With your first trip planned to the mountains you now have the decision to make whether your going to ski or snowboard. There are some important variables to consider when it comes to deciding whether skiing or snowboarding is for you. Is it easier to learn to ski or snowboard? Which sport is easier to master? Which equipment is easier to deal with? How will you feel at the end of the day?
Snowboarding is easier overall than skiing. It is still difficult, however, when you factor in all of the different situations you’ll encounter on the slopes, snowboarding will give you the least grief. Snowboarding is harder to learn, but easier to master. The equipment is easier to deal with and more comfortable to wear.
In this article, we’ll go over what its like to learn to perform both sports. We’ll talk about why snowboarding is the easier sport. Then we’ll walk through all the scenarios where snowboarding might seem difficult, but is actually simple. We’ll compare the two sets of equipment to one another.
Table of Contents
Snowboarding is Easier and More Convenient than Skiing
Learning to snowboard will take several days whereas, on skis you’ll be getting down the mountain with ease a lot quicker.
While learning to snowboard you’ll spend a lot of time on your rear, because falling is a frequent occurrence.
You’ll learn to execute what they call a ‘falling leaf’ pattern. When you fall, you will fall back towards the mountain onto your butt.
Once your past the initial learning stage, its easier, and faster to progress on a snowboard. All you need to do is master heelside, and toeside edges. Then you will be able to easily move on to steeper blue and black diamond runs.
With skiing, you have to learn the ‘pizza,’ and ‘frenchfry’ to make your way down the mountain. Then you will be taught to execute what is called a ‘snowshoe’ turn. This will allow you to go right to left, and left to right down the hill.
Once your past this initial learning stage on skis, you’ll have to learn to symmetrically execute your turns. You’ll need to learn parallel, and carving turns. You will also need to learn to coordinate your movements with your poles.
Getting on and off lifts is harder on a snowboard, but that’s just while your learning. You unstrap your back foot after your run, and ride into the chairlift area. You ride the lift with one foot unstrapped.
Once at the top there are benches available to strap your foot back in. With skis, there is no strapping in and out, but you have to think about your poles while riding the lift.
When you encounter flat spots on a snowboard you will unstrap, and walk your board through the area. With a little planning you can avoid these areas of the mountain altogether, or build up some momentum to get through the trouble areas.
Ski boots are very uncomfortable to walk around in between runs. It’s impossible to walk normally in ski boots. Even when you unstrap them your feet ache terribly at the end of the day. When walking in snowboard boots you are able to walk normally, and they are easier to take off.
Carrying your skis is difficult as they often separate from one another. On top of that you have a set of poles that you have to carry. To carry a snowboard you just put it under your arm.
Transporting your snowboard is easier than packing up your skis. They easily strap onto your roof, or into your SUV or hatchback. Whereas there are two skis, and two poles you have to pack.
Full Comparison of Skiing Vs Snowboarding
As you progress with either skiing or snowboarding you will encounter certain difficulties. These will be bearable, or unbearable depending on which sport you choose. These Obstacles are further discussed below.
Learning
Don’t get me wrong learning to snowboard is a process. You’ll have to put in a devoted several days to master it. I recommend padding for your rear as you will be spending a bit of time on your bum. Any sport that’s worth learning takes an initial commitment, and snowboarding is no different.
You can invest in wrist guards as you will be using your wrists a lot to get up and down. Your wrists will be sore, but the muscles will develop quickly to accommodate the new movements your learning.
A helmet is another good investment. Most snowboarders continue to wear helmets even when they’ve learned to ride well. When you start hitting rails and jumps, or bombing hills you’ll want your helmet to protect your head.
Learning to ski doesn’t require padding because you are not falling with the same frequency as you do while snowboarding. It’s still no walk in the park.
With both sports, your first day is learning to turn. On a snowboard, the heelside edge is much easier to execute than the toeside edge for most people.
There is a psychological fear involved with turning your back towards the bottom of the hill. This makes sense because when you fall you’ll be falling backwards.
You begin by working on the ‘falling leaf’ pattern going back and forth with intermittent falls to the snowy ground. Once you’ve mastered the ‘falling leaf,’ you’ll work on alternating between heelside and toeside. You’ll gradually get faster at this, and that’s all you have to learn!
While learning to ski you’ll begin with the ‘pizza’ position to slow down. This is where the tips of your skis point towards one another. To speed up you will bring the skis parallel into the ‘fry’ position.
Once you’re comfortable with this, you will incorporate both movements into turns to traverse back and forth across the mountain. This is what’s called the ‘snowshoe’ turn. You move from ‘pizza’ to ‘french fry’ as you turn from one side of the mountain to the other. Once you begin to near the opposite side of the slope you’ll want to begin to ‘pizza’ as you turn back towards the other side of the slope. This will take some time to learn.
Mastery
Now that you’ve put in the hard work of learning to snowboard, usually just three days, you’re ready to advance quickly.
You’ve mastered your heelside and toeside edges, enabling you to go down some steeper slopes. The faster you go the easier it is to get on edge, and the less you’ll actually fall. These are the only two edges you will ever need in snowboarding.
On skis, now that you’ve mastered the ‘snowshoe’ turn you’ll need to progress to the quicker turns required for steeper slopes.
You’ll increase the speed of your so-called wedge turns over time. Next, you’ll need to learn parallel turns where you flatten both skis simultaneously so that your skis are on edge as you execute turns.
Once you have to go over obstacles like moguls you’ll need to adapt your style. You’ll have to learn to execute basic and dynamic short turns. You have to learn to move both your legs symmetrically to achieve the best results. This is a more complicated muscle memory process to achieve. Then there’s the ski poles to think about. You’ll learn to do single pole taps during turns, and how to keep them out of the way at high speeds.
