The following is the Official Report of NSP's Eastern Division Ski & Toboggan Staff as it relates to their three days of evaluation of the on-the-snow capabilities of snowboards within NSP's then current (1993) Ski & Toboggan curriculum. To the knowledge of the NSP Eastern Division Staff, this event still remains as the largest assembly of experienced S&T Trainer Evaluators ever to critically examine the capabilities of snowboarders.
Special recognition should be afforded to the members of the division's S&T Steering Committee, as well as to Division Director Ron Verblauw, for seizing the initiative in providing an unbiased forum for the evaluation of snowboards for fundamental ski patrol activities.
Dave Schutz, November 1995
Background
The Eastern Division's annual Ski and Toboggan Training & Testing Clinic was held at Pico Peak, Vermont, December 10-12, 1993. 46 of the very best Ski & Toboggan instructors (Examiners) from the 7,500 member Eastern Division of NSP accepted invitations and were in attendance. The event was coordinated by John Neill, the division's Ski & Toboggan Advisor. In addition, Ron Verblauw, Eastern Division Director, and Larry Close, former Division Director and National Board Representative were in attendance.
The major focus of the clinic was a detailed examination of the ability of snowboard equipped patrollers to handle Cascade type toboggans within the existing Senior performance criteria. Because of the initial success with the toboggan demonstrations, snowboarders were also added to the "Free Ski" segments of the Senior test.
Testing Method
Aside from the nine members of the "steering committee", who were present for the first day's preparations on Friday December 10th, the other clinic participants were divided into three groups. The weekend's schedule was arranged so that each person spent a minimum of two hours at the "Snowboard Toboggan Evaluation" station." All attendees were given a "Snowboard Evaluation" instruction sheet during the first morning's meeting before heading out onto the mountain.
Both at the start and end of the two day event, attendees were given the phone number and address of Graham Powers', the NSP National Snowboard Action Team's Chairman. They were encouraged to contact him privately should they wish to express dissenting opinions regarding any aspect of this snowboard evaluation.
Backgrounds of Snowboard Demonstrators
The eight snowboard demonstrators represented a true cross-section of patrollers, from Local Patroller to Certified. Three were professional and the rest were volunteer. Ages ranged from 28 to 53, with at least four being over the age of 40. One individual had been snowboarding for over 250 days in his life and had been running toboggans with a snowboard at a busy New England ski area for three years. Another demonstrator, while a veteran Alpine ski patroller and former Regional Director, had only snowboarded for a total of 12 days in his life, and had never touched a toboggan while on a snowboard prior to his initial run before the examiners. None of the demonstrators had ever worked with each other and most had only very limited prior practice with snowboard toboggan operation.
Mountain & Snow Conditions
Pico Peak is an older central Vermont ski area. It has a 1,500 foot vertical with about 20% of its trails being labeled "Most Difficult." For the first two days of the clinic only about 10% of the trails were open, and all of that was on man-made snow, exclusively on "More Difficult" (Intermediate) terrain.
During the three day clinic the snow and weather conditions varied dramatically, as probably can only happen in New England in the early Winter. Conditions ranged from firm machine made packed powder, wet granular, frozen granular with ice, 8 inches of powder, and breakable crust.
For the first two days of the event only "More Difficult" (Intermediate) terrain was available. The last hour of Sunday's presentation had all 46 examiners witness loaded sled snowboard operation (front/rear) under "Most Difficult" (Advanced) terrain with large moguls and difficult snow conditions. (This was due to late the opening of the mountain's steepest trail.)
Toboggans
At the "Snowboard Toboggan Evaluation" station the method of demonstration and evaluation of toboggan operation was deliberately kept informal. While all of the elements of a standard Senior Toboggan test were conducted, on average only three snowboard demonstrators were present at the formal toboggan evaluation site at any one time. These demonstrators were rotated throughout the weekend.
By keeping the number of snowboard demonstrators limited, there was a large amount of time in which to handle the multitude of questions that came from what were initially apprehensive examiners. There was also ample time to for the examiners to interact with the snowboarders so as to spontaneously stage new and different types of problems and situations which would normally not be possible in a formal Senior Test.
