Snowed by rangers

[jdew]

Snowboarders make awful patrollers when compared to skiers.

 

 

I don't know if you're really that stupid or if you're just trying to troll. Either way doesn't deserve a response.

 

You say it best.

[DHarrisburg]

You say it best.

 

Please explain how saying that snowboarders make worse patrollers than skiers is trolling. Maybe next time I should say "snowboarders make worse patrollers are anybody who disagrees with me is making themselves look like idiots." That seems to be the only type of statement you guys understand.

 

I'd be willing to bet that if you polled the active members here and asked them which makes better patrollers, skiers or snowboarders, the resounding majority will favor with skiers. I'm not going to bother explaining why they are better suited for patrol duties because it's pretty blatant to anyone who knows anything about skiing and snowboarding. You guys can continue to call us idiots for stating the truth but when it comes down to it 90% of resorts will not hire snowboarders for patrol duties. I wonder why that is?

[method9455]

Seriously guys, watch a 91 Words for Snow, watch the Best of TB series, watch anything about avalanches - and what do you see? People on skis doing avalanche work, and when they're done snowboarders go in and ride it. It isn't a knock on snowboarding or snowboard culture - it is a fact. Its like saying you want to plow a snow covered street with a motorcycle. Ok great, the motorcycle is more fun, but there is just no doubt skis can more easily access areas and people, and do it faster. To me that says they make better patrollers - its not hte people, its the gear.

[bbg]

Just want to clear things up, Snowboard Patrollers are as efficient as Skiing Patrollers. Both go through intense trainings in their preferred method of patrolling. If in any way a type of equipment was not suited for patrolling the National Ski Patrol would not allow it. There are 3 types of Alpine Patrollers: Telemark, Skiing, and Snowboarding. All are trained properly to function as any other patroller out there. There is no better patroller when it comes to skiing, telemarking, or snowboarding. Each one deserves a ton of praise for accomplishing and passing through National's training curriculum.

 

Each discipline has been thought out and is trained in a certain way so that all Basic Alpine Patrollers can function on the same level.

Edited January 27, 2007 by bbg

[Ski]

IDK, I had have to say that a boarder has to be really talented to get a sled down a steep pitch...it's just harder to do with a board. Is that even argueable? Just look at how many cm of edge a boarder uses as compared to a skier...it isn't even close. So maybe it's better said that snowboarding patrollers have to be better than your average patroller to do the same job.

 

I know too many cool patrollers to rag on them (that's what Sean is for, anyway)...but I've never met a Ranger that I didn't think was a knob.

 

It's probably just as well that Glenn doesn't know the Ranger that did it...a lot of people would have made bad things happen to that Ranger.

[bbg]

As I said, they are each taught differently and have trained to take down the Toboggan. Taking down a toboggan anywhere is a talent but a steep for ski and snowboard patrollers is definitely something that is perfected. Snowboard patrollers have a completely different handling of the toboggan when taking it down compared to their brother and sister patrollers on skis. Both have learned their technique, mastered it through many many many days of training(even years), and are both exactly as capable of taking down a toboggan.

 

The only problem snowboard patrollers would have is that skate portion at the end of the trail.(Thats why you have snowmobile drags and fellow patrollers)

 

(But all the Emergency Care training is standardized among patrollers)

[cameltoe]

The only problem snowboard patrollers would have is that skate portion at the end of the trail.(Thats why you have snowmobile drags and fellow patrollers)

 

(But all the Emergency Care training is standardized among patrollers)

I think this is the point here. Riding uphill in sopts and pulling a sled through flat spots can't be done easily. However this makes them no worse or better. The skiier is just probably more efficient at completind the task.

[DHarrisburg]

The skiier is just probably more efficient at completind the task.

 

(that means they're better at it )

[method9455]

Right, it has nothing to do with the person, it is just the fact that skating is really inefficient on a snowboard, standing is a bitch, moving uphill is a bitch, etc etc, its not really contentious and thats why I said if I do ski patrol I'm going to switch back to skis for it. I'm a snowboarder at heart, but some day I think I'm going to switch back since skiing is easier for stuff like that.

[ski911]

Having handled many toboggans with both skis and sb. Everyone is right (to some extent). As far as the actual traveling downhill and edge control on steeps. It is pretty much a push. What alot of people do not know, there is a chain that we can engage that will slide under the front of the sled and help control the speed. We actually have to "lift up" a little to get it to move. The snowboard does make some snow conditions a little easier than skis and vice versa.

 

Flats and uphills are the snowboard patrollers nemesis. If you have to travel any distance on a flat, I just unstrap and walk the sled.

We do use snowmobiles for the majority of the flat and up pulls.

[jdew]

Please explain how saying that snowboarders make worse patrollers than skiers is trolling.

my bad, how's this. Again, you say it best.

 

I don't know if you're really that stupid

 

 

I'd be willing to bet that if you polled the active members here and asked them which makes better patrollers, skiers or snowboarders, the resounding majority will favor with skiers.

I think that you would have to poll the patrollers who do both. I don't see how active members here who are not patrollers would have any basis for favoring one over the other.

 

I'm not going to bother explaining why they are better suited for patrol duties because it's pretty blatant to anyone who knows anything about skiing and snowboarding.

Just because you know alot about skiing and snowboarding doesn't mean you know anything about being a ski patroller.

 

You guys can continue to call us idiots for stating the truth but when it comes down to it 90% of resorts will not hire snowboarders for patrol duties. I wonder why that is?

It's just like when snowboarding started. How many resorts did not allow snowboarding. How many allow snowboarding today. How many snowboarding patrollers were there 10 years ago compared to today. In all likelihood, there will continue to be an increase in the number of snowboarding patrollers in the future.

