Squaw Valley is the only mountain I have ever had a 120+ day season at. At Squaw, the skiers dominate the mountain. In fact, I have never heard of a good mountain where skiers do not dominate. There might be PARKS where boarders dominate, but not mountains. When the palisades go off, 80% of the people killing it are skiers. I really never saw a big rivalry at Squaw. Everyone pretty much got along. Maybe in places where the mountains are pathetic(socal, east, midwest) there is a rivalry, but not where I am. Skiers need to stop asking for respect, if you are ripping you do not need the approval of the action sports world. I have NEVER been asked "how come you don't snowboard" by a snowboarder who did not suck. Most people who have lived at a good mountain and developed some level of skill have respect for those around them, whatever their instrument of choice. WE DO NOT NEED THE RESPECT OF THE SNOWBOARDING COMMUNITY. As far as freeskier and snowboard joining forces, I don't know, don't have much of an opinion. But I am sick of hearing about how we need their respect, or "maybe this will get us more respect." It took snowboarders 22 YEARS to do Schmidiots after Schmidt first did it, and that took a monster snow year which made the line much easier than it had been before. We do not need the respect of the snowboarding community any more than they need ours. If you are a good skier you probably respect snowboarders, and if you are a good snowboarder you probably respect skiers.
