Share the Mountain
Anyone who’s ever made their down an alpine slope can tell you that snowboarders and skiers don’t always get along. Each group is prone to complaining that the other is in their way, with skiers calling first dibs on mountain sports and snowboarders claiming to represent the vanguard.
In researching our post on Shaun White’s ultimate mountain ride last week, we came across some interesting data that may help shine light on the people behind this decades-old rivalry.
We crunched some numbers in the Honk database and created top-50 lists of vehicles for both sports. Most notably, the list for skiers was dominated by expensive sheetmetal, with luxury brands filling out 26 of the top 50 spots. That same measure was only 15 for snowboarders, suggesting that skiers have the edge when it comes to household income.
That number doesn’t tell the full story, though. Honk data shows that snowboarders are a much younger group overall and that means that they are still in the early stages of their careers. About 28% of snowboarders are under age 30, compared to only about 9% for skiers.
Curiously, skiers also had seven convertibles in their top-50 list while snowboarders had none. Since convertibles are often purchased as a second or third car, this could be merely a by-product of skiers being older and more likely to be married with multiple cars in the household fleet.
Don’t get your bindings in a twist over these results, though, because both sides will no doubt agree that the most important thing is to get out there and enjoy the ride.
