Singletrack Minds video trailer

[Sombeech]

Singletrack MINDS examines the origins of mountain biking in Marin County, California and the lasting, and often negative impact the early mountain bike pioneers made on the local hiking community. Roots of the conflict and present-day controversial solutions are explored from multiple angles. Perspectives range from mountain bike pioneers Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly, and Wende Cragg to hiking advocates from the Sierra Club and Tamalpais Conservation Club. This documentary is a local story felt around the world as hikers and bikers struggle to coexist.

[nefarious]

I run into this problem all the time. No matter how much warning I give hikers, they seem offended by my presence. Maybe it's my imagination, but some of them even appear to exaggerate their efforts to make way for me, as if to put an exclamation point on their indignation.

Bikers are not universally loved, it wasn't until I started riding that bike hate became apparent to me. I just don't get it. Maybe they think my friendly warning calls are arrogant demands or something. I wonder if signals from a Sombeech-type honky horn would receive a happier return?

[Death]

You know its just like the whole skiers hate snowboarders things...Most are totally ok with each other but at least a couple a times a year you run into the jackasses who think everything belongs to them.

[accadacca]

I am so depressed after that video...












































Wait....

[Sombeech]

Here's one solution. But if it's our day, there better not be any complaining. If it's a bike day, hikers don't need to stay off the trail, maybe they can just yield to us once in a while.

[greyhair biker]

Hmmm, no one on this trail just 5 miles from my house

come on up and play!

[nefarious]

You know its just like the whole skiers hate snowboarders things...Most are totally ok with each other but at least a couple a times a year you run into the jackasses who think everything belongs to them.

Must be the instinctive tribal mentality. I've never run into a biker who was hostile, most act as though we're life-long friends even though we just met. Speaking of skier/snowboarder love...

Fellowship on Utah's Slopes!

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=XGfhXrXFDAo[/youtube]

[eric]

I skied with some of the guys that made Addiction, I am even in it for one brief second. That was a great couple of seasons.

[Death]

I have nothing against skiers in fact my wife ski's. But I do have a problem with the average I am better than you and I only ski at Alta because we don't let bums like you in.
I never really understood what was so wrong with us that they have to ban us.
Anybody care to explain?

[Sombeech]

I never really understood what was so wrong with us that they have to ban us.
Anybody care to explain?

My guess is they get more lift ticket sales from skiers who know there'll be no boarders?

I've also heard the snowboard grooves are much harder to groom.

[stefan]

I have nothing against skiers in fact my wife ski's. But I do have a problem with the average I am better than you and I only ski at Alta because we don't let bums like you in.
I never really understood what was so wrong with us that they have to ban us.
Anybody care to explain?

(1) alta has many traverses/hikes across the mountain. snowboarders are infamous for cutting across slopes when they cannot gravity traverse or sidestep. (2) snowboarding changes and forms snow differently (3) skiing and snowboarding trajectories are different ....

you know you can sit and list a bunch of things, but when it comes down to it ... it's simply summed up in the notion of being a "skier's mountain" and about "preserving the skiing experience."

i don't think it's elitist to do so ... likewise a snowboarding only mountain would be justified similarly.

i disagree with the holier than thou attitude though. it's not about seeing one as 'better' than the other ... it's simply about realizing the purity and coherence of one rather than many.

some may liken this to an exclusive club ... perhaps it may seem that way ... but it's not.

alta lost 1/3 of it's clientele in the early 90s when snowboarding boomed. they've needed to make modifications to remain attractive to the modern skier with high expectations ... but i respect that they're trying to maintain an ideal (at least to some degree).

it used to be that no one allowed snowboarding ... then it was only one skiarea in each canyon (brighton, snowbird, park west) ... then they all started to allow it, save alta and deer valley and a small number of other places in the US.

do they all need to allow snowboarders? i'm not into building new ski areas ... i think we have enough of them for a long while ... but if someone were to ... should they necessarily allow skiers? what's wrong with a mountain that preserves the snowboarding experience?

[Sombeech]

I skied with some of the guys that made Addiction, I am even in it for one brief second. That was a great couple of seasons.

Welcome to the forum, eric. You should do a quick intro in the Newbies section.

[gonzo]

I have nothing against skiers in fact my wife ski's. But I do have a problem with the average I am better than you and I only ski at Alta because we don't let bums like you in.
I never really understood what was so wrong with us that they have to ban us.
Anybody care to explain?

There were rumors last season that Alta was allowing Snowbird employees to bring their snowboards onto Alta terrain in the mornings and afternoons while the lifts weren't running. The thought was they were evaluating whether or snowboarders could handle the long run outs and flats to determine if they should allow AltaBird passholders to snowboard. The "Alta is a Skier's Mountain" badge was also briefly missing from their webpage at the time.

I don't know what became of those rumors/experiments, but I haven't seen any knuckledragg...err...snowboarders up there, so I guess they didn't go anywhere.

Reference:
http://www.altacam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117

[Death]

I totally agree with you Stefan and I understand that for the most part. I guess what bothers me most is the bad rap that snowboards get, not unlike Skateboarding and in some ways Mountain Biking.
I understand not all Snowboarders area nice or good or whatever but I am tired of getting bitched at by some skier because I got close to him as if my presence made him less of a person or something.

[stefan]

I totally agree with you Stefan and I understand that for the most part. I guess what bothers me most is the bad rap that snowboards get, not unlike Skateboarding and in some ways Mountain Biking.
I understand not all Snowboarders area nice or good or whatever but I am tired of getting bitched at by some skier because I got close to him as if my presence made him less of a person or something.

oh i'll agree with you there.

there are a LOT of snowboarding punks out there. but there are a LOT of skier punks out there too, and they seem to be increasing year after year. some skiers at alta have an attitude which pisses me off. sometimes makes me think the spirit of skiing is being lost and turned into something altogether different.

the backcountry is the saving grace of course.

sorry for the tangent ... get back on the singletrack

[Death]

I hear you its all about the back country.