Snowboarding or Skiing ?
- Thread starter SiHH
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Got a Flow Infinite T3. I bought it off someone I know and they said it was awesome on powder, and all the other people I've asked about it have said the same thing. Since I've only ever been on hire boards or my beginners board beforehand though, it seems awesome at everything to me
.I'v been boarding for a long time now. I'v never tried skiing so i cant really compare them.
As for the speed, i think if you straighline it down a hill a board goes a little faster because of the bigger surface area, but skiiers can keep a lot more speed through turns because they have twice as many edges.
As for the speed, i think if you straighline it down a hill a board goes a little faster because of the bigger surface area, but skiiers can keep a lot more speed through turns because they have twice as many edges.
No rails?Paradigm said:
Snowboarding is pretty much universally accepted as being the easier to learn.How do u figure this? It looks waaay too easy to me to be any fun.. when a 4 year old can do something it cant be all that difficult to do .... snowboarding on the other hand is more of a challenge in my mind, it may be able to do better tricks, it may be faster, but from an outside view skiing just looks to simple, point urself down and go... snowboarding u have to work for it
The important point is that both are AWESOME!
Whichever you decide to learn first, stick at it. I hated skiing when I first tried - it was difficult, painful and hard work. Thankfully I didn't give up and 10 years later although I'm still not great, I can tackle most runs on the mountain and there's nothing better than gliding down a deserted slope with just the sound of the snow under your skis and seeing the 'glitter' of moisture particles in the air.
Last year in Canada there were periods where it was just the 4 of us in a group, all swooping along in each others tracks without a soul near us. I couldn't help but let out a huge 'yeeeeeeeeeehah!' - best feeling in the world.
Whichever you decide to learn first, stick at it. I hated skiing when I first tried - it was difficult, painful and hard work. Thankfully I didn't give up and 10 years later although I'm still not great, I can tackle most runs on the mountain and there's nothing better than gliding down a deserted slope with just the sound of the snow under your skis and seeing the 'glitter' of moisture particles in the air.
Last year in Canada there were periods where it was just the 4 of us in a group, all swooping along in each others tracks without a soul near us. I couldn't help but let out a huge 'yeeeeeeeeeehah!' - best feeling in the world.
Nah, I'd say it was the other way around.
In my experience, people pick up skiing quicker, say if you go out on a holiday with little to no prior knowledge.
Where as, some of the people I taught snowboarding did pick it up quickly, there are many who can do a whole week and still not be getting very far. Especially if they fall on their arse too much and end up so bruised that they can't face another go.
Skiing is a lot more stable and you can usually be zipping around greens and blues by the end of a week.
The real difference is that to master good skiing techique takes a lot more skill and longer... Where as once you have picked up snowboarding, you progress really quickly and will plateau very soon, unless you learn tricks.
i'd take a poma over a t-bar any day! my local centre has t-bars and it's taking me weeks to find a position that doesn't make my front foot ache. the fact it's not got round edges ****s me off too
another issue is when you've got an uphill section in powder, and you just know you're never going to make it as you go slower and slower..
Speed baby speed! When facing up hills make sure you approach them with a lot of speed and do not carve into them! Stay flat on the board and try to keep your weight forward a little, you should have enough momentum to make it over the lip.
As for flats, get low (as in knees really bent) and get your weight over your front foot. This should keep you moving forward a lot more than otherwise, and if you need to get more speed just use your hands to push yourself along the ground!
Nah, skiing is easier to learn, but harder to master. Trust me, compare two beginners classes, skiers and snowboarders, it aint the skiers that spend most of their lessons on their asses!
I’ve been skiing about three times this year and snowboarding once. My vote definitely goes to skiing. After trying snowboarding, I never want to do it again. I found it felt totally un-natural because you can’t move your feet separately and you are going down sideways instead of forwards (apart from when my board randomly decided to turn itself round on several occasions, and then I was going down backwards). You also spend ages doing your boot up then undoing it. The only advantage I found with it was that when you fall over at high speeds, you just get normal bruises, whereas falling over on skis often twists your knees and ankles.
I am surprised to hear people saying that the cool people are skiing now. Every time I’ve been, I been practically the only bloke between the age of 16 and 30 that is skiing instead of boarding. That is in Japan though with virtually no foreigners so perhaps it’s different to the resorts in Europe and North America.
I am surprised to hear people saying that the cool people are skiing now. Every time I’ve been, I been practically the only bloke between the age of 16 and 30 that is skiing instead of boarding. That is in Japan though with virtually no foreigners so perhaps it’s different to the resorts in Europe and North America.
