you are clearly a beginner after 1 day or 100 days i skiied since i was 2 years old and now i am 27 spent 10 years in a skiing club and until now i still can improve things. I have skied with people who went on to drive in worldcups and i can say they are better and have a higher degree of mastery then me, but ocassionally also are not perfect. I think real mastery of skiing or snowboarding is pretty much impossible because it would take absolute perfection in every turn on every surface.
They didn't use the edges on the skis, but when they got back to snowboarding they just carved like crazy. This is not an educational video to try and explain each sport because they do not know how to ski. They just know how to snowboard. But at least he admits that it takes time to learn.
As someone who has done both for his whole life, skiing is easier to learn 100% but I think both are equally difficult to master. I think when it comes to park riding snowboarding may be slightly easier to start out learning tricks...in the end, who gives a shit, do whichever one you enjoy more and don't worry about the other one lol
Snowboarding was much easier to learn for me personally. I think it depends on preference to an extent. Everybody told me it was going to he harder to learn and that was just not my experience at all.
this is what I say to people even though I've only snowboarded. The saying is stupid. skiing is definitely easier to pick up but they both even out in difficulty pretty quickly
@@letstopdoingmad2060 I assume that people who say snowboarding is easier to learn have experience with some kind of boardsports, whether that be wakeboarding, skateboarding, surfing, etc. A big part of what is hard about learning to snowboard for lots of people is having both feet on one big piece of wood and moving to go forward. Skiing is more like most people's everyday life, you have two independent legs, you look forward, and you move forward.
I've been skiing for 62 years and snowboarding for 29. Certified instructor in both, teaching 20 years. Skiing is easier the first few days due to the bigger platform (as long as the ski length, as wide as you can stand with your feet - maybe 3 feet) and freedom to move feet independently of one another. The snowboard platform is usually a bit shorter and much narrower (about 11 inches wide) and you must balance between toe and heel; with skiing, if you lose your balance, you can usually pick up a foot and set it down somewhere else to regain your balance. Due to the single working edge and both feet fixed to one board, falls are much less predictable and often much harder for beginning snowboarders, especially those who don't take a lesson which includes how to prevent falling, and how to fall safely and with minimal impact. It's arguably harder for beginner snowboarders to get up from a fall, and takes a lot of energy out of them. After a few days to a few weeks, most snowboarders can go almost anywhere on the mountain (including steep slopes) relatively safely using the wide base to sideslip, destroying endless powder, but it's tiring unless they've learned to easily switch between use of both toe edge and heel edge. Skiers can quickly learn to descend beginner slopes with the wedge, making turns right and left to alternately rest muscles, and don't have to deal with the faceplant fears which snowboarders face when they must change from one edge to another to make a C-turn from heel to toe edge - the "moment of truth" because the board must be traveling in the direction it is pointing when the edge is changed to avoid a slam; timing is critical to a greater extent than with skis. However, descending steep slopes on skis requires more skill, whether by sideslip or by turning. Skiers have it easier in being able to see easily a broad swath in the direction they are going without twisting their neck or worrying as much what is going on behind their back when on the toe edge. However, as they progress, skiers must deal with more variables - 4 tools, with 4 edges, and any two edges can be used at one time, and can even use just one edge at a time, on just one leg to support their body weight. This makes their progression of skills slower. Snowboarders, thanks to connection of both feet to the same board, have the superpower of being able to twist the board which allows good snowboard turns to have a tighter radius, leads to easier riding through tight trees in powder, and enables easier continuous alteration of the radius of carved turns. Snowboarders have additional challenges in flexing legs independently, for example dealing with the up and down of traversing moguls, because the relative location of the feet is fixed on the one board, rather than free to translate horizontally and rotate independently with regard to the other foot. On ice, if the edge slips out, the snowboarder faces far greater challenge to recover balance than does the skier. Mastering skiing requires more skills of controlling independent movement of the skis. Mastering snowboarding requires making complementary movements with the feet and legs within the restrictions of the single board. Snowboarding delivers a purer sensation because of the single board, which is why I prefer it unless I am trying to go fast to keep up with friends on skis, or the slopes are ice. I can have bales of fun on a board in 8 inches of cut-up powder, looping through trees at 10 mph, constructing each turn as a unique exploration of varying radial acceleration to meet an ideal path decided on the spur of the moment. With skiing, some of this fun can be achieved, but the sensation is not as pure. I think it is easier to reach expert ability to descend steep slopes with style on a snowboard than on skis. Due to this, and also to snowboarding's skateboard ancestry, I think skilled snowboarders have historically engaged in more freestyle development than skiers with similar skill levels, as it is an additional way to express ability and interest in progression. Evidence of this is that AASI-certified snowboard instructors are required to demonstrate freestyle movements as part of their basic certifications, while PSIA-certified ski instructors are not. For better or (I believe) worse, freestyle is considered a vital part of snowboarding by these sibling organizations, which share common governance and membership. The institutional acceptance of personal risks of injury from freestyle movements required for higher levels of snowboarding certification probably arise from the fact that the sport is newer, with comparatively few older members, and relatively male-dominated across society. Additionally, I have to wonder if manufacturers support freestyle with teams and advertising partly due to the need for new boards created by board damage from freestyle on rails, boxes, and other hard features. Most snowboarders are unaware that the use of their boards on these features will generally eliminate the warranty.
Excellent analysis. I sum up to ppl: Trying to stay on, guide, and stop 1 wide and long plank is easier than 2 slim ones. It’s why it’s easier to get decent faster boarding than skiing….unless ur terribly unathletic. In that case, a lot skiing will close off for u too.
Best description and analysis yet. Accurate insight and thoughtful. I've heard it said powder is more fun on a snowboard. But that brings a lot more discussion. This came from the 80s and 90s when skis were narrow. And disregarded the difficulty of getting stuck in deep snow on a board. Etc.
Excellent response. There is a subjective component to this though. Everyone tells me that skiing is easier to learn than snowboarding, but my personal experience was the opposite. I struggled with skiing at the beginning. I took some lessons, but still felt clumsy and not confident. One day a friend had to convince me to try the snowboard. I reluctantly rented one and had a go. On day one, I was having a blast, crashed a lot but always felt safe. I never rode downhill skis ever again. This was 25yrs ago now (I do cross country skiing, but that's something different). Just like with cross country skiing, where people ask me if they should do skating or classic, when it comes to snowboarding vs skiing I always tell people to try both and go for the one that they find they enjoy the most. You will find it easier to progress if it's more fun
You discribet the difference verry well. But i think there are a view flaws in your concept. First: only because something looks cool or smooth, dosent mean it is easyer. It is true that you learn faster to slide down a steep slope on the snowboard then on skis because you must be able to make turns. But making turns on a steep slope with the snowboard is for the beginner extreemly scary. The pgrogress of ski studendts ist also way faster. You can learn skiing just by watchung others. Snowboarding only if you have a great coardination or other simmilar abilitys like skiing or skating. I thik the missconseption of the phrase comes from the fact that most of the people start with skiing and learn snowboarding later. So they are already experient in snowsports. I would say that mastery is mastery, there is no difference in in how hard it is to do. To be at the top you need to train all the time. 😊
As a 60 year old that just decided to switch from skiing to snowboarding, for me, skiing came natural. ( I was almost 40, the first time I skied). Before hitting Crested Butte this past December, I decided to snowboard. I already had knowledge of edges, and tons of instructional videos. After almost killing myself on day two, I took the rental board back, and bought my own board. Lol. Struggled a few more days. Headed to Keystone in February to continue the self inflicted punishment. Lol. So snowboarding is a little more difficult, but I think I’ll get it.
Never underestimate a good waxing and tune on a snowboard. Halfway through my second time out I was almost ready to throw in the towel and go back to skis after fighting to do the heel and toe transitions. It just wasn't happening and I barely had any control. A quick tune later it was like a completely different world. My board worked! And it properly reacted to my body inputs making everything sooo much easier.
I switched because when I skied they were narrow and shifty in powder. I grew up skateboarding so it came really naturally. I feel more comfortable going super fast on skis and more comfortable doing tricks on boards.
Get gear man. I'm over 40, I already know how to do it, but no way in hell I'd go to the mountain without full gear. Knee pads, butt pad, elbow pads, and a pair of motorcycle gloves work for me. Snowboarding is fun as long as you don't get hurt or injured.
