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Which is more difficult - skiing or snowboarding?


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I mean at both beginner level and also getting really competent level?

 

I have taken up skiing but I always feel boarding looks easier.

 

Please be kind, I'm new to all this!

 

:wave:

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It's a difficult one.   With snowboarders general brain size being considerably smaller, even though the actual action of snowboarding is easier, perhaps relatively for them it's about the same leve

I reckon you can ski from day one but not snowboarding. For example, a 3 yo can go on a ski but not a snowboard. Ski is just a extention of your feet. I mean its longer shoes with slippery soles yo

It's a difficult one.

 

With snowboarders general brain size being considerably smaller, even though the actual action of snowboarding is easier, perhaps relatively for them it's about the same level of challenge?

 

:confused:

 

;)

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Friends who do both tell me boarding has a faster learning curve, but then most of them were skiers first, which probably gave them a headstart in terms of balancing, etc. One boarder friend who's started skiing said skiing is more difficult.

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Friends who do both tell me boarding has a faster learning curve, but then most of them were skiers first, which probably gave them a headstart in terms of balancing, etc. One boarder friend who's started skiing said skiing is more difficult.

 

having done both, and actually starting from the boarding side, I personally feel that while snowboarding does have a steeper/faster learning curve (in that once you master the basic acts of balancing and braking/controlling your descent, then your ability shoots up), from a total beginner's POV, I reckon skiing is easier. Its more natural, both feet have a plank and are pointing in the same direction as said planks. 1st day on a board was hell on earth, lots of falling over, sitting down, whipping of neck and if you finally do get to stand up for any significant length of time (ie more than a millisecond), you scrape along usually in one direction (heel or toe side) till you get to the edge of the run, either deck it and flip over or simply stop and flip over and start it all again. At least my first day skiing I managed to go down the slope at a pace where I actually felt the wind on my face, I was snow ploughing like a champ and managed to stop well before the edge of the run!!

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Maybe the key is that the one you start later always seems easier because you're already accustomed to sliding on snow.

Your description of your first day of boarding, Tubby, reflects exactly memories of my first day (or 20) on skis. :lol:

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As i have only ever skied I can't really comment, but a friend of mine who is a skier, actually used to be a ski instructor has tried snow boarding too and said it was easy to pick up then skiing!

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Maybe people are naturally better at one than the other and feel that skill is easier to pick up?

 

So far I have only boarded. My first little while boarding was so like tubby's it is not funny! Hell!!

My first time on ski's will be this August. I promise to record it for your amusement.

 

I think I will pick up skiing easier for a lot of reasons.

First the logical and often touted 'skiing is easier to pick up at a basic level' for pizza and fries moves anyway.

Second, when I first hit the snow for boarding I had to learn about snow types, how it responds when it is icy or powdery or crusty. I had to learn the mountain rules, about piste pitch, and CHAIRLIFTS! Oh God, there was a big fear to face. I have always been terrified of heights and terrrified of being out of control, loading unloading and riding of lifts was a huge hurdle for me. Those things mastered I think learning to ski can't help but be easier than learning to board.

Thirdly, I have watched LOTS of skiers. I spent a lot of time learning to predict people's lines and behaviour on snow for my own self preservation, so I think I have an understanding of the difference between skiing and boarding, so adapting my movements shouldn't be too hard. I also have a couple of ski instructors as mates ... So free lessons will help! :)

 

But I highly doubt I will ever be as good a skier as I am a boarder, even though I am only 5 or so years into boarding. I think the higher levels of skiing are much more technical than boarding, and the injuries when you wipe out more severe. Just MHO. I feel like I have some protection by having my legs splinted together in the bindings of my board. Rag dolling it not such a scary thing as it would be if you were on skis and one or both don't release!

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I reckon you can ski from day one but not snowboarding. For example, a 3 yo can go on a ski but not a snowboard.

Ski is just a extention of your feet. I mean its longer shoes with slippery soles you are wearing .

You start ski with bogen and progress to parallel. Some people find this progression difficult. Some do it in one week, others take years.

Snowboarding - you defo fall more on your first few days. What is more difficult on snowboard is as one advances. When you go down very steep area / icy

- you only have one edge to lean on. Easy to go down 60 degree slopes on ski but not on snowboards. Moguls are a bitch.

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yeah, I agree with you Jynnx. My brother, who originally got me into boarding, used to be a ski instructor (and eventually woke up and saw the light) also thinks its easier to begin skiing than boarding

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Yeah TB

You know what´s easier and way cool on snowboard.... Pow

It´s like skimming/ surfing on snow.

