Although it has the image of being a young, trendy sport, an increasing number of snowboarders hitting the slopes are pushing 30 or older, according to the Canadian Ski Council.

Among Canada's 18 million skiers and snowboarders, the proportion of snowboarders 24 and under is below 70% for the first time ever, the council's figures from the last two years showed.  "Snowboarding's been around for a long time now, it was totally a young demographic group in the beginning," said Colin Chedore, the council's president.

More older boarders
But people who took up the sport as teenagers a decade or more ago are grown up. Now 35% of Canadian snowboarders are between the ages of 24 and 64. The number of older snowboarders has steadily increased over the last few years.

"The growth in those age demographics is likely because they've done it for 20 years," said Chedore.  Although the typical snowboarder is still a young, white male in high school or college, the data also shows that snowboarders are more ethnically diverse than skiers and the proportion of snowboarders with full-time or part-time jobs is increasing.
But while snowboarders are getting older, and presumably wiser, serious injuries on the slopes are on the rise, Canadian researchers said.

Younger boarders 'use less brain power'
"Snowboarding is slightly riskier than skiing and we're not sure if it's inherently riskier or there's more risk-taking behavior by snowboarders as compared to skiers," said Dr. Charles Tator, a neurosurgeon at Toronto's University Health Network and one of the authors of the study.

"The younger group is still getting more injuries because they're taking more risks, they're going faster, they're using less brain power and more muscle power."

[Source: Reuters]