I’m a former ski instructor. I can ski and ride (with carving). I think for the most part the saying is true. The issue is mastery is way more nuanced in skiing. For instance, you guys are getting down in your skis, but from a movement analysis standpoint, you have a lot of work to do. I have no doubt you can excel on skis tho, but to truly master it takes time and fine tuning. I’m even returning from a skiing hiatus and my mastery isn’t there right now. To most I look good, but I know I don’t have skiing mastered right now (and I use to). Also side note, many of our snowboard instructors would ski on their off days. They always said it was the challenge to master it that caused them to ski. They are all phenomenal riders. Still, both skiing and riding is awesome… do what you want to do.
Well 98 percent of skiers on all mountains look and ride exactly like they are. And usually it takes them longer to get to the point these guys are at in there first day. It's easier it definitely is. I skied for 10 years my dad pushed me into it. Then I just switched. Snowboarding is harder. We just push ourselves harder earlier cause we come from skate culture. Skier don't. There process of learning is much different than ours with a much different mind set. It truly is easier it's like comparing rollerblading to skateboarding. Rollerblading is just easier. The only exception I could bring into play here is style. It takes a long time to have style on skis. Which is why they get a bad rap of looking so dorky and where the harder to master comment comes in I believe but it's nit really valid. Snowboarders come from skate culture so people try to apply style before they can even ride. Cause they want to have that same stylistic steez feeling they have on there skateboard or surfboard. Skiers don't start skiing with these building blocks already applied amd in the back of there mind as they learn. Skiers have less to draw off of in that department it does take years to get style on skis. But to say people master Snowboarding faster is silly we just connect it with our skate and surf culture which skiing doesn't have. We gave that style to you guys though the tricks the clothes the grabs all of it evolved in skiing when skate culture hit snow sports. Snowboarding was born with style skiing had to look for it. They found a lot of it in us. We changed the way they move. What if snowboarding came first before surfing and skateboarding is the question you have to ask yourself. Where would skiing and snowboarding be if neither existed? Not where were at now that's for sure.
@@AlphabetikChemist There's a lot of them us in your comment as a sentiment. I used to skate, I skied my entire life and have begun snowboarding over the past 3-4 years... I completely agree with the saying that skiing is harder to master but easier to learn. It took me 2 weekends to get my edge control in a good shape on snowboards (broke my wrist first attempt lol) but once I got over that hurdle, the rest came very smoothly, that's not to say I've mastered snowboarding yet, but the drop in difficulty learning is HUGE once you're capable of carving, it's just a matter of listening and tweaking your technique. Whereas for skiing there is no HUGE hurdle, it's all just a progression you make through practice and improvements. So while I agree with the saying for what it conveys, they are both equally difficult to be perfect in. And skiing had and still has style XD skaters didn't invent style, the style of skiers before snowboarders was just wildly different tastes. Search up the ski dancing to get a taste, not my thing but my point is there was style lol
That comment about style is interesting. I can appreciate good skiing style, but coming from a surfing background I don’t really get snowboarding style. IMO the snowboard design applied to firm pistes limits the smoothness/elegance/stability of transitions from edge to edge - compared to surfing, surf skating, or skateboarding. Off piste is obviously a different story.
@@AlphabetikChemist Yeah... I disagree with that... I skated fulltime when I was younger, mostly street but also some halfpipe... I have decent balance and began skiing 3 years ago. Whilst it was fairly easy to get going on skis and I was parallel skiing by day 2, it has been very difficult to master, especially full carving turns and off piste stuff. Last year, out of curiosity I strapped on a snowboard for the first time and even got a lesson. Within half an hour I was doing heel turns down the slope, 'falling leaf' style, and within two hours was turning toe side... It felt incredibly natural and clearly for me - thanks to the skateboarding and surfing of my youth I suppose. I have chosen to stick with skiing because it is absolutely challenging, especially mastering full carved turns en piste, but also in the powder and crud off piste - which I imagine is way easier on a snowboard. I am over these snowboard versus ski youtubes, but I'm a sucker for the clickbait - in the end though, who cares... if you guys want to mess around at the top taking precious minutes to strap back in... avoid runs with flat sections like the plague... then go for it... in the meantime I'll persist with the horrendous torture devices called ski boots and everyone should be happy. Just don't camp out in the middle of a run below a rollover and we're all good!
Highly subjective question. I’ve done both. Skiing picked it up in less than an hour, snowboarding constantly fell for the first hour. Now to ski or snowboard with any kind of precision with correct technique I’d say even. You can easily tell the folks trying skiing in this video do not ski or are complete amateurs, back seat out of the gate and consistently, base platform way to wide, poor edge control, late turns, tail wash out, upper body rotation just to name a few. These are all aspects of skiing that are built in blocks not mastered in 4 days. I ski and way prefer it over the board, much more versatile platform especially in the back country and off piste trees and deep powder. Great video. Ultimately pick what you enjoy and shred the gnar
@@newagain9964I do both it is the fastest but certainly not the "safest". Injuries are more common on skis, major knee and leg injuries are less likely on a snowboard. I see far more skiers on the sled than snowboarders and I have seen some real Jerry's snowboarding on slopes way over their heads.
I started snowboarding at age 42 in 1990 and did so for 11 years. I went snowboarding last week for the first time since then (23 years ago) at age 75 and still had the basics down. Now I will continue. Snowboarding is harder to get started on the first few days. The first day is hell. The second day you progress 100% and are ready to go up the mountain (that's what I did in 1990). After that you progress quickly and I think it's easier to get better faster than skiing, but skiing is easier in the very beginning, but takes longer to get real good after the beginning. I learned and saw that in the 90s. It all seems like snowboarders have more fun on shallow slopes, but skiiers seem to just want steep and speed. Snowboarders have fun with tricks, like jumps or going fakey while going downhill and then go spin back the other way. I also would go down all the black diamonds and moguls back in the 90s. But all you have to do is be good at turning and the board is shorter than skiis, which makes me think skiis are harder on black diamonds and moguls because they are so long.
23 years ago, I left the mountains of Colorado and went to Florida and now in Asheville, NC. It's winter and I decided to see if I could still do it at Sugar Mountain, NC.. Snow's not as good as CO, but it's snow. Some sore muscles and sore from a few falls, but nothing extreme. Plus more tired than two decades ago. I'll try and keep it up. I'll check out some youtube videos to help, including yours.@@ShredSchool1
I think the biggest difference, apart from the first time stepping on either, is that for skiing mastery is quite defined and requires a lot of finesse and minor details, whereas in snowboarding even the pros often dont know the definition of "mastering it". Snowboarding is more free spirited hence mastery is your own definition whereas skiing is more set in stone with rules for every minor thing
I think that is a narrow view of skiing. Are there very well understood technique for racing and moguls? Yes. However, it is not a static sport and there is a lot open to personal preference or the details of the equipment. Fads come amd go. In early Freestyle skiing, various competitions would grade people on how well they cartwheeled in a fall. Equipment changes what is optimal as well. Compare Stein Erikson to Ted Ligety or look at how fat rockered ski pioneers like Shane Mcconkey handled powder compared to their predecessors.
Went snowboarding for the first time in 2001, a friend who knew me as a skater took me down my first run which was a Blue. I did well, so the next run was a black, i survived... so the 3rd run was moguls. I ended up doing cartwheels down the entire run and have laughed about this ever since. I've kept on boarding for 23 years now, and 3 years ago my 6 year old kid wanted to try skis first, so i taught her what i could (being a snowboarder after all) and decided last year I would take up skiing to help her along. I have been on skis but 5 times now, and am just now feeling comfortable enough to take on easier blues. So my point is, i was able to "descend" black diamonds on a snowboard my first trip, especially because you can bail on a snowboard, but 5 trips in on skis and i still wouldn't attempt a black diamond, because the technique needed to properly descend a black diamond, at least here in the NW where things are quite steep, well it takes time to master... plus skis have so many other niches that aren't even touched by snowboarders like ski jumping?? When is the last time a snowboarder launched themselves 600 feet headfirst through the air at 60 mph? As it is though, i prefer skis to be honest. There is a lot less falling on skis...
