One of the most common sights when hitting the snowfields each year is the increase in the number of snowboarders that have taken up the sport. Back when I first started skiing, that was all you saw…skiers.

Every now and then you saw some weirdo coming down the run on a thing that looked like a surfboard with no fin. These snowboards were the exception by a long stretch. Now snowboarding is an Olympic sport and the number of Burton snowboards, among other companies, hitting the groomed runs and getting big air on the way down has grown substantially.

It’s almost getting to the stage where skiers are the exception and the snowboarders are the way of the future. They’re the new wave of powder hounds and if you want to be in with the crowd, you’re going to have to learn to describe the rails and ollies you’ve just hit.

It’s the way of the future and while everyone is packing their bags and heading for the blackest runs possible it is up to the rest of them to keep it all under control.