At Olympics snowboarding comes of age

By Andy Goldberg Feb 23, 2006, 2:58 GMT

USA\'s Shaun White in action during the men\'s Snowboard Half-Pipe competition at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Bardonecchia, Italy, Sunday 12 February 2006. White won the gold medal. EPA/FRANCO DEBERNARDI

Lake Tahoe, California - Ashlee Brown looked resplendent in her orange checked snowboard gear as she waited by a crowded lift line at the ritzy mountain resort of Squaw Valley in the heart of northern California's booming winter sports region.

Then the attractive 10th grader flashed a smile at young man waiting in line. He smiled back and gave a nod and in instant she was sliding on her snowboard under under the rope and into the front of the line.

'Well, everyone says we're hoodlums so we might as well live up to the name,' said Brown as she rode to the top of the mountain.

That image of snowboarders as rebels of the mountain might suit the mindset of an edgy teenager, but the sport's status as the outsider in a world dominated by skiing is fast being transformed.

Nothing signalled this change more boldly than the coverage of the winter Olympics where traditional crowd favourites like ice-dancing and skiing were overshadowed by the feats of the snowboard daredevils on the halfpipe.

They also drew raves for their performances in the snowboard cross event in which four racers dash and bump down the same course, and in the snowboard slalom in which riders carve their perfect turns in tandem as they glide down the course.

'Say what you want about the snowboarders, but they have a unique sense of purpose all to themselves, and they have infused the Winter Olympics with some much needed drama,' raved critic Tim Goodman in the San Francisco Chronicle. 'On top of that, snowboard cross is a total rush. Ice dancing is dead. Long live snowboard cross.'

Marketers have quickly latched on to the chic appeal of the snow rebels. Silver medal winner Lindsey Jacobellis features in a promotion for Visa which the company continued to run even after she blew her gold medal chances by fluffing a showboat trick on the last jump of her snowboard cross race.

Another poster boy for the success of snowboarding is Shaun White, 19, the red-headed gold medal winner of the half pipe competition. He is known as 'The Flying Tomato', reportedly earns 1 million dollars a year, and owns three houses despite still living with his parents.

But despite the big money involved both still display the rules- be-damned mindset that is at the core of the snowboard lifestyle. 'I think it's silly for athletes to look at a sport as a way to get better deals and endorsements,' said Jacobellis. 'It's about the love of the sport.'

That purity of thought is gold for companies who want to pitch their brand to the coveted young demographic that they hope will become consumers for life. Another advantage is that the relative newness of the sport means that promotional costs are still low.

'Snowboarding, with no traditional sponsorship barriers, present a unique opportunity to reach an audience like never before,' says Casey Wasserman, an expert on sports marketing who has linked up sponsors such as Oakley eyewear, Red Bull energy drinks and T-Mobile with sports like BMX, wakeboarding and snowboarding.

'We like to connect with the values of the snowboarding lifestyle, such as passion and excitement, creativity and freedom,' says Anne Nenonen, senior manager of global marketing at Nokia, which sponsors a major snowboarding tournament called Leave No Trace.

Figures of the U.S. National Ski Areas Association show that snowboarders represented some 26 per cent of all visitors last season, up from 18 per cent 8 years earlier.

The high profile of this year's Olympic events is expected to raise that even further this year. 'I've never seen so many snowboarders here before,' said Rafael Alesandro, an Argentinian student who has worked as a lift operator at Northstar every year for the past four years. 'You hardly see any teenagers on skis any more. At least not any who think they're cool.'

But for people like Jason Stillman, a 26-year-old engineer who just switched from skiing to snowboarding, the hype about the snowboarding lifestyle is totally irrelevant.

'It's not about fashion, or style. It's about that floating feeling you get when you carve through a field of fresh powder,' he said at the end of a long ride down Northstar's slopes. 'How can I put it? It's the closest I'll ever get to heaven.'