I skied as a kid now snowboard as a teenager and one thing I hate about snowboarding is that you cant see to the left (if you ride regular) very well and it makes me worried that when I go heel edge I'm going to hit someone whereas with skis you can see way better
You just have to look up hill regularly, on each of your toe turns get a good idea of where everyone is behind you on the slope, then on your heel turn just look back over your shoulder to make sure there are no surprises. I've never turned into anyone, and most of my close calls were from people on (mostly)skis or snowboards who never look uphill at all, and especially before they make a sudden wide turn that breaks their turn pattern. For instance you are behind and to the side of someone going down slope, and they are making consistent shaped turns, then suddenly they make a much wider and slower turn straight into your line without ever checking their blindspot. Skiers especially seem to have an issue with only looking directly straight in front of them, and never even turning their heads to the side. So many times I've pulled up next to a skier and ridden next to them for a couple minutes or more without them ever seeing me because they never turned their head.
I think that this phrase mostly comes from the first day of learning. Been skiing for 35 years and last winter I decided to learn how to snowboard. Alone, without help. It hurt. A lot. Maybe even had a small concussion. That does not happen on skiis. Pizza, then fries, so you progress gradually. It can lead to slow progress, because you don't have to fight for dear life when skiing. Once I figured it out, snowboarding did feel faster to master than skiing. Had some smooth turns on day 4, which took at least 20 days on skiis
@@newagain9964a full set of clothes can be 150€ at decathlon, half day lesson a bit over that. But you can’t be on the slopes without clothes, for some the problem is to pay for both. Also as a kid, clothes are muuuch cheaper if not free altogether as you can get them from older kids from friends and family.
Having done both as well, I think whatever you start with is easier to learn because alot more transfers over than you might expect. Years of seeing skiers on the mountain meant that the transition took 2 days rather than 15 years. Obviously not hitting anything crazy or near a big air spot. But both are just based on what you already know.
I used to ski race, and i can definitely say that what most people consider carving, isn't. To properly carve on skis, you have to be super forward and not slide the edges at all (for both skis). Both skis have to be parallel and at the same angle and there are very few skiers who can do this (almost exclusively racers). I tried snowboarding for a little bit, and after about 6 or so hours, I was able to lay down some smooth carves with no counterrotation. So I think basic turns might be easier on skis, but advanced carving is infinitely more difficult and takes years of training to master on skis.
This is so true. I am NOT the best skier on the mountain. I've been skiing since 2018 (I'm in my 60s... Late starter). Most attempts at carving are nice turns but not real carving. Occasionally I'll get it right and I just accelerate out of the turn like a rocket. At that point it is all I can do to initiate the next turn. OTOH, its all fun, whether I'm carving or just skiing with a bit of tail skidding.
With modern carving skis practically everyone can ride down a prepared ski slope in a resort without too much trouble. It was different 45 years ago when I learned skiing (I never heard about snowboards back then - I think they didn't exist in our country). BUT: Although it took quite some time to learn the proper technique, as soon as you managed to go down a black slope in one piece you nailed it. And this proper technique you need in more challenging conditions, like in terrain, in Powder or a very steep slope. What you presented here was not skiing, it was managing to get downhill with skis mostly on. It does take more than four days to master it, maybe even more than four years. I find riding powder (especially very steep terrain like when doing cross country skiing) much more difficult on skis then on a snowboard and even though I am not a skiing master I am even worse on the snowboard :) And I never managed to hurt myself while skiing - three weeks ago I managed to damage my knee while getting off a chairlift with the board and can only watch snowboard movies in this season, no riding for another 8 weeks or so :(
Not gonna lie, after being on the snow for 30 years and most of it without any safety gear, I now always wear my skating wrist guards and the most basic triple-8 brand knee pads along with a helmet (after nearly getting a concussion 2 years back after catching an edge). Just those basics can make a world of difference at times.
I tried skiing when younger and didn't like it. As I grew up surfing and skateboarding, I was carving after the first day snowboarding. It was easier for me. I go snowboard every 2nd to 3rd year and it's so easy to pick back up and carve. Definitely snowboarding is my preference.
I have skied a lot with pro snowboarders. I've done hard plate snowboarding only. Well we agreed on verdict. IT DEPENDS ON THE CONDITIONS!! Good Snowboarding much more natural in powder. Boots comfy. Rails etc more fun. Easier bailing yet prone to breaking clavicle cuz board wont come off unless you go aftermarket release bindings. Flowing ride Good Skiing much more skilled in icy conditions, fast tight turns and moguls. You can go much higher inverted. And helicopters look sick And as always who's ever having the most fun wins 🏆
Meh. I've never been on a snowboard. But I can see how a few years on skis would provide the conceptual understanding of snowboarding. I'm sure I could sufficiently pick it up in half a day so that I could ride down a blue groomer. My son has been teaching snowboarding the past few winters. Maybe the next time he and I are wintering in the same state I'll get him to teach me how to shred on a board.
I learned to both ski and snowboard as a child. I found snowboarding very intuitive and was doing turns on my first day so for me snowboarding was way easier to learn. However, I already had been skiing for many years before that and had skateboarded for a couple of years and I think that is what made the difference.
I think bailing is highly underated. Because on skis its a pain in the ass to collect all your shit so skiiers dont go out their comfort zone as much as snowboarders
This weekend I crashed on skis in a powder stash. I had to posthole back to my skis. I was reminded how annoying it is to get your skis solidly on the snow so that I can step on them and click back into the bindings. It kinda sucked. It certainly used several minutes that could have been spent making turns.
It is definitely true that skiing is difficult to master. Seeing the way you were riding those skis, you are an extreme exception. In fact, I would discard you from the statistical sample as such an unlikely outlier that counting your performance would skew the sample badly. I do both skiing and snowboarding and started with both just 3 seasons ago for the first time in my life. On a snowboard, I can already carve and ride down double blacks, but can't handle moguls. I am also able to do simple jumps. On skis, I still haven't been able to carve, maintain narrow stance a I am able to do simple jumps on skis. On skis, I have actually torn my ACL once and damaged the MCL on the same leg, and haven't fully recovered yet. In contrast, there were zero serious injuries with snowboard. Did get a few tailbone aches though. In summary, your performance is unusually good for a first time skier. Most normal skiers spend 5 to 10 years trying to master it. The average skier can go their entire life skiing at a high beginner level and never noticing the difference.
As a ski and snowboard instructor I have to say that skiing is definitely easier to learn than snowboarding however the mastering of either depends on what type of riding you want to master and the rider themselves. For most people it´s easy to get started but they´ll never get to proper carving, mogul or powder skiing. But I´d say from my experiences that´s more due to the people than due to the sports nature. Most skiers aren´t skiers because they want to carve, shred pow or hit jumps but rather to have a mostly chill sport to do in the mountains meanwhile snowboarders are more after the fun of riding such as carving, jumping etc. For this reason as well as skiing by nature being more technical at the higher level since there´s more variables I´d agree with the phrase. However in the end who cares what´s harder, how good you are or which tricks or runs you can do as long as you have fun.
Snowboarding for 29 years now, learned to ski 2 seasons ago. Comfy on blacks, trees, still suck at moguls. I think as long as your first skill on either is to learn to stop confidently at any time, the rest will come. Saying one or another is harder to 'master' is way too vague, there are so many sub disciplines all with their own techniques. Like DH racing is different than big mountain, different than park, etc.
Since I started snowboarding in 1988 the saying was "If you've never done neither, snowboarding is way easier to learn. After one season you could be an OK skier but after one season of riding you can be pretty good." The only people that squawked about snowboarding being harder was seasoned skiers that tried snowboarding for the first time and typically without an instructor or any idea of how to distribute their weight on the board.