 

You made the statement that "Snowboarders make awful patrollers when compared to skiers."

You got called on it. Leave the patrollers alone. Pick on the Rangers.

[Margaritaville Skier]

Pick on the Rangers.

 

Hey!!! They don't need any encouragement to do that.

[AtomicSkier]

Entertaining thread.

 

You're nuts if you think snowboarders have it eaiser then skiers when patrolling. I won't say one is better then the other, because their job is first response, and they can both do that equally well. The sled is just one aspect of their job, and happens to be easier on skis.

[mtnbiker99x]

If snowboard patrollers are so "awful" maybe you should just go places that don't allow snowboard patrollers. (So stay away from Blue, CB, Hunter and Killington to name a few that do allow it) Maybe you'll feel safer and more secure at Deer Valley, Taos, Alta or Mad River Glen where they don't allow snowboarding at all. If you ever crack your head open and a snowboard patroller just happens to show up first, tell them you don't want help from a snowboarder and you'll wait for the next available patroller on skis.

 

 

90% of resorts will not hire snowboarders for patrol duties. I wonder why that is?

 

Discrimination

[method9455]

If snowboard patrollers are so "awful" maybe you should just go places that don't allow snowboard patrollers. (So stay away from Blue, CB, Hunter and Killington to name a few that do allow it) Maybe you'll feel safer and more secure at Deer Valley, Taos, Alta or Mad River Glen where they don't allow snowboarding at all. If you ever crack your head open and a snowboard patroller just happens to show up first, tell them you don't want help from a snowboarder and you'll wait for the next available patroller on skis.

90% of resorts will not hire snowboarders for patrol duties. I wonder why that is?

 

Discrimination

 

Are you serious? It's not discrimination its the facts. Discrimination would be not hiring a guy to be ski patrol because they're black, not because of what gear they use. Fact is - most ski patrol hire both. But IF you could do both equally - I think 90% of the time you would want to ski instead of snowboard on the days you are patrolling. Thats what I'm going to do.

 

It is mind boggling to me for snowboarders to think that they can get around as well as skiers - it just doesn't work that way.

 

Do you ski? If you have skied do you ski as well as you snowboard?

 

Snowboarding is great going downhill but snowboards are designed to be fun. Skis were designed as all terrain vechiles by the nordics hundreds and hundreds of years ago. They are used by the military to reach places that you can't on foot. We just play with a really refined version of it for fun - but originally they were designed to travel through snow both up and down hills faster than you can on foot. On a snowboard you are only going downhill, fast, and while its fun no one would think of using a snowboard to get from one town to another during a snow storm!

 

For reference: At my shop of the guys who are out there all the time, there are 5 guys who can ski and board equally well and travel a lot. There are 2 snowboarders only and 1 skier only. Of the 5 guys who do both, (including me) all started skiing, skied for about 10 years, switched at some point to snowboarding, snowboarded for about 5-6 years, and are now all switching back to skiing.

 

Why? Because it SUCKS when you are in a mixed group of people in the back country to be snowboarding. If it was all snowboarders sure its fun and no one cares. But it is so much faster and easier to traverse on skis than on snowboards. Last week a bunch of guys from the shop where in Whistler - they got about 12 inches a night. If you had to unstrap and get off your board you'd sink down to your waist in snow. The skiers just walked through it no problem. When you are traversing out sideways - it is much easier to do it on skis. On a snowboard you need snow shoes in your pack or you need to boot pack a trail which is SLOW! I'm not saying it isn't do able, but it is slower.

 

If I'm a patroller - things that slow me down from getting to someone is an issue.

 

So sure, it doesn't really matter on the east coast - but out west, its a different story. And if you go back and look this whole thing started as a debate about skier versus snowboarder - and the patrol does a lot more than just drag sleds around so doing avalanche control on a snowboard isn't all that easy either.

[mtnbiker99x]

But IF you could do both equally - I think 90% of the time you would want to ski instead of snowboard on the days you are patrolling.

 

 

 

I would rather patrol on a board than on skis. Yes I ski and board.

[AtomicSkier]

But IF you could do both equally - I think 90% of the time you would want to ski instead of snowboard on the days you are patrolling.

 

 

 

I would rather patrol on a board than on skis. Yes I ski and board.

 

If only method knew

[adrian]

im disappointed

 

by both sides.

[zaldon]

ive seen 1 snowboarder that is a ranger at cb and one snowboarder that is a patroler at cb the ranger couldnt even get up from straping in, and the patroler was better than 90% of the people at cb. the only experience i have in a sled was a whiteface last year and based on that my OPINION is that it would be easier for a skier to pull a sled because they can do the POWER WEDGE and skate, and for those of you who dont know what riding in a sled is like try laying in the back of a pickup truck in

[method9455]

Why would you want to do that? I can see zero advantages aside from just proving a point that it CAN be done, which of course it CAN be done. But WHY?

[toast21602]

how about snowblades? i have never seen any patrol on blades. maybe that is the ultimate thing to use instead of a snowboard or skis.

[ski911]

Snowblades do not offer enough edge to control a sled, and......are just stupid to begin with.

[toast21602]

who needs edge when you have.... SNOWBLADES!!! WOOOOO!

[method9455]

Ha thats great. Or we could just do it on foot, no one can control a sled like a barefoot guy. Fuck that, barefoot is for pussies, I'm walking on my hands with no gloves and if they don't hire me ITS DISCRIMINATION!

[mtnbiker99x]

and the patroler was better than 90% of the people at cb.

 

 

Hey Atomic I wonder who that was?