Do Americans think skiing in general is the same as alpine? Skiing isn't any more bougie than going for a hike.
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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chapotraphouse
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Yeah, every criticism I've seen in this thread applied exclusively to alpine skiing, and almost exclusively to alpine resorts.
Cross-country is basically just Other Snowshoeing. Brand new gear costs maybe a couple hundred bucks, used gear is perfectly functional and ubiquitous (at least here in Canada) and the only infrastructure or anything that needs to exist is just snow having fallen.
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I'd argue alpine skiing isn't bougie if you live within two to three hours of a mountain. Secondhand equipment is cheap, and lift tickets were affordable until relatively recently.
Yeah, I disliked it because it felt crowded and I felt pressured into it by my family, but I grew up in an area much closer than two hours and there was never a significant class element to it as far as I could tell. Kids who didn't have their own equipment, like me, would just borrow. Maybe as an adult there's more complicated stuff that you need specific gear for but I couldn't tell back then.
Adult sporting equipment in general is hard to find because if you're an adult who plays a sport you probably really like it and use the equipment until it's busted. Kids grow out of stuff, or lose interest.
I can't find adult ice skates in thrift stores ever. I've been on the hunt for a while, might have to just bite the bullet and spend $150 CAD on a new pair.
Only exception is golf gear because rich guys like buying new equipment.
I don't know where you are, but where I live this has never been the sort of second hand stuff that is even remotely accessible to poor people.
I have been able to alpine ski about twice in my life. With rented equipment. Plenty of places around me for doing it, the lift tickets alone make it way too expensive.
And when it comes to cross country, which is a kind of national sport where I live, we all did do that as kids. But, it isn't cheap. Plenty of kids can't afford the equipment and those who have the good stuff obviously enjoy it more and don't get laughed at.
During covid year one me and my partner thought about doing it again as it's outdoors, but soon found out there is no way poor folks buy even cross country adult skiis that are actually usable. Used isn't all that cheap either.
There are endless tax payer money maintained ski routes in this country during winter that take over walking routes, hiking routes etc. You are not allowed to do anything there but ski during the ski season. The people who do it are all upper middle class or otherwise in a position where they can afford the equipment. The poors don't even get to use the area for walking during this time.
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I couldn't afford downhill skiing as a child (and we lived right next to a ski hill) and I am still vaguely resentful. Used to bring a sled up the hill by foot and go down it though. The only way I got to learn how fun it is was my mum winning a union raffle for a skiing weekend.
My brother twisted his ankle the first day, so it wasn't very fun for him, but that is what we call a skill issue.
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You clearly don't have an adequate appreciation for how bad golf is if you think this is an appropriate comparison
It’s pretty fun. I don’t think anyone who has to drive a long way and pay big for outdoor clothes and equipment rental is having fun though.
Some of the nicest memories I have are stunting on rich tourists in fifteen year old thrift store gear that got refurbished at a shop in the off season.
It’s nice to go fast.
fuck it I will go to the mat for skiing. not those monstrous resorts but cross-country skiing and also backcountry skiing are both fun, except for the avalanches that kill at least one of your friends every year.
I do like the sound of dead skiers.
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Fun fact, the OG big covid wave in my country was almost single handedly brought in by bougie skiiers partying in Austria, in the middle of a pandemic.
They just had to go skii, in a pandemic.
The genetic variant testing has revealed that not a single actual wave or mass spread ever happened here from outside the circles of bougie whiteness, no matter how hard they tried to make headlines of the "Chinese tourist" with covid.
And the fact that energy is spent in putting fake snow on the ground for these people so they can do their sport in climate change destroyed mountains is also a thing. They fly to these places to ski on artificial snow...
Not to mention how this "sport" and the tourism done in Lapland around it exploits and robs Sami peoples lands.
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I live in Colorado and used to go skiing a couple times every year as a kid (ie, when my parents were paying for it). It's pretty fun to go sliding down a scenic mountain at 30 mph, and it's rewarding to learn and get better. But now that I'm an adult I've decided that it's not really worth it to wake up early on a weekend, drive 2+ hours, freeze my ass off, spend a lot of money, and possibly hurt myself. Speaking of, you definitely want a helmet if you don't want to end up like Sonny Bono.
There are a few smaller and cheaper ski slopes that aren't crowded with rich tourists, but they're the exception. I've run into plenty of rich dickheads on the slopes, and lots of loud obnoxious Texans dressed fully in Cowboys gear.
That's where I'm at with it. Winter Park, Eldora, Loveland, all the I-70 and Wyoming ones- I have so many options nearby for skiing. I haven't been skiing since moving here because it's $200+ to freeze and die.
Ski Cooper on their discounted Thursdays is the only place worthwhile, in my extremely humble opinion. Otherwise, just be like me. Stick to trying to find good places to cross country ski and be mad at yourself all winter for moving away from the midwest.
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unlike golf its a manner of conveyance so its weird to say its 'bourgeois' if theres people that just do it to get around snowy areas. the big resorts are great cancers on the landscape and society of the mountain though. rich assholes buy up all the property and all the required peons are immiserated having to make long dangerous commutes from adjacent towns or semi-indentured on-location
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isn't the problem with golf the amount of urban space and absurd amount of water it requires? (and, like, country-clubs have a history of de jure racial exclusivity.) like, class resentment is very understandable, but this sounds like someone who hasn't carved fresh powder, ya know?
It's also much more dangerous than people think. Because skiing takes place on the snowy ground for the most part (excluding jumps and tricks), people think it's safe. But that's an illusion, if you have a fall at those speeds you're screwed.
I wouldn't be surprised if other sports like rock climbing or kayaking are safer.
Even the most basic skiing routes you go pretty fast and are uncomfortably close to trees lol. The only thing skiing has going for it safety wise is that speed control is pretty easy for amateurs to master, I find it incredible that anyone learns to snowboard without dying. Like all of the dangers of skiing, except also controlling where you go and how fast has a higher skill requirement.
In my experience the first thing they teach you is to just slide down the slope on your heel edge at 0.05mph.
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Most winter sports are pretty 
since white people are the only freaks who actually kinda like the cold.
I say this as a Mayo myself who enjoys the snow.
Most winter sports are pretty
i feel like this is ahistoric
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Touch snow
in non-mountainous areas, they turn landfills into these sii hills so i think its a good fun way to use landfill land
People I know who go on skiing holidays are almost always rich snobs.
Skiing was more of cosmopolital sport decades ago. My boomer aunt loved it and my mom's side wasn't particularly rich growing up.
Not to mention in most cases the town or county or state for all intents and purposes sells the land of the mountain to a private corpo to sell ski passes to you as if a fucking mountain is not a public good.
And bonus info on Protect the Peaks as Klee Benally just died, sometimes white people steal mountains that are sacred to local tribes and destroy them with skiing, massive tree clearing, etc.
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Counterpoint (there's no way that it hasn't been mentioned yet but I'm lazy and not going to look for it elsewhere)...
More white people die skiing than golfing.
As a white person who was never able to afford skiing, I approve this message.
The unbearable whiteness of skiing
Best academic article title of all time?
I hate academic papers being locked behind paywalls!
What is this racist ass post even saying? Do you think skiing resorts o ly exist in primarily white countries?
your problem was going to a skiing lodge
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