Upon arrival at the Snowboard Toboggan Station the attendees the examiners were given a standard "Senior Toboggan" scoring booklet. They were told to complete it at the station (subject to directions in the instruction sheet)
Free Ski Evaluation
As a result of the Steering Committee's recommendations on Friday, a decision was made to integrate snowboarders into the Alpine Free Ski station of the clinic. Unlike the Snowboard Toboggan Station where snowboards were the center of attention, at this station the snowboarders were instructed to simply blend-in with the ski-equipped instructors. The snowboarders did provide the judges with demonstrations of their performance in short, medium and long radius "carved" turns. The purpose of this exercise was two-fold:
Results
Toboggans
The written results from the examiners were exceedingly positive regarding the performance of the snowboarders with toboggans. The vast majority of the examiners felt that the snowboarder's performance was "Above Senior Level" in virtually all configurations. This is an unusually high achievement level when considered within the normal evaluation span at a regular Senior test.
The quantitative results are summarized on the following table. In general they seem to show higher performance levels in steeper and/or more moguled terrain. There was some minor discussion about appropriate hand position for snowboarders on the handles, as well as proper techniques for changing a snowboard's direction when a sled is stopped, none of these were deemed significant.
A summary of examiner's written comments appears in the Appendix. Reference to the written comments show several instances where the snowboarders were believed to be superior to skis (front/tail), particularly in steep terrain or on breakable crust.
Free Ski
While the introduction of snowboarders to the "Free Ski" stations occurred quite spontaneously the results were also quite dramatic. No special score cards were completed for the snowboarders at this station, but many of the examiners made written remarks in their toboggan scoring sheets.
Most examiners were surprised that they were able to easily determine whether a snowboarder was "carving" during the commission of short, medium and long radius turns. Verbal comments suggested that even on hard packed snow, it was easy to look at a snowboarders' tracks to determine whether they were indeed carving. Most examiners felt that with minimum training, existing Alpine ski examiners could evaluate snowboarders.
Conclusions
Narrative Comments of Examiners
Positive
"Very impressive display, you have to see it to really understand it." (4-3)
"In crud their performance was totally uninhibited; quite amazing!" (8-9)
"On the most difficult terrain it appeared as if the snowboarders performed with greater ease than most skiers." (18-5)
"There is definitely a place for snowboard patrollers within NSPS. As the terrain became tougher they got better." (25-9)
"Snowboards are here to stay in patrolling!!" (4-9)
"I saw no problems and felt that their ability to go backwards easily made them more adaptable on tail rope." (1-5)
"I thought they would have difficulty on tail rope...but they were extremely smooth, I believe they were smoother than a patroller on skis, in many conditions." (6-9)
"In more difficult terrain - smooth & mogul, we saw the performance objectives met in empty, loaded front & back. I believe snowboards ARE an option & should be available according to current patroller classifications. They are especially good in crud." (7-2)
"Very smooth and able to stop the sled at any time." (9-7)
"I believe the current standards for evaluating S(ki) & T(obboggan) are acceptable for snowboards." (23-6)
"I am convinced that snowboarders should be integrated into patrol work. I also believe that cross-educated examiners can evaluate either skiers or boarders. The less differentiation between the two, the better for all." (16-9)
"This has been an exciting three days. The enthusiasm and skills demonstrated by the Snowboard Demo Team have convinced me that the sport is here to stay. The NSPS should be a leader in recognizing boarding as a part of patrolling and support this.
"We will need a name change for N(ational) S(ki) P(atrol) S(ystem) to 'National Winter Resort Rescue'" (12-9)
"I'm a believer... I want to try snowboarding,... but you will never get me to wear one of those corny hats." (19-10)
Negative
"Trouble changing direction in handles when the sled is stopped." [still gave a passing score at Senior Level] (9-5)
There were a couple of concerns about hand position on the toboggan handles... which were not considered significant and mostly "+" (above average) grades were given.
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