Hey all
Ive been living here in whistler for nearly 3 years now, and much like everyone else on here skiing is my life. I have been skiing now for 20+years and have been an active member on newschoolers for over 10 years. Although I don't post very often, I am checking the forums and keeping up with the news, pictures and videos posted by our community almost daily.
Today was a hell of a day riding blue park over on BC, Sun was out and the Snow was soft....so naturally the park was BUSY.
Mid way through my afternoon I took a small spill off the quad kink, slid out onto my side just next to the rail. Before I even had time to react, stand up and clear the space another skier slid the rail just behind me nearly clipping me with his tips. After sliding the rail said skier stopped, faced back up the hill and yelled at me 'get the fuck out of the park if you don't know what you're doing!'
This sort of reaction has become far to common. Don't get me wrong, the comment had no effect on my day and I still had a lot of Fun! But it did get me thinking.... Whats with all the hate..?
Ive overheard many skiers, either on the lifts or in the parks, complaining about the lack of 'park etiquette'. This really upsets me because these remarks are almost always directed towards the snowboards here in whistler....
Personally I feel like the overall knowledge of 'park etiquette' is far higher across the board in the snowboard community here. Park skiers need to take a page out of the snowboarding book. I have never almost been clipped by a snowboarder in the park....NEVER. So guys and gals... slow it down a bit! Sure flowing a lap top to bottom without stopping is awesome and fun. But its dangerous, for everyone when the park is that busy.
Is stopping above a feature for 10 seconds to make sure its clear that much of an inconvenience? Will it really put that much of a damper on your day..? Most snowboarders do things that way and they are still having fun...