Good timing, this is my 3rd full season snowboarding and loving it. Wife also started but she is jumping ship and doing a ski lesson next week. Im interested to see how it goes, hopefully she likes it. I encouraged her to stick with snowboarding but she wants to try and if she is better at it and can be on the mountain having a good time then I’m all for it. Our skier friends seem to think she’ll like it way better😂
I have done both for 30 plus years and this statement does ring true to me in some ways. Snowboarding is definitely awkward and less natural at first (especially getting off the lift 😆) but I feel like I can really carve on a board and I feel like a pro in powder (it's just effortless and magical). While I agree that skiing is more natural to learn, I don't think I have ever really learned how to carve right and I fully suck at skiing powder (maybe because on powder days I almost always snowboard 😆)
I've snowboarded for decades but started as a child on skis. Last year I decided to get back to skiing to get something new. Skiing been a nice change of pace and style loads of fun to be good at both. The cool part was skiing really felt like riding a bike after all those year the skills cameback quick. I think the saying holds up to advanced intermediate level. Most folks stop there or stay on piste where there more to body movement in skiing to master at the end for marginal gains in turn quality etc... After that they both have parts of the mountain where they have the upper hand Powder: I'd say snowboarding is so much easier and the feeling is 🤌 on highly technical terrain (trees, narrow chutes and couloirs, super steep terrain): I'm going on skis, the maneuverability helps so much, poles are really helpful (not just to move around, to anchor turns and balance/sensory input) etc... Send anyone that thinks it's easier to master snowboarding to do some really steep and sketchy stuff in the backcountry to see how they feel about it after. It gets hard fast.
I agree. It took me 2 days to learn skiing, I was in steep slopes in no time. Yet, it took me like a year to learn to snowboard. But I am a hockey player, I think skating helped me to ski.
Every snowboarder I’ve ever met, including myself who snowboarding first and then tried to ski always found skiing incredibly easy to do. It’s a lot more intuitive. You’re not locked onto a board you have tons of points of contact. But any skier trying to learn to snowboard it’s a completely different beast. You’re just not used to it.
Your video is fun to watch and well produced, kudos! I ski and board, but my boarding leads to multiple daily crashes, skiing it's unusual for me to crash. I learned both starting in January of 2023. I don't like being in pain after a session, so eating it is something I am actively avoiding. If I had started both a lot younger, I may have been more fearless, but I've also had a LOT of lift conversations about fractures (and radial fractures, *shudder*) so my goals for a good day are... make it home without pain. I'll continue to improve my boarding, but a lot slower than my skiing, where today I can put 95% pressure on the downhill ski and float the uphill ski wherever I need it... slowly putting more pressure there and attempting to master the hockey stop.
for me, bad skiing was far less painful than bad snowboarding then again. i learned to ski decades ago. i did all my ski falling as a kid. i'm trying to pick up snowboarding 30 years later and i weigh literally almost 150lb more than i used to, the falls are just brutal.
If you have never been down the a slope on anything, defiantly never jumped before and never seen people skiing you would not have had such an easy time skiing at first. You are highly experience snowboarders and that makes a huge difference. Glad you had a good time and didn't get hurt.
This is a great point. As a snowboarder myself, I think the understanding of edge control and feel of the snow and slope would give a huge advantage in learning to ski.
Started skateboarding at age 4. Am a certified snow junky so much so that I actually shoveled snow into the shade of a hedge on the west side of my backyard so I could sled ride another day! *I also had a Snurfer (which is the Grandfather of snowboarding!) that I was trying to figure out how to get my feet attached to the Snurfer! Went skiing for the first time at age 10 and figured out on my own, how to link wedge turns by the end of the day. I was hooked! Was a trip captain for a ski travel agency by the time I was 16. Took 4 bus loads of people to Canada at age 17. At age 18 while in college, I was a weekend ski instructor. After college, I fulfilled my self promise to go skiing in Europe and went skiing in Austria. Our tour host was on the Austrian National Ski Team and placed 7th in the Olympics! He took us to some of the steepest terrain I have ever skied and we also skied a GS run a few days after a race from the gate house! At age 22, I started my own part time travel agency taking bus trips and taught ski lessons for our patrons. We had every single person linking turns and getting on/off the lift safely before lunch. At age 24 while on vacation in Colorado, I saw snowboarding on a low power Summit TV station in the condo and my last 2 days, I rented a board and went to Arapahoe Basin to try it because in 1988 they were the only resort in Colorado that allowed snowboarding! I didn't take a lesson because there were no lessons! After 3 trips down the Molly Hogan (beginner lift) my friend's talked me in to going up the MT. I was doing Blues my first day. *Just like being self taught skiing, I learned a lot of bad habits on the board. The following year, I got a rental board at the end of the season ... A Burton Cruise Missile!!! I would ride it for 6 years! *I went to ski areas that didn't allow it but I rode it anyway and out ran their ski patrol for hours before they gave up. Moved to Colorado in 1996 and the following year became a snowboard instructor. Got my full cert by the end of my 2nd year of teaching. I offered to teach some friends how to ski better one day and gave them intermediate lessons in the morning. I switched out for my snowboard after lunch and I am here to say definitively that snowboarding takes way less energy than skiing. Having taught both for decades, I can unequivocally say that it is not a myth... skiing is harder to master. 100% of my ski students are linking turns by the end of my beginner lesson but only 90-100% are when I teach snowboarding. Both of my lesson plans are designed so that there are minimal "falls" while you obtain the basic skill set you need to progress. We always said The difference between a beginning skier and an expert skier is a lifetime but the difference between a beginning snowboarder and an expert is 5 good days! Half the equipment - Half the energy - Twice the fun!
I've done both since 1992. Snowboarding is much easier to learn. As soon as you learn to keep weight off your downhill edge you're golden.I was a teenager and picked it up in an afternoon, was doing double blacks/cliffs in a couple weeks. Steep and deep on a board is soooo easy. Steep and deep on skis is a real workout, and you need to know what you're doing. Skiing is super easy if you're on a groomed run, but as soon as it gets chunky, heavy, or deep, it's so much harder than boarding. A board will just float on top of all that crap. Similarly, if it's icy out I want to be on skis, because I have more or less twice as much edge. Powder day? Trees or bowls? I'll take my board every time. Bluebird spring day or icy conditions? Skis all day long. Park? Either/both.
I snowboard exclusively these days (since I don't have ski boots that fit anymore), but I started as a skiier, then a downhill ski racer, then a ski school instructor. Skiing was much more intuitive for me. On my first day of my second season of snowboarding, I just blanked and couldn't remember how to turn at all first, despite having progressed quite a bit the previous year. So, for me, snowboarding is definitely harder but often more fun partly because of that challenge.
i started on ski's and had a really bad accident (I was intermediately skilled and another skier ran over my skiis, destroyed my shoulder, helicopter off the mountain, bad news) after that I never had the confidence in my skiing again. I switched to snowboarding and never looked back. It really just comes down to if you prefer to be facing in the direction your moving or not, and my preference is to be facing sideways. Having fun shredding is the only requirement! The number of boards under your feet is truly personal preference. Skiing/Riding is what makes cold winters worth it, get out there and have some fun.
I think this was more of the case 30 years ago with straight skis. Now, modern skis are just easy. Even 10-15 years ago, not many people knew how to carve on skis. Now everyone is doing it - mainly because ski new shapes are very forgiving and make it simple, even if your balance is centered or backseat.
So I've skied since I was 6 up to right about 17 and that's when I decided skiing became a bit too boring and parkwise, a bit too complex and risky, so I started learning to snowboard. Now I'm 35 and haven't looked back, convinced snowboarder right here, I've skied maybe twice since I started snowboarding. The big difference is that I've learned to ski correctly from my father and from instructors, whereas with snowboarding I am completely selftaught and caught up on a few tipps and tricks from friends. Probably my oppinion would be a bit different if I had the same upbringing on snowboard as I had with skiing, but, to come to a conclusion: For me it took like 3-5 years to get my skiing skills to a point where you would point me out in a crowd for ellegance and style. I was also a kid back then so I'm sure as an adult I wouldn't have needed that long to get there. But at that point I considered that I have mastered skiing ... up to doing tricks on skis .... where I really struggled, it felt unnatural for me so I ended up quitting. With snowboarding, coming from skiing, I needed maybe a weekend to start linking turns and a whole season to confidently ride down all types of (this is important) groomed terrain. I did need 5 years in total to polish my riding and it was a lot of hard work and feel that I still haven't mastered snowboarding. I am still not convinced that I look "cool" and "elegant" when I ride, although now I am confident on any groomer or offpiste with the snowboard. So where with skiing I felt like I have nothing more to learn after 5 years, except for park riding and tricks, with snowboarding I cannot say the same after 18 years of riding and actually getting longer seasons now as an adult. All in all it all comes down to the amount of work dedicated for each sport, they are different from all aspects except the fact that they are both snowsports that use metal edges and a flat base, but otherwise the techniques involved are very different. Still, at least it's been for me like this, snowboarding simply intrigues me more, challenges me to get better with every season, whereas with skiing, as I already said, it feels I have reached a limit, and I cannot improve beyond this limit so skiing is not so fun for me anymore. Just as a comparison I can ski with my legs completely tied together, I can carve with them tied together or spread appart, I can do backwards riding effortlessly, one legged skiing, binding tricks, I even did some rail tricks. I cannot do any kind of tricks like 180s or 360s or backflips and stuff like that I've never tried on skis. With snowboarding I can carve aggresively, I cannot do completely laid over carves or eurocarves yet, but getting there, feel pretty comfortable riding switch although I ride mostly directional boards, even swallowtails, can ride backcountry, trees, can do some light buttertricks and 180s front and backside. So this is a summary of my skiing and snowboarding journey. Both are hard to master, both have their easy and hard parts and in the end it comes down to each individual struggles. Hope my insight helps people take the right decision, although there is no right or wrong decision to make here. Just have fun and work hard for the sport you want to practice with joy.
