INEXCLUSIVE by Elias Elhardt

What's the most significant barrier for a day of snowboarding – the most common answer is "lift ticket prices."

In today's media outlets and social media feeds, you usually see perfect conditions in perfect resorts and snowboarding arenas. At the same time, the exclusivity of this experience with limited access and high-ticket prices becomes hardly ever visible. But is there even any alternative? How about the local (hometown) resorts?

Elias Elhardt and Jason Robinson were in the legendary Jackson Hole Mountain resort enjoying the epic terrain with excellent snow conditions to film for a short film project when they ran into this problem of expensive lift tickets, long lift lines, and an exclusive touristy vibe. Therefore, they decided to check out the local town hill of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "Snow King Resort", just 10 miles away. There, they found a communal mountain lifestyle where seemingly all generations from town came to enjoy their afternoons, whether they were touring, ski racing, bobsledding, or just hanging out. It was a perfect environment for the two friends to join in and do what they love best: Playfully using the terrain this place had to offer.

While the ticket prices there were also not incredibly cheap at Snow King due to generally high prices in the area, they were still almost two-thirds less expensive than at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, which now costs up to $245 a day.

So with this film, Elias Elhardt wants to shed light on this rising exclusivity of our sport, especially in the big resorts worldwide, and meanwhile pay tribute to the local mountain operations. These smaller resorts can still offer a gateway for many people to get into snowboarding and regularly share turns with their local community.

Conditions might not always be as excellent as in some famous resorts, but isn't it especially snowboarding's creative and playful approach to the mountain, which can offer an opportunity to utilize and truly enjoy all types of terrain and conditions? If you look for them, side hits, and other features to play around with can be found pretty much everywhere where there is snow.

As snowboard companies, media, and professional snowboarders, we should do more to promote these local mountains and heroes who dedicate their lives to maintaining a local and affordable option for snowboarders worldwide. The big resorts are unique and offer incredible terrain, lifts, and good times. Still, we should not forget that snowboarding happens everywhere, and we should celebrate this to hopefully make snowboarding more accessible and inviting for future and current snowboarders.

Inexclusive is not a word, but we should make it one by doing our best as an industry and as snowboarders to find ways to promote ways to make snowboarding more inclusive.

A film by Elias Elhardt

Camera.
Wade Dunstan
David Cleeland

Editor.
David Cleeland
Anjuna Hartmann

Colors.
Matilda Schön

Music.
La fête noire by Flavien Berger

Licensed by.
Florent De Maria

Directed by.
Elias Elhardt

via NITRO SNOWBOARDS