atmosphere is great, all the employees just love snowboarding, and thats what it's all about. The entire building is empty after big dumps, because they all love snowboarding just as much as we love skiing.
Isn't it a bit hypocritical that they do something "hateful" by poaching a few great resorts, and then we turn around and bitch and cry about how they are ruining our experience. Honestly, how many of you even ski at skier-only mountains? I have skied at Mad River for years and its no-snowboarding policy has changed it completely, but honestly it would be a very hard mountain for snowboarders since every inch is covered in huge moguls. It is kind of dick for mountains to say no snowboarders, so they rebel by doing a very very innocent act, riding down a mountain. Big deal! They hiked to the top, just like we all do pre-season. Theres no laws saying they cannot ride down the mountain, just that they cannot use the lifts.
As for the Burton equipment, I have never used a Burton board, but I know their outerwear is sick. I have an AK coat thats totally Gore Tex, and it is amazing. Perfectly wind- and water-proof, comfortable, and stylish. If it's that big of a deal, don't buy their stuff, nobody is making you, but don't ever think about looking down on somebody else for buying something of their choice.
So all in all, I am really disturbed there could be so much hate for a snow sport company. We all have a stereotype of snowboarders being rebels and complete dicks, but I have never met a mean, anti-skiing boarder, and I never expect to meet one. Snow is snow, and why does it matter if you use one or two boards to move across it? If it weren't for snowboards, we wouldn't have twin-tips, and this entire site wouldn't exist. So for all of you narrow-minded ego centric trendy whiny cunts out there, shut up and think about the other sides of this topic before you go cry about some ski area expanding their economic opportunities.