As a snowboarder who learned to ski in my mind, then went up the hill and learned on the way down. Skiing is way flipping easier to learn than snowboarding. Skiing is like rollerblading. Snowboarding is like parallel skiing to me, except youre sideways and skiis are perfectly spaced already and never move from that position. I literally tried a 360 on my first run down skiing; I definitely ate shiet, but I sent it hard😎.
Im would say I’m a beginner at both. Snowboarding was so much harder those first few days compared to skiing. Both are equally difficult when you move on to the steeper runs
Nah. Concepts and techniques are same for boarding when on greens and more steeper runs. Not the same with skiing. Somethings u can’t get away skiing blk runs but could in greens. Ur talking about comfort with speed and confidence
Important to remember that since you have mastered snowboarding and understand edging on the snow it makes it quite easy for you to transition. Learning snowboarding from skiing it took me maybe half a day before I was already semi-carving down the slopes on a snowboard. True beginner experience may not reflect this quick progression. Congrats!
I had this same experience after about half a day trying snowboarding I could get on edge and kinda carve since I had a good understanding of edge control
I do both and can honestly say that it is easier to learn to ski but much harder to truly look good on skiis. Especially in deep tracked out powder! The first couple of times on a board were harder but within a few weeks I could ride steep trash and look like I knew what I was doing.
Been skiing all my life and snowboarded for a season when i was 12 or so. Just started snowboarding again at 22 and took it quite easy, probably because i skate a lot. I never expect to convert entirely to snowboarding, but i have noticed it have some benefits and more fun aspects. It feels way more freeing on board and especially powder feels so much more fun. On skis you have to ride powder with your legs pretty close to really float well (even with powder skis) and keeping them close can be hard when navigating trees or going carves, on snowboard you can really just surf, feels more like a knife trough butter, while skiing can feel like picking up soup with chopsticks at times. It’s been a fun, but also annoying journey. When on board i miss the occasional rips trogh the park, hitting every jump and rail in my way. But seeing the mountain in different ways have made me fall in love with terrain i know very well all over again. If you have skied all your life and feel tired of it, i suggest snowboarding, and vice versa (even though i think skiers going to snowboard makes more sense. Thank you if you read this far.
As a lifelong skier, had only one chance to try snowboarding for now, which was on board with faulty "ski boot" type bindings, which ejected my boot as soon as I tried to apply any kind of pressure to steer the board, so need to give it another chance someday. That being said, for the first day/session on skis you did really well, but you were far from mastering it xD The balance and some skill from the snowboard definitely transferred to skiing, so you skipped the complete beginner phase and are now in the beginner-intermediate level as far as the general confidence and movement goes. But I would love to see how you would progress with a few more days of practice and your transition into the carving and how would your opinion about the perceived mastery difficulty be then. But it is true that like for the most sporting activities if the person is a sporty type, you can pick up almost any sport and be good much faster than the average person. The thing I love about skiing is that even though I am a rather good skier, I always feel like there is still room for improvement when I am carving. And every time I am on snow skiing I am trying to improve my technique, increase the edge angle, better my movement so I get a more fluid motion etc. And at least for me, there is no better feeling than leaning so much that I am touching the snow with my hands, same must be true while snowboarding, and the main reason I would really like to learn how to snowboard is the alpine carving snowboard, it looks fun AF :)
Born a skier then started surfing, skateboarding and naturally snowboarding. I love snowboarding but I started missing something when I got heavy into cross country skiing. This will be the first year I’m going to alternate between the two !
I prefer to be in the surf/skateboard stance vs the roller skate stance. I've surfed (and still so) since the early 70's snowboarding is one board two edges and no poles, it's a freedom expression. I skied from the 70's - 90's then started snowboarding. When snowboarding first came in in the surf mags we were blown away you can do a bottom turn on a 500' foot type Mt slope/[wave,] I feel like I'm surfing - or it's close to surfing which for me is hands down thee greatest feeling in the world and trust me I've don it all. For me skiing is rollers skate S turns that's about it, not knocking it just not my stance or cup of tea. Visually snowboarding is amazing to watch and I'm not talking the airs I'm talking how the masters surf the Mt and rip it like a wave, carves and lines unimaginable back in the 70's and 80's not aggression more of the art again expression. Sorry long winded, Peace
Ive done both. Skied for 13 years could do everything on the mountain and backcountry/steeps. Snowboarded for 5 years now and i prefer it so much. I think the reason its "harder to master" on skis is because its a lot easier to get down harder terrain with terrible form. A beginner skier could do a black run with the ugliest form meanwhile snowboarding backs feels like you need a lot more experience and edge control when compared to skiis
What are you talking about. I see snowboarders slide down on their buttocks on double black runs just to say they have done it. Or cheesegrind their edge in a straight line from top to bottom. You can’t pizza a double black on skis….
@@hotcheshlol this season I'll be able to really say I went down The Wall at Kirkwood, CA when I head over there. Last season was my first time there and I side slipped down most of the way until I got brave enough to point down hill and properly turn. This was after I felt it wasn't super steep meaning the last third of the way.
@@hotchesh You’ve got a point, I think too many people are scared of wiping out. I’m a mountain biker so stacking it on a mountain covered in frozen water doesn’t really faze me. Even though I’ve dislocated my shoulder while boarding.
I started out skiing as a kid. I was doing fine but never really loved it. A few years later I finally got to try boarding (like I had wanted all those years ago). After my first time, I was hooked.
I own one of the original snowboards by Burton. It does not even have bindings. I think snowboarding is easier to learn but much more painful when you fall versus skiing. That I think is the most important item as many people quit because of the falls being so hard on a snowboard especially when you catch that backside edge and and your head impacts the snow with the speed of a cannon ball! This is one reason helmets have become so popular and common.
Hi, I’m loving your videos. I can go down blues and below pretty confidently but I often times finding myself cutting to much on heel side turns which slows me down more than I would like. I can go from straight to toe pretty well but my heel turns feel more beginner. Do you have any tips?
I’m a snowboarder, but both of my young daughters ski. Skiing was a stable platform especially on the bunny hill and provided a more intuitive body position. They tried snowboarding but would just do pirouettes down the bunny hill. I’m hoping they try snowboarding when they get older so I can give them feedback because I’m such a bad skier and have zero ski knowledge. Regardless, I’m just glad they’re outside away from electronics for a while
I've been skiing most of my life. But I am tempted to dabble in snowboarding for two reasons. Fear of hurting my knees. But also, I love carving, and reaching down and touching the snow in a big fast turn just looks so much cooler and more fun.
