01:00 AM EST on Saturday, December 3, 2005

BY MICHAEL MARTINEZ
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Barry Drake, a San Jose, Calif., accountant, doesn't quite fit the profile of a snowboarder.

He's 37, married, has three children and prefers wearing traditional ski attire to the baggy pants and long, oversize jackets worn by the fearless kids who fly around mountains.

He favors cruising down slopes over catching air.

And he appreciates the principles of ski etiquette -- being courteous, or looking uphill before carving his way across a trail.

Maybe it's because he's a little older than most snowboarders that Drake enjoys the nice-and-easy approach to boarding.

If so, he has plenty of company. Snowboarding isn't just for kids anymore. The sport is also attracting an older demographic -- adults 35 and over who are shifting from skis to snowboards.

"You have people who've been skiing a long time and feel they should try snowboarding because it looks like it's fun," said Tim Cohee, president of Kirkwood Mountain Resort. "It's come out of its rebel stage, which is absolutely what it was."

Although resorts still primarily market to children and young adults, who flock to terrain parks, half-pipes and super-pipes, they are also recognizing that older skiers -- some even in their 60s and 70s -- are choosing to take to the boards.

According to a survey conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association, the percentage of snowboarders age 55 and older increased from 2.3 in 1994 to 7.3 in 2004 (the percentage of snowboarders in the 35-54 age group increased until 1999 but then fell last year). In a 2003 report by BBC Research and Consulting in Denver, more than a third of snowboarders were 25 to 44; five percent were older than 45.

One reason snowboarders are getting older is that early practitioners, who started boarding 20 years ago, are now in their late 30s and early 40s. Another is that new technology has made learning the sport simpler; better boards help beginners stay aboard.

"The first couple of days on a snowboard are very painful, especially for us older guys," Drake said. But experts say the technology makes it easier than ever to improve quickly.

"It's definitely one of the rewards of learning to ride a snowboard," says Mike Pierce, marketing director at Mount Rose-Ski Tahoe. "With practice, you typically can get better faster. One of the things I stress about powder is that a board tends to float instead of sinking," which can happen on skis.

John Rice, general manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe, said anyone with average balance can "get up to speed quicker on a board. Add to that the fact that snowboard boots are more comfortable than ski boots and you can see why there is such a demand for learning the sport."

Not to mention the fact that snowboarding is viewed as cool -- from fashion to equipment to social cachet. "Rather than buy a Harley, you can wear baggy clothes and pack a Burton board on your car to show you are still young at heart," Rice says. "Snowboarding's appeal is that it went beyond the sport to the lifestyle."

Although some older boarders aren't quite ready to embrace snowboarding as a lifestyle, it's clear many are willing to jump on a board at least once. Demand for snowboard lessons continues to grow at Sierra resorts.

"I'm 53 and I snowboard," said Tim Silva, general manager of Northstar-at-Tahoe. "I see plenty of people my age and beyond. You see adults, older folks and parents with their kids. It seems to be a sport that more and more families are drawn to."

Drake, the San Jose boarder, says: "I get grief from my friends who are still into skiing. There's a competition between the two different tools, but they basically get you the same thing, which is enjoyment in the snow."

John LaPlante, who publishes the Web site Graysontrays.com, said older boarders are not likely to be noticed at large resorts. But even if a teenager flashes him an odd look, he doesn't really care.

"At Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, I don't think it's as much of an issue," he said. "If you're at a little molehill where you've got a lot of park rats, on occasion you'll get somebody who's surprised. I took a lesson a couple of years ago, and when we were on a break, a fellow who was 18 looked at me and said, 'That's good what you're doing -- for a guy your age.' " LaPlante is 42.

But terrain parks and pipes still belong to younger boarders, who perform tricks and enjoy watching others in their age group ride rails or catch air. Ironically, those areas of resorts were initially created to keep boarders and skiers separated, mostly because boarders often ignored ski etiquette in favor of a kamikaze style of riding. But now skiers -- at least the younger ones -- are as likely to be seen in terrain parks as boarders.

"As parks and pipes have become larger draws," said Kirkwood's Cohee, "a portion of resorts' snowboard market congregates there. But a 50-year-old snowboarder doesn't care about the park. They're the ones you'll find on the mountain."

Which is fine with them. Ask most middle-aged boarders and they're likely to talk about the joy of gliding down a mountain.

"It's a more intuitive way to slide," said Bill Chaffee, co-founder of GO50, short for Global Over-50 Ski Club, based in South Hadley, Mass. "It's a different enough approach that you see the mountain differently once you put your feet on a snowboard. It's a new way to experience the same old place you've been sliding around for years."

And it's reaching more people as each winter passes.

"We have snowboarders here who are in their 70s," Rice said. "It really does cross all generations."