Well, mostly the 'rivalry' is good natured, but there are exceptions. I go pretty far back. Jake Burton actually was inspired by Snurfers. My brother had a Snurfer when we were kids long before I skied. It was just a flat 3' wooden board with an upturned tip and a rope attached to the tip to hold on to. In Illinois, we didn't have hills so we went sledding down the embankment at a highway overpass, which is pretty steep, but short. My brother got pretty good on his Snurfer ... I couldn't stand on it for more than 10'
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When I was a senior in HS in 1973, I went to Stowe to ski with my new BIL. He was on ski school staff so it felt pretty cool to hang out with locals. I have a vague memory of going out one night to see a film that a local guy put together about shredding thru tight trees on a board that was a lot like that Snurfer. I'm pretty sure it was Jake Burton. I'd guess that his film was shot in the trees because he wasn't riding the lift with his board at that time.
I think that most of the appeal of snowboarding is that it is similar to surfing and it was very similar to the surfing culture at that time simply because it was rebellious. Snowboarding, like surfing, is no longer rebellious. Now, every rich kid who lives in a multi-million $ shore house surfs. Every Range Rover in the shore communities comes standard with a surf board rack. Just about every suburban kid who gets dropped off at the local area by parents that don't participate gets on a snowboard now. Increasingly, though, parents are on snowboards, too. I'd make a bet that snowboarders will start to try skiing as an alternative.
But, I'd also suggest that there are elements of the snowboarding culture that are similar to elements of the surfing culture that most of us would find pretty undesirable. What kind of reception do you think most outsiders are received in a surf line-up at certain LA beaches? It kind of gets that way in NJ where every would-be hood on a stick from Passaic to Bayonne shows up every Saturday in Vernon because it's only about an hour drive. Sure, there are plenty of local kids who are super-cool, like Danny Kass, and into it for the athletics. And they tend to gravitate to the New England areas or the Rockies where winter is better anyway.
It's funny that I had a discussion once with somebody who said they started snowboarding because they think it is easier to learn than skiing. I always felt that it would be the opposite. Years ago, I took my 2 oldest up to Brighton (Utah) for a day during a ski trip and we all put on snowboards. My kids grew up ski racing so at the time (they were 10 & 12 respectively) they were skiing all of the terrain at Snowbird and Alta. My daughter hated it, my son had a blast. At the end of the day, I felt like I had been in a football game. My daughter never had any interest in a snowboard, even though she also surfs quite a bit (and I think it is similar). My son gets on a board maybe 25% of the time now to ride around Solitude and back country in Big Cottonwood Canyon, maybe more (he's in his 30's now).
