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I snowboard and, on those rare perfect blue-bird powder days, the go-pro army hits the slopes in force. I'm conflicted about them to be honest. Boarding (or s

by beloch 14y ago

I snowboard and, on those rare perfect blue-bird powder days, the go-pro army hits the slopes in force. I'm conflicted about them to be honest. Boarding (or skiing) is very much about the story. While it's exhilarating when things go right, the most entertaining stories come from when things go wrong. Swapping those stores in a hot-tub or over a much-needed dinner is a big part of the experience. Being able to toss narrative to the wind and just whip out your phone and show off video of the insane trouble you've gotten into cheapens the experience somehow. I get the appeal of capturing those perfect moments, but I don't want to lose the story in the process. Maybe I'll try recording my runs someday, but for now I prefer to live the story.

freehunter 14y ago
One issue I've noticed with the GoPro army as a quad-bike rider is the increasing amount of high-speed riders on the trails. At the sand dunes I don't have as much of a problem with it (although not watching over your hills is another issue), but on tight trails with people looking to get that perfect YouTube shot it can be deadly. I don't ride with a GoPro, but I pull over for those who do quite often. There's nothing wrong with GoPro, and I would have one if I could justify the cost at this point. Idiots will be idiots, the real issue is they now have an audience larger than the other people on the trail. I'd love to see public trails go camera-free just because (in my anecdotal experience) a small but significant minority of riders lose all sense when the reward of a million views is dangling over their head.