SNOWBOARDERS WELCOMED AT MOST SKI AREAS.

Byline: John Flinn San Francisco Examiner 

Either it's a sign we're all learning to get along - or that the barbarians have finally kicked down the gate. This coming ski season, the last Tahoe-area holdout, Alpine Meadows, will finally back down and open its slopes to snowboarders.

In recent years, Alpine had based its marketing in part on keeping its terrain snowboard-free. Visitors were greeted by a sign that said, ``Welcome to Alpine Meadows, the Skier's Mountain. No Snowboarders, Please.''

That sign has come down, and now Alpine has officially joined its competitors in welcoming boarders.

``We feel the sport has grown up,'' said Alpine spokeswoman Brinn Talbot. ``Our guests' needs have also changed. A lot of families have snowboarders in their midst, and we want to welcome them, too.''

What remains to be seen is how conservative skiers - those who skied at Alpine to avoid snowboarders - react. Several times over the last few years, at resorts where the two groups mix, I've seen skiers and boarders almost come to blows.

Skiers usually couched their complaints in technical terms. Snowboarders, they said, didn't have enough control. The radius of their turns was too wide. They scraped off the top layer of snow.

But most of the animosity, I suspect, has been cultural. Snowboarders looked to urban skateboarders for their grunge fashions and outlaw attitude, and their pierced eyebrows and apparent disrespect for rules didn't sit well with older, more conservative skiers.

``Originally, among snowboarders, the manufacturers supplied the idea that these people were rebels, misfits, people thumbing their noses at polite society,'' said Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Association. ``And there definitely was a quasi-outlaw element out there. We had some problems.''

That has changed, though, as more and more baby boomers have sampled the sport - and found that they like it. And it's hard to be a true outlaw in a $350 North Face snowboarding parka.

Those of you who are old-time skiers and don't like the way things are going - well, you'd better get used to it. Between 15 and 20 percent of all the business at Northern California resorts now comes from snowboarders, according to the CSIA. At some Southern California resorts, four out of every 10 people on the mountain are boarders.

And each year, the balance is going to keep tilting in favor of snowboarders. Teen-agers are almost three times more likely to snowboard than to ski, according to a 1995 survey by the Ski Industries of America. And there's no reason to think they'll switch to skis when they get older.

Now that they've been sharing the mountain at most resorts for a few years, the ill will between the two groups is melting away, according to Roberts.

``People are learning how to ski and snowboard together,'' he said. ``It used to be that 30- and 40-year-olds felt trepidation when they heard a snowboarder rattling up on them from behind. But now there's a tremendous sense of athleticism in the sport, and the skill levels are coming way up.''

Some Tahoe-area resorts - most notably Sierra Tahoe and Boreal - are going out of their way to attract snowboarders, seeing them as the key to the future. Sierra Summit, for example, has created a separate boarding area with separate lifts, half-pipes (U-shaped troughs) and piped in music.

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Photo: Snowboarding, once only an annoyance to skiers, is now a recognized sport at most ski areas.

Lori Adamski-Peek/Park City Ski Area