Some friends of mine and I are in the process of planning a skiing/snowboarding trip for late February/early March. I’ve never tried either one since my family just wasn’t into that kind of thing, so this is going to be a NEW experience. I’m probably going to stick with snowboarding since there aren’t as many pieces of equipment that I could potentially use to hurt myself; plus, it looks cool. From what I’ve heard and read so far about both sports, I think balance-wise I might have more fun with snowboarding.
Do any of you ski or snowboard? Any advice on gear or technique that I can’t Google for myself? I value your unique perspectives.
Skiing is easier to start than snowboard in terms of getting around and balancing, and probably easier to learn overall. If you like the challenge in technical difficulty then go for snowboarding
Skiing is demanding on the ankles, snowboarding also demands alot from your hips, I believe (I only do skiing, can’t speak for the other from pers. experience).
Take a class, they’re mostly inexpensive and it beats ramming a tree.
If you know how to skate, you know how to ski. Its very similar. If you know neither, as Zero said, pay for an instructor or have a friend show you how to not impale yourself on a tree.
Beginners will pick up either one easily because they have nothing to unlearn. I learned skiing first and then tried snowboarding. I couldn’t get over the fact snowboards canchange direction when going down a hill. As in, you could be going down left leg first and then have it switch to right leg first.
Skis have an advantage over boards when you’re getting around at the bottom of the hill. Like Sin said, if you can skate, you can get around on skis.
Well, if you want the easy way out on skis, try snowblades or bigfoots. Basically, shorter skis that allow you to “skate” your way in snow, so no sticks requires either. There’s a whole lot less material to turn around, so it’s a bit easier for beginners.
If SPEED is what you want, go with traditional slalom ones. You might need sticks for those, depending on your body balance.
Gonna go on a week’s worth of gravitation on 28th February to 5th March! :D/
From what I’ve heard and read so far about both sports, I think balance-wise I might have more fun with snowboarding.