With ski, it´s bobbing up and down. Why would you like to be buried up to your chest in snow :p

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There is also this..

 

 

I think with skiing...the intermediate level plateau is long and takes some serious effort, fortitude, and time to get over. Whether any skier admits it or not it ain't cool when you take a bad spill or any spill for that matter. That, "I don't want to be laughed at" fear is like an engine governor and will make the skier back off a bit and that last little bit of "going for it" is where the progress is. Boarders spend half the time on their butts and a boarder crashing is just part of the getting better experience.

 

Just a different slant I was thinking about.

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There is also this..

 

 

I think with skiing...the intermediate level plateau is long and takes some serious effort, fortitude, and time to get over. Whether any skier admits it or not it ain't cool when you take a bad spill or any spill for that matter. That, "I don't want to be laughed at" fear is like an engine governor and will make the skier back off a bit and that last little bit of "going for it" is where the progress is. Boarders spend half the time on their butts and a boarder crashing is just part of the getting better experience.

 

Just a different slant I was thinking about.

I know it can look like that from the outside, but I spend very little time on my butt.

Obviously just standing at the edge of the piste waiting for your mates requires a fair bit of balance on a board, so many assume the butt position in such circumstances - I prefer the knees...and face back UP the piste. That way I KNOW I am not going to be hit from behind, or have a mate slide in to a seat a bit too fast and crack me across my back with his/her board. (yes it has happened).

 

I also rarely sit to fasten my bindings, whether I use my preferred Fastecs, or like in Niseko hired regular highbacks. I stand, lean over, fasten bindings - away we go.

 

I might find a nice vantage point for a photo and sit a while though.

 

As for crashing - I don't like doing that on a board either! It happens sure, but we try to avoid it as much as the skiers I reckon. Just happens that it is easier to wipe out on a board than on skis, when you are learning particularly. I have watched people compensate for poor form on skis by spreading their legs wider, and adjusting their balance on the other leg... no such luck on a board - it takes a lot of core strength and grunt to pull out once you have over balanced or caught an edge.

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I have learnt both to a reasonible level and agree with TB first day experience on a board. It was hellish, but overall I thought the learning curve was faster. As for the surfy turns, this is what you can experience on today's skis.

I saw the light and went back to skiing, just the availability of more terrain. Here is a diagram illustrating my point:

The red line is the ski lift and to the right is open terrain.

terrain.jpg

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I don´t understand how people find it difficult to traverse on snowboards :confused:

Sure, you can´t walk on a flat surface, i mean to traverse on a horizontal,

but if it is going down, you can traverse ! It´s like going up down in a pipe section of a wave on surfboards ...

It´s just easier on ski because you have 2 edges.

I don´t find accessability an issue, It will only be so when you go to places where skiers have dynafit bindings and then ... we will have splitboards!

 

I haven´t tried the fat skis yet ... maybe one day.

I still think skis can be problematic in pow ... when one ski goes deeper and separates from the other.. but then again, it´s easier to get out from flat sections and walk ..

 

What is nice on skis .. you can skate on it ...on flat hardpack or going down , boost speed. Can´t do that on snowboard.

Beginning to be able to snowboard with my back feet unstrapped - which saves time to go from lift to lift on short distance.

pumping on a snowboard isn´t that fun compared to longboards on asphalt

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Horizontal traversing is what I was meaning Jynxx, staying as high as possible (traversing very close to horizontally) on a board, without carring poles is extremely difficult. Then having to traverse back round to get to the lift again is difficult. Hence my picture.

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Yeah Sand has a point. Illustrated pretty well the other day at kagura when we went riding off the side of the forest course. My wee brother isn't as good a boarder, but he tried to keep up....he found the traverse really difficult as he wasn't comfortable at speed through the small patch of trees and as a result would fall over.....this meant to get going again he'd need to lose a bit of height to get momentum enough to ride/traverse along to where we were waiting for him. If he was a skier he could have made that traverse a lot easier without losing height. Actually he probably shouldn't have been in there with us, but he wanted to try. He quit for the day just after lunch

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There´s something really groovy about snowboarding ...

I stopped skiing for a long time. Snowboarding really got me going again. I say that skydiving and snowboarding really changed my life.

But what really grabs me is the Hights... The mountain. It´s so good to be up there, chill out and take my time, and then go for it.

I´m a lazy bugga. I don´t mind climbing up but I hate going back down. Slidind down, flying down on a canopy is great way.

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