Riding the Lift
Let’s face it riding the chair lift is a big part of skiing or snowboarding. You are on the chair about half of the time. Getting on and off is a challenge as well. You can get a snowboard grip pad or grip tape to place in the center of your snowboard so that your foot does not slip off.
However, if you want to save some cash you don’t need to buy this since the rubber on your boots sole is grippy enough.
To get on the lift on a snowboard you leave your back foot unstrapped. Simply walk your free foot as you would on a skateboard to gain some speed. Once you’ve got some momentum put your foot on the grip tape, and ride to the line for the chair lift. If you’ve ever skateboarded before this motion will be very familiar for you.
Learning to get off the lift is quite simple. You place the foot that has been unstrapped from the binding on this spot so that it remains secure. When your learning, the lift handlers will slow the chair speed down so that you are able to safely glide off the lift chair.
It is perfectly safe to ride your board with your foot free from the binding on your grip tape for a good distance. To slow yourself down you ease your free foot down onto the snow, thereby reducing your speed. Then aim for an open spot on the bench to strap your board back on.
Getting on and off the lift on skis is rather straightforward. It is recommended that you have a set of poles for flat surfaces. You use them to propel yourself forward. You continue to do this through the lift line, and to align yourself properly to get seated on the chair.
Getting off the lift you need to make sure that your poles do not get caught up on the chair or the ground. This will cause you to get hung up, and fall.
Riding the lift is slightly uncomfortable on one of your legs with a snowboard, because the board is dangling. You can cross you board over your free ankle to relieve the pressure on the strapped in ankle. Most lifts are high speed, and you’ll be back on the mountain in no time.
With skis you have to cross your poles over your lap, reducing the room for other riders on the lift. Both legs are dangling with skis attached. If you drop a pole you’ll have to go and find it on your way down to avoid being charged. This is also very dangerous for anyone riding below you.
Flat Spots
Every mountain invariably has flat areas mixed into the terrain. With skis this is not a problem. You use your poles to push against the ground and move forward. Without poles you can perform a skate like motion to gain speed. This will take longer, but some skiers do opt not to have skis for the reasons mentioned above.
On your snowboard there are several options. First, if you know the flat spot is ahead stop hitting your heelside and toeside edges in an attempt to gain as much speed as you can. Bomb the hill if your comfortable doing so. Then safely make your way through the other people that are going slowly in the flat section.
If you don’t make it all the way through the flat spot you’ll have to do some maneuvering. You can leave both feet strapped in, and use your arms to push yourself forward. Bend at the waist and use both arms to push against the snow in a sweeping motion.
If this isn’t sufficient you may have to unstrap from the binding and pedal yourself forward with your foot. Once the slope begins to steepen, strap back in, and your back to having fun.
In the worst case scenario you may have to unstrap both boots from your bindings, and walk towards the point where the slope steepens once again. Then strap back in, and continue to ride down the mountain.
Most mountains have very few flat spots, therefore, this won’t come up that often. Once you know where the flat areas are on a slope you may want to avoid those runs altogether. With this simple alteration the flat spots are no longer an obstacle to your fun.
Comfort and Convenience During Breaks
Once you’ve had a full morning of riding your sure to have worked up an appetite. You’ll make your way to the restaurants for a delicious lunch or snack.
Once you unstrap from your snowboard its simple to walk with the board under your arm. It is just as easy to store it in the racks that line the adjacent restaurant stations. Then, the best part is that walking in your snowboard boots is very comfortable.
You will be able to walk normally without altering your gait at all. There won’t be any additional aches or pains from walking in your snowboard boots. With skis its a whole different story…
Once you step out of your skis you’ve got two poles and two skis to carry. Keeping your skis together while walking can be a challenge, because they will often separate.
You’ve also got your poles to think about and carry. Storing all of this upright without falling requires a little extra attention and care. You may even want to get a locker to secure all four items together.
Walking in skis is very uncomfortable. You will not be able to walk normally, and will be sore from the awkward gait you’ll need to adopt. The way ski boots are designed is not ergonomic for walking. You won’t want to take your boots completely off because there so hard to get on. So for your entire lunch or break you’ll basically be uncomfortable.
Getting Back to the Cabin
When you’re done for the day you’ll need to drive all of your equipment back to your cabin, or hotel. A snowboard will easily fit on racks, or slide into your vehicle. Your helmet, and gloves go in next. You’ll remove your boots simply by unlacing them, and sliding them off. You will be able to easily take off your padding once your back at the cabin.
If you’re a skier you’ve got two skis, and two poles to fit into your vehicle. They are longer than a snowboard, and there’s four of them. Taking off your ski boots is harder than taking off snowboard boots. They have a series of buckles, as opposed to laces, that you must ratchet to loosen. Then you’ll need to sit down to pry them off.
After all of that you’ll be happy to be back in the comfort of your cabin or hotel. If you chose to snowboard or ski there will be some differences in how your body feels.
If you chose to ski your legs and thighs will be very sore. Skiing requires more fitness than snowboarding does, and there are few sports that mimic the movements needed. Therefore, there are few cross training options for skiing and you will feel this.
With snowboarding your forearms will be quite sore from pushing up from the ground after falls, or re-strapping your bindings. Your back, but, and hamstrings will be sore from heelside, and toeside maneuvering. You’ll also feel the burn in your core muscles.
If you perform other board sports like skateboarding, surfing, or wakeboarding, you’ve already developed the same muscle strength used to snowboard. You’ll be building upon the skills you’ve already developed doing other board sports by snowboarding. That’s why ultimately snowboarding is the easier option when you are a board sport enthusiast.