With two weeks of snowboard experience behind my belt, at which stage I was able to manage black runs, I went on a school ski trip. They wouldn't let me snowboard, so I had to take up skiing for a week. I found the transition very easy. On the first day, I got caught out by trying to stop by going heelside. It turns out if you try that on skis you end up sitting down, but the skis keep going. After that important discovery, I felt like I could ride the blues and reds in complete control. That's far from mastery, of course. In contrast, my advanced skier brothers have dabbled in snowboard and found it difficult to stay upright. I definitely believe snowboarding is harder to get started in. Mastery is of a different nature to competency. There can be an objective standard to competency: the ability to cover any maintained slope without putting anyone else at risk. On the other hand, I define mastery by what the very best practitioners are capable of. If we assume that the best skiiers and snowboarders have the same innate talent for their respective sport and are both putting in the same time and effort, mastery will be equally difficult to achieve. To dig a little deeper into the weeds, if more people are pursuing mastery in one sport than the other, it's more likely that people with higher innate talent in that sport will be discovered. That will raise the level of mastery in that sport, making it harder for people in general to achieve. Skiing is more popular than snowboarding, so I'm inclined to agree that it is probably harder to master.
I have done both for a while, both are fun, but personally I prefer skiing. Snowboard is hard to get in and out of the lifts, putting the boots in and out, but specially you easily get stuck in flat areas, much harder to access Backcountry, really hard on icy slopes and it hurts more when you fall down. When you stop you have to sit down or get on your knees, pants get wet , butt gets cold... Snowboard is really dangerous on deep powder if you get stuck head on. Usually you don't see many snowboarders in very steep slopes, or in the Backcountry. All that been said, snowboards are great for the park, really easy to jump, land and do tricks. Much lighter and smaller to carry around, specially the boots, and the greatest thing is that Snowboard boots do not hurt and is very easy to walk with them. All that being said I really prefer skiing.
As someone who has skied for 8 years (one or two weeks a year sadly) and snowboarded for 2. I do agree with the statement, snowboarding is more difficult to learn because of how easy it can be to catch an edge or having to conquer the fear of leaning back on a slope. In this area skiing is easier to learn because it is easier to balance and go down a slope slower. But when mastering both I found that once you know how to snowboard well it is "harder" to catch an edge and easier to learn new tricks. Even after 8 years of skiing I still wobble on my skis sometimes because the edge of my ski caught the snow in a weird way. I know neither of my forms are amazing but I feel a lot better at snowboarding then skiing. I also am way less tired after a week of snowboarding then skiing. Small note about the gear: I found that if you use the skiing poles, put the poking part trough the loop of the other ski and put the ski trough both it makes it so much easier to carry and more comfortable then carrying a snowboard if you dont use the foot line.
To master something is to do a wide range of elements that belong to particular sport AND being able to do it in a "smooth, natural" fasion, leaving impression it is as easy as walking.
I skied until I was in 7th grade when I switched to snowboarding. My dad as a lifelong skier of more than 40 years has always said, “The best part about skiing, is taking off your boots.” So the snowboarding boots was definitely one of the best parts of switching.
You had the advantage of learning a second sport under similar conditions, that made skiing much easier for you that day. Something as simple as know when to stand getting off the lift made a difference. Not being intimidated by steeper terrain because you're familiar with it also made it easier. IMO generally speaking most skiers and snowboarder really don't get beyond a solid intermediate level, with few really carving well.
Done both... snow boarding is only harder to learn because of the odd balance when learning how to sit on your heal edge. And comfort in twisting to still see the downhill when toes side. But once you have that that is all you skiing doesn't have that but as you get better... there is way more sides and weight position to watch out for
i skied for 8 years and this year is my 5th year on board, from my experience skis are harder to learn because of multiple breaking styles, 4 edges, controling the skis etc. theyre also more dangerous but theyre way way way more fun on mougles or speed sends but are harder in powder, tricks and comfort. So suming all up pick snowboard if you want something easy to learn and master thats more safe for you joints and looks cool AF and pick skis if you want maneuverability speed and cardio workout after crash
I’ve done both. Started out skiing, switched after 8 years to snowboarding. Then after another 8 years I switched back. This was one of the reasons. After 8 years of snowboarding I didn’t feel challenged. I’ve been trying to master moguls, that alone has taken almost eight years. So the saying is absolutely true. Not only that but snowboarding is kind of a pain in the butt. Standing in line, getting on the lift, sitting on the wrong side of the lift, getting off the lift, catwalks, moguls, super steep all a pain in the butt on a board but not on skis. As far as losing your gear in a yard sail? That is by design. The year skis went to the releasable binding ski injuries dropped 45%. It’s a clear advantage to a snowboard which will twist and turn your body without releasing causing unnecessary injuries. For the life of me I can’t understand why snowboarding hasn’t adopted this tech. That’s brings me to the absolute worst part of snowboarding. The tech is stale. Boards and bindings haven’t hardly changed in 25 years. The board I bought in 98 looks and functions exactly like a board bought yesterday. Whereas ski tech has and continues to change every year. Skis today barely resemble skis from the nineties, and those changes made skiing much more fun. This is why snowboarding has been losing market share since it’s 2011 peak.
I’m a skier (tried snowboarding once) and can say that,sure you are sliding down on skis (back seated) and are throwing tricks and moves (obviously you guys are very athletic and no doubt very good snowboarders) but “Mastering” you are far from. In regards to what is cooler, it’s hard to tell, but one thing for sure, snowboarders are way more chill than skiers. I have been yelled at on the mountain for being aggressive or cutting people off, always from skiers and never from a snowboarder. 🤙. Keep up the good work and stay cool.
Nice video. I don't focus on the park, nor do my friends. Instead, we ride on slopes and in off-piste terrain. So, the difficulty of tricks is not part of my evaluation. I have a few friends who are experts in both skiing and snowboarding. They agree that the learning curve for snowboarding is much steeper at the beginning. However, it could be because we all started with skiing, so we already developed a sense of gliding there. I tried snowboarding in my 20s. After 5 days, I was able to do turns on a 100% gradient slope and make carved turns on a groomed red slope. That was more or less the end of my snowboarding journey. I find snowboarding less practical if you're riding in the Alps, where there are sections where you need to skate. Snowboarders lose a lot of time in those areas, and I don't enjoy that. On skis, I’m a retired instructor, and I have to say that perhaps the hardest part is fine-tuning extreme carving, where you get your body down to the snow. I used to be able to make a 360-degree turn on an edged ski. I can't do that anymore. I believe that both a good skier and a good snowboarder deserve cudos. Neither one is easy to master at an expert level.
I think we are more comfortable with our front side pointing in the direction of travel. It feels more natural. My biggest problem when I went from skiing to boarding was having my legs locked in position. It took some getting used to. 😅
As someone who does both -- I'll point out your statements about carving are why i think the trope exists -- there are lots of snowboarders out there who can get down a double-black slope who can't carve... who never carve - and realy haven't mastered a proper turn -- but can get down blacks and double-blacks because you can get down anything on a snowboard with mediocre skill levels by sliding on your heelside edge --- not an option on skis... So skiers graduate from blues to blacks slower than their snowboarding friends.
@@ShredSchool1 well that's because I was that guy -- I started out snowboarding in my 20s with very experienced skier friends and went everywhere on the mtn with them, surviving with ABSOLUTELY no skills -- just a lot of bravado and athleticism. I switched to skiing a few years later and then skied for a decade.. I finally went back to snowboarding and took the time to learn how to ride correctly -- 3 decades later I do both -- but at a younger age I'd have never learned to ride properly since I had the easy bailout slide whenever I got in over my head... and was more interested in bragging about doing double-blacks than taking the time on blues to learn properly.
Yeah when I was new to snowboarding I went down a few blacks with friends and it was pretty easy to just slide down heelside, doing some turns with terrible technique just to get down. Meanwhile some of my less experienced ski friends wouldn't go near them.
I did both skiing and snowboarding, and now I'm a snowboard teacher. I would say a lot of snowboarders think they have it "figured it out" but there are so many levels of edge control and body position they have no clue about. I think only a handful of people on this planet have really mastered snowboarding, and even then they still haven't figured out everything, it's just impossible...mastery is just darn hard no matter which sport you do
I'm a skiier who recently learned how to snowboard, and I really can't tell which is harder. I learned how to ski as a child then learned everything above blues as an adult.
Between having so much more edge surface in the snow and having the poles, the maximum amount of control that's possible on moguls using skis is higher than on a snowboard, especially when it's slick. It's more complicated on skis too so the skill ceiling for those is higher in a way.
Moguls are way easier on skis, not even comparable. There's a reason mogul skiing is part of freestyle skiing competitions - it's actually fun on skis (as opposed to snowboard). As to the main question, I think skiing is both easier to learn and easier to master.