I could ski, switched to boarding and have never looked back. I've been boarding for about 15 years now and I love it. I ride with skiers and boarders and they are both great sports (surely all that boarders vs skiers nonsense is a bit 90s isn't it? enough of it spouted here, you know who you are! and you are the same people who wear multi-coloured rasta hats on the mountain, make a lot of noise and are much ****** than you realise you are.)
The first few days of snowboarding can be much more frustrating than skiing, but get through that barrier and it really is rewarding. Have a play at both and see what you like.
Last week I started to teach a friend who is a solid intermediate skier (as in happy on any slope, reasonably fast and stylish, ok in powder) to board and at the end of his first day he was in serious pain but was smiling. Don't expect linked turns day one. In my experience the basics of skiing come faster but you can be a pretty good boarder in quite a short time frame compared to skiing once you have the basics down.
The first few days of snowboarding can be much more frustrating than skiing, but get through that barrier and it really is rewarding. Have a play at both and see what you like.
Last week I started to teach a friend who is a solid intermediate skier (as in happy on any slope, reasonably fast and stylish, ok in powder) to board and at the end of his first day he was in serious pain but was smiling. Don't expect linked turns day one. In my experience the basics of skiing come faster but you can be a pretty good boarder in quite a short time frame compared to skiing once you have the basics down.
Soldato
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I would very definitely learn to ski, and once you are quite confident skiing most slopes, then try snowboarding. It is much better to be a good skier who can snowboard whenever they want ofr a change, than vice versa.
Both sports are fun, I cnan't argue which is more fun. But there are some practical issues that differentiate the 2. Skiing offers more control due to independent legs, double the edges, and longer straighter running surface is more stable. Hence the world speed records are far faster for skiers, skiers ski far faster down a downhill or GS course, and can ski faster down a slalom course. Skis handle ice and bumps better. In fact, bump skiing is actually a lot of fun, but generally a nightmare for snowboarders.
Maybe that is not important to you. Skis also clip into boots easily without any adjustment, the step in bindings never took off in snowboarding so you need to sit on your ass adjusting straps a lot. This normally means when you get off a chairlift the snowboarders will sit down as the skiers race pass. The drag/poma lifts are also simply with skis, but snowboarders take a long time to master them.
Snowboarding is great at going though powder. The problem for off-piste is that A, they cannot traverse easilly to the powder fields. And where skiers simply need to push themselves along with their poles, or do a skating motion, snowboarders will have to unstrap and wlak along often dangerous traverse slipping, or simply post-holing with the snow going up to their waist. Skiers will quickly get to terrain further out. This whole process will repeated at the bottom of the powder field if it goes flat (as it often does) where boarders will need to unstrap and walk.
I've seen some snowboarders carry snow-shoes with them to negotiate such traverses and walkouts.
Even if you don't go off-piste, you get similar problems on any piste that goers flat or has an uphill. A skier can more comfortably tuck down and go fats, but the main difference is the skiers simply push or skate op the slope.
Then there is the fundamental things. Skiing was designed as a transportation mecanism in snowy landscapes. As such it is highly adaptable to travel in the mountains.
Personally I really enjoy ski touring and ski mountaineering. That is, you have skis on your feet with special bindings that let you raise your feet normally and special skins with a 1-way grip that let you glide up the mountain. If you like to ski powder where no one else has, or enjoy the peace of the mountains in winter, touring is great. Snowboards have 3 options: 1) take snow-shoes and laboriously slumber up the mountain with snowboard on their back, 2) buy short light skis they use to climb up with the board on their back, then swap over at the top, 3) learn to ski and do it on skis.
After messing with option 1, most learn to do option 3. As such the number of back country boarders is very low.
It took me 2 hours to learn to snowboard and I do it once or twice a year for giggles. I ski 50-80 days a year
You can do all of that on skis, the difference is your legs are independent allowing even more different tricks and much easier landing.
I used to Ski and enjoyed it but I got pretty bored of it. I went to snowboarding and have done since for the last few years. I just prefere it, im not to fussed about going 10000 mph I like to go off-piste, do jumps & rails which is more my cup of tea.
This is very true, and back up by statistics. Snowboard sales are dropping, ski sales increasing. Similar things to lessons and instructors. Was in the paper here about snowboard instructors re-training as ski instructors since the demand is falling.
We will probably see skiing represent about 75% of piste users , snowboarding 20%, 5% other stuff like blades. At the moment it is about 65% skiers to 30% boarders, 5%others. This varies by resort, in some places 90-95% of users are skiiers, other closer to 50%