Nostalgia Is Another Form of Gatekeeping

Here's my unpopular opinion: back in the day wasn't better. Definitely not in snowboarding.

Lately, I've noticed a particular type of conversation popping up more and more. Usually from middle-aged men talking about the importance of knowing where snowboarding comes from, who the real OGs are, and how important it is to understand the history of the sport.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love history. I find it fascinating. I can spend hours listening to stories about the early days, the characters, the chaos, the creativity, and the sheer stubbornness it took to build something that didn't really belong anywhere. But somewhere along the way, history stopped being shared and started being used as a measuring stick.

As if understanding snowboarding's past somehow makes you more of a snowboarder today.

The young girls coming up. The "next" generation of snowboarders is already here. Photo by Alba Pardo.

As if the experiences of the people who came before automatically carry more weight than the experiences being created right now. And honestly, I think that's bullshit.

I've spent most of my life around snowboarding. I've paid my own trips, dealt with my own injuries, made plenty of questionable financial decisions in the name of spending more time on a board, and built my career around a sport that has never exactly been known for stability. Not because somebody opened the door for me, but because I refused to stay outside. And that's exactly what the next generation is doing right now.

The thing that frustrates me is that snowboarding loves to think of itself as rebellious and inclusive, while simultaneously being incredibly good at deciding who belongs, who is core, and who is authentic. Who gets to define what snowboarding should look like?

It's funny because the same people telling younger riders to respect the past are often the first ones complaining that the sport isn't growing. Well, which one is it?

Do you want more people to participate, or do you want them to pass an entrance exam?

My daughter has been on a snowboard since she was two years old. She asks to go riding every weekend. She loves it. That's enough for me. She doesn't need a lecture on snowboard history before she earns the right to call herself a snowboarder, and neither does anyone else.

History should be an invitation, not a condition. Something that enriches your experience, not something you need to prove you've studied. Because the truth is, snowboarding doesn't belong to the people who came first. It belongs to the people who show up. The ones riding today and the ones figuring it out for themselves. The ones creating memories that some old fart will eventually point out that aren't as good or as authentic as theirs.

Every generation deserves the freedom to create its own version of snowboarding.

After all, that's exactly what the generations before them did.