This video proves the point perfectly. Your day one on skis and can do any of those things, will take you multiple days or even a couple seasons to do so on a snowboard. But you still don’t look good or in control of any of it, ie no mastery here. Spent 7 years as a kid skiing and was very proficient to diamonds, snowboarding took me 4-6 days, the same day I was able to link turns without stopping, I was carving down a diamond and never looked back since. The saying is true.
Only tried snowboard and it is definitely not easy to learn all by myself. Compared to friends I saw learning skiing, they really seemed to have a much easier time (apart from walking on the boots all day, this one was easier for me, for sure)
I do both, my verdict: - ski is easier to become an intermediate but once intermediate its comparable effort to get to advanced in both - I think why some people say skiing is harder to master is because there are lots of different ways to carve / turn / maneuver ... But once you get it down on a snowboard it doesn't really change - skiing is easier as an all mountaineering tool when there is natural obstacles and whatnot. Butt snowboarding can be easier in tight maneuverability, and in really steep areas where you're just trying to get down, it's easier to snow plow than to pizza or stay on your side - I would say jibbing is definitely easier on a snowboard. I hit a rail my third time going, but took me a couple years to figure out the ski slide. Might be different for me though because I grew up skateboarding. Jumps / big air / drops definitely easier on skis. I think spinning is well, backward is a weird feeling - Moguls definitely easier on skis - looking steezy is easier on snowboard , poles are a pain amd can look goofy - popping off side hits so much easier with snowboard. U can get way more pop there fore can get more air with less speed. Plus airing out and back in sideways way less swing effort than skis - groomer. With skis I just basically go straight and only turn when I need to or to check speed. Sometimes I wonder if I actually know how to carve LOL. Snowboarding know I'm constantly going edge to edge and carving it feels much more intuitive and fun, i think from a technical groomer carving standpoint i might say snowboarding. But it will take you 2-3x the time to rip down a blue on snowbaord than skis. I see the value of the statement, but i think fact is skiing is way easier in beginign to just go downhill then intermediate onward its comparable and just depeneding what your going for
After half a lifetime of skiing, I started snowboarding at 45 to go with my sons who were not interested in skiing. And I found it much easier to do - apart from the old-style ski lifts 😁. Also, I found that the whole experience of a snowboarding day is much cooler than of a skiing day, with shoes you can walk with, and equipment much easier to handle and bring around. I'm in my sixties now and never went back... For what it's worth!
What I learnt about snowboarding when I had lessons you have turn your head and look where you want to go & when you turn your head your body turns with your hips. When you want to stop as you turn make it sharp turn so you go into a sitting down position with your weight on your heels, almost you about to sit in a chair. Or about you look up the hill if you're turning right and put your weight on your toes.
The unique bond between a snowboarder and their snowboard, along with the boots and bindings, is something skiers will never truly grasp. That same applies for every board sport.
I taught both for years... I found learning snowboarding easier, because I have a wonky hip, in that my left hip is taller than my right. After I mastered snowboarding, I spent the majority of my 20's and 30's working on my skiing, to the point where I am about equal at freeriding. I can go bigger on skis, landings are easier than on a board, but the wipe outs are more gnarly. I always recommend learning skiing first, get the physics and basics down, and then try the board, which generally requires more core strength. Man I love moguls.
I have several examples of skiers switching to snowboarding because they couldn't learn to ski. And on snowboarding, they finally managed to do something. However, it is more fair to compare skiing to snowboarding if it is a slalom version of snowboarding. But few people ride such snowboards.
9:13 Wearing snowboard pants to go skiing beginner mistake oof. Snowboard and ski pants are basically the same with one small exception. Ski pants usually have a black plastic patch on the inner ankle area which snowboard pants often but not always lack. The problem is that that area of your pants comes into contact with the edge of the opposing ski and it can and will cut the shit out of your pants. Then once theres a hole in the outer layer of your pants snow and ice fill in between the layers and when you go into the lodge you have about 5lbs of ice dagling from your ankles. Trust me I know fom experience. A small section of vinyl plastic on your ankle might seem like a small detail but it will greatly improve the durability of your pants.
I learned to snowboard in the 1983 when it was a crime in most areas. It took me an hour and a half before some buy asked me how long I had been boarding. He didn't believe the hour and a half bit. But I rode skateboard and I slalom trick ski waterski and even rode the then goofy wakeboards in their infancy. I learned to ski in 1970 and it took me quite a bit longer to gain decent skill. But I was nine years old in 1970. I'll be at Copper in a couple of weeks and will remain there for most of the winter. I'll see if I can sniff you guys out. I know I saw you guys last year.
I started to ski first and then snowboard. Skiing for me was harder to find my balance, but over all, snowboarding for me was so easy to find the balance. I had issues with the edges, but over all, snowboarding for me the short time I snowboarded, snowboarding is way easier all around!
I think when we say "master" in snowboarding, we are referring to the point where we can link turns comfortably enough that you don't look like beginners (i know, it's really intermediate stage), which takes a lot more efforts and time than learning how to ski pizza to control your speed and linking turns. For skiing, we say "master" when we are able to ski french fries, which can take forever. so I think it's true that ski is easier to learn, but harder to master and vice versa for snowboard.
Skied as a kid. Snowboarder for 20 years. Went back to skiing. Ya'll need to get into some you fall, you die terrain and tell me which is easier. On a snowboard you can just sit on an edge. I think that getting fully proficient on skis is harder. It's why I jumped back. For me there was nowhere else to go on a snowboard. You guys did great for it being your first day. You have more skills than most.
Snowboarder learning to ski. First few days are definitely harder on a board. More falling from edge catches. The slams are more brutal. My partner (skier) learning to snowboard was almost in tears from the pain and frustration, whereas I was having a gentle day on the slopes with my skis. Skiing seems more precise, snowboarding more surfy. That precision and having to control two sticks instead of one is perhaps why many say skiing is harder to master. True carving and good body positioning in either sport takes some time to nail down. With skiing it seems harder, but I’ve been boarding for years. I like both but to me, the surfy flowy feel of a snowboard is where it’s at. And being able to load up my tail or nose on a board makes freestyle more fun. Ollies, presses, buttering, etc. On pow days I’m grabbing my board every time. On hard packed days or if I’m with other skiers I’ll grab my skies.
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you are clearly a beginner after 1 day or 100 days i skiied since i was 2 years old and now i am 27 spent 10 years in a skiing club and until now i still can improve things.
I have skied with people who went on to drive in worldcups and i can say they are better and have a higher degree of mastery then me, but ocassionally also are not perfect.
I think real mastery of skiing or snowboarding is pretty much impossible because it would take absolute perfection in every turn on every surface.
I didn't see a single carve on skis in this video. 😂
Funniest part of the video: the shred clowns thinking that after just a couple days on skis, what they were doing was actually 'skiing'! 🤣
Exactly what I was thinking. They were stumbling down the mountain and called it skiing 😂
@@abnermigidyuk9121…exactly like 95% of skiers
i mean.... by definition they were carving
They didn't use the edges on the skis, but when they got back to snowboarding they just carved like crazy. This is not an educational video to try and explain each sport because they do not know how to ski. They just know how to snowboard. But at least he admits that it takes time to learn.
As someone who has done both for his whole life, skiing is easier to learn 100% but I think both are equally difficult to master. I think when it comes to park riding snowboarding may be slightly easier to start out learning tricks...in the end, who gives a shit, do whichever one you enjoy more and don't worry about the other one lol
Snowboarding was much easier to learn for me personally. I think it depends on preference to an extent. Everybody told me it was going to he harder to learn and that was just not my experience at all.
This is why I recently switched to riding a snowskate and bindingless pow surfers. I win all the arguments. LOLOL.
Tbh mastering carving technique is hard and also physically challenging af
this is what I say to people even though I've only snowboarded. The saying is stupid. skiing is definitely easier to pick up but they both even out in difficulty pretty quickly
@@letstopdoingmad2060 I assume that people who say snowboarding is easier to learn have experience with some kind of boardsports, whether that be wakeboarding, skateboarding, surfing, etc. A big part of what is hard about learning to snowboard for lots of people is having both feet on one big piece of wood and moving to go forward. Skiing is more like most people's everyday life, you have two independent legs, you look forward, and you move forward.
I've been skiing for 62 years and snowboarding for 29. Certified instructor in both, teaching 20 years. Skiing is easier the first few days due to the bigger platform (as long as the ski length, as wide as you can stand with your feet - maybe 3 feet) and freedom to move feet independently of one another. The snowboard platform is usually a bit shorter and much narrower (about 11 inches wide) and you must balance between toe and heel; with skiing, if you lose your balance, you can usually pick up a foot and set it down somewhere else to regain your balance. Due to the single working edge and both feet fixed to one board, falls are much less predictable and often much harder for beginning snowboarders, especially those who don't take a lesson which includes how to prevent falling, and how to fall safely and with minimal impact. It's arguably harder for beginner snowboarders to get up from a fall, and takes a lot of energy out of them. After a few days to a few weeks, most snowboarders can go almost anywhere on the mountain (including steep slopes) relatively safely using the wide base to sideslip, destroying endless powder, but it's tiring unless they've learned to easily switch between use of both toe edge and heel edge. Skiers can quickly learn to descend beginner slopes with the wedge, making turns right and left to alternately rest muscles, and don't have to deal with the faceplant fears which snowboarders face when they must change from one edge to another to make a C-turn from heel to toe edge - the "moment of truth" because the board must be traveling in the direction it is pointing when the edge is changed to avoid a slam; timing is critical to a greater extent than with skis. However, descending steep slopes on skis requires more skill, whether by sideslip or by turning. Skiers have it easier in being able to see easily a broad swath in the direction they are going without twisting their neck or worrying as much what is going on behind their back when on the toe edge. However, as they progress, skiers must deal with more variables - 4 tools, with 4 edges, and any two edges can be used at one time, and can even use just one edge at a time, on just one leg to support their body weight. This makes their progression of skills slower. Snowboarders, thanks to connection of both feet to the same board, have the superpower of being able to twist the board which allows good snowboard turns to have a tighter radius, leads to easier riding through tight trees in powder, and enables easier continuous alteration of the radius of carved turns. Snowboarders have additional challenges in flexing legs independently, for example dealing with the up and down of traversing moguls, because the relative location of the feet is fixed on the one board, rather than free to translate horizontally and rotate independently with regard to the other foot. On ice, if the edge slips out, the snowboarder faces far greater challenge to recover balance than does the skier.
Mastering skiing requires more skills of controlling independent movement of the skis. Mastering snowboarding requires making complementary movements with the feet and legs within the restrictions of the single board. Snowboarding delivers a purer sensation because of the single board, which is why I prefer it unless I am trying to go fast to keep up with friends on skis, or the slopes are ice. I can have bales of fun on a board in 8 inches of cut-up powder, looping through trees at 10 mph, constructing each turn as a unique exploration of varying radial acceleration to meet an ideal path decided on the spur of the moment. With skiing, some of this fun can be achieved, but the sensation is not as pure.
I think it is easier to reach expert ability to descend steep slopes with style on a snowboard than on skis. Due to this, and also to snowboarding's skateboard ancestry, I think skilled snowboarders have historically engaged in more freestyle development than skiers with similar skill levels, as it is an additional way to express ability and interest in progression. Evidence of this is that AASI-certified snowboard instructors are required to demonstrate freestyle movements as part of their basic certifications, while PSIA-certified ski instructors are not. For better or (I believe) worse, freestyle is considered a vital part of snowboarding by these sibling organizations, which share common governance and membership. The institutional acceptance of personal risks of injury from freestyle movements required for higher levels of snowboarding certification probably arise from the fact that the sport is newer, with comparatively few older members, and relatively male-dominated across society. Additionally, I have to wonder if manufacturers support freestyle with teams and advertising partly due to the need for new boards created by board damage from freestyle on rails, boxes, and other hard features. Most snowboarders are unaware that the use of their boards on these features will generally eliminate the warranty.
Excellent analysis. I sum up to ppl: Trying to stay on, guide, and stop 1 wide and long plank is easier than 2 slim ones. It’s why it’s easier to get decent faster boarding than skiing….unless ur terribly unathletic. In that case, a lot skiing will close off for u too.
Best description and analysis yet. Accurate insight and thoughtful. I've heard it said powder is more fun on a snowboard. But that brings a lot more discussion. This came from the 80s and 90s when skis were narrow. And disregarded the difficulty of getting stuck in deep snow on a board. Etc.
Excellent response. There is a subjective component to this though. Everyone tells me that skiing is easier to learn than snowboarding, but my personal experience was the opposite. I struggled with skiing at the beginning. I took some lessons, but still felt clumsy and not confident. One day a friend had to convince me to try the snowboard. I reluctantly rented one and had a go. On day one, I was having a blast, crashed a lot but always felt safe. I never rode downhill skis ever again. This was 25yrs ago now (I do cross country skiing, but that's something different).
Just like with cross country skiing, where people ask me if they should do skating or classic, when it comes to snowboarding vs skiing I always tell people to try both and go for the one that they find they enjoy the most. You will find it easier to progress if it's more fun
I truly appreciate the neutral perspective and the amount of effort you've put into your response. Thank you!
You discribet the difference verry well. But i think there are a view flaws in your concept.
First: only because something looks cool or smooth, dosent mean it is easyer.
It is true that you learn faster to slide down a steep slope on the snowboard then on skis because you must be able to make turns. But making turns on a steep slope with the snowboard is for the beginner extreemly scary.
The pgrogress of ski studendts ist also way faster.
You can learn skiing just by watchung others.
Snowboarding only if you have a great coardination or other simmilar abilitys like skiing or skating.
I thik the missconseption of the phrase comes from the fact that most of the people start with skiing and learn snowboarding later. So they are already experient in snowsports.
I would say that mastery is mastery, there is no difference in in how hard it is to do. To be at the top you need to train all the time. 😊
As a 60 year old that just decided to switch from skiing to snowboarding, for me, skiing came natural. ( I was almost 40, the first time I skied). Before hitting Crested Butte this past December, I decided to snowboard. I already had knowledge of edges, and tons of instructional videos. After almost killing myself on day two, I took the rental board back, and bought my own board. Lol. Struggled a few more days. Headed to Keystone in February to continue the self inflicted punishment. Lol. So snowboarding is a little more difficult, but I think I’ll get it.
Never underestimate a good waxing and tune on a snowboard. Halfway through my second time out I was almost ready to throw in the towel and go back to skis after fighting to do the heel and toe transitions. It just wasn't happening and I barely had any control. A quick tune later it was like a completely different world. My board worked! And it properly reacted to my body inputs making everything sooo much easier.
I switched because when I skied they were narrow and shifty in powder. I grew up skateboarding so it came really naturally. I feel more comfortable going super fast on skis and more comfortable doing tricks on boards.
Get gear man. I'm over 40, I already know how to do it, but no way in hell I'd go to the mountain without full gear.
Knee pads, butt pad, elbow pads, and a pair of motorcycle gloves work for me.
Snowboarding is fun as long as you don't get hurt or injured.
I’m a former ski instructor. I can ski and ride (with carving). I think for the most part the saying is true. The issue is mastery is way more nuanced in skiing. For instance, you guys are getting down in your skis, but from a movement analysis standpoint, you have a lot of work to do. I have no doubt you can excel on skis tho, but to truly master it takes time and fine tuning. I’m even returning from a skiing hiatus and my mastery isn’t there right now. To most I look good, but I know I don’t have skiing mastered right now (and I use to). Also side note, many of our snowboard instructors would ski on their off days. They always said it was the challenge to master it that caused them to ski. They are all phenomenal riders. Still, both skiing and riding is awesome… do what you want to do.
Well 98 percent of skiers on all mountains look and ride exactly like they are. And usually it takes them longer to get to the point these guys are at in there first day. It's easier it definitely is. I skied for 10 years my dad pushed me into it. Then I just switched. Snowboarding is harder. We just push ourselves harder earlier cause we come from skate culture. Skier don't. There process of learning is much different than ours with a much different mind set. It truly is easier it's like comparing rollerblading to skateboarding. Rollerblading is just easier. The only exception I could bring into play here is style. It takes a long time to have style on skis. Which is why they get a bad rap of looking so dorky and where the harder to master