Snowboarding
Have You Thought About the Dark Side?
(Image courtesy of Izzard’s photostream on Flickr)
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before, but: my first couple of trips to Whistler were to ski. I would head to the mountain with my cousins, a borrowed pair of bright yellow Atomic skis under my arm, and spend the day cruising green and blue runs on Whistler mountain.
As a skier, I was pretty bad. I could keep my skis apart, but I never used my poles – not because I didn’t need to, but because my technique sucked. I also wasn’t very fast. And I remember one time accidentally heading down the start of Whistler’s Dave Murray Downhill, a black diamond, and not being able to do it nor get back up to the start of the run. It was pretty embarassing.
I think the final straw, though, was when I (stupidly) ducked some ropes with my cousin to do A-Line, a popular mountain biking trail in the summer and an unmarked run in the winter. I say the move was stupid because I was a beginner skier, and A-Line was a narrow run with a lot of rollers and tight turns. I promptly ended up wrapping my legs around a tree, and realized I had put myself in significant danger. It also reminded me how dangerous skiing could be, because your legs could move in opposite directs at once.
Anyway, I was thoroughly spooked after that and Josh taught me how to snowboard shortly thereafter. And the rest, as they say, is history. I liked having my legs locked to a board, liked the equipment better, and getting better and snowboarding seemed to be much easier than getting better at skiing (though I must admit it’s far easier to get started with skis than with snowboards).
I mention this because I personally got into snowboarding after skiing, so I know what I’m missing. But I’ve talked to several folks recently, including Josh and Steve, who’ve never really tried skiing. So they continue to ride not knowing what it’s like to strap two separate planks onto their legs. I personally prefer snowboarding, but I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried skiing to give it a shot a couple of times. Who knows? Maybe you’ll like the dark side better. Though I doubt it!
(As an aside, check out this video of A-Line in the summer and don’t tell me it wouldn’t be fun on a snowboard!)
Discussion
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I personally love snowboarding and skiing, but what about the great unloved Snow sport? SLEDDING!! haha
check it out Hot sledding action at awesomeallday.com
I skied three or four times before I tried snowboarding. And had a good time and definitely liked it.
But since I started snowboarding I haven’t skied at all.
I just enjoy the feeling of snowboarding better. The turns are more exhilarating… it’s hard to explain. It’s just more fun!
I totally expect to prefer boarding… but man those flats would be less frustrating if I had some poles.
You’re right. The learning curve for snowboarding is way shorter. I skied for years but only went one or two times a season. I was the dork in the powder pants over jeans, with an ugly toque I found in my parents closet and whatever jacket I had. I think I may have even worn a scarf at times… I never went enough to get good. Nor did I ever take more than just a few lessons with my elementary school. That’s not enough when it comes to skiing. With snowboarding, you can learn to be self-sufficient much quicker. It was my 7th day on a board when I successfully navigated my way down my first black diamond run. It wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t die and I did, in fact, turn at least once in each direction without bailing. I will never go back to skiing.
I usually don’t hesitate to concede to the fact that the optimal way of getting down a mountain is on a pair of skis. Especially after watching all them Warren Millers vids, I always did want to try it (after all, I was a far better inline skater than skateboarder), but could never muster up the desire to leave the board at home and RENT skis.
One day hopefully.. whether it be skiing, snow-tubing, or perhaps even ski blades, I wouldn’t mind trying all the different ways of getting down the hill.
I started skiing when I was 9 but switched to snowboarding at age 12. I don’t really remember much of what it was so long ago. I was thinking of renting a pair sometime just for laughs but I have so much fun boarding I never do.
In the end, they’re both great sports and they’re both more fun the better you get. While it would be great to learn both I would rather continue boarding just knowing I will always have fun.
I skied for a couple years before I boarded and I really enjoyed it. The only thing that convinced me to switch to snowboarding was surfing the POW POW!
Now that they’ve got those deep powder mountain skis it is definitely tempting…
I learned to board on a family trip, where everyone else was skiing, but I refused. I’ve never actually tried skis and have been boarding for 8 years. I work as an instructor and the mountain school director says I could make more money if I doubled both sports, but I can’t imagine being separated from my board. Maybe one day I’ll learn, but that could be a while.
As a little kid, my mom and dad taught me to ski in the late sixties at New England and New York ski areas. Crappy lace-up ski boots with minimal insulation, wood skis, and down jackets were the norm (as were cold, snowy winters). Throughout the seventies, we enjoyed the switch to fiberglass skies, down jackets and blue jeans, along with hard shell boots and sometimes really long lift lines (I remember waiting 1.5 hours just for one run on a warm, sunny day at Mt. Snow). In the eighties, throughout High School and College, sliding on K2s and Olin MKIV’s wearing a metallic burgundy “ski suit” kept me going (you don’t what to see those photos). In the nineties, I rediscovered skiing (thanks to some really great friends) with a nice new pair of Atomics and a new Thinsulate insulated jacket. Cargo pants replaced disco pants and blue jeans. Then, in 2001, after 34 years on skies, I finally took a snowboard lesson at Whiteface Mt. the Adirondacks. By the end of the first day I was doing “Kid’s Campus” from top to bottom without falling (but sore as hell). By my third day snowboarding I was doing black diamonds and was totally hooked. I felt like I had much more control than I ever did on skies. Maybe that’s because I’m fairly tall and always had pretty long skies. Since I learned to snowboard, I have never looked back. I was a big skateboarder in the late seventies, and this snowboarding reminded me a lot of the skateboarding days. I’m now in my eighth season on a board, and I still love it, especially in powder conditions. If you’re a long time skier, I highly recommend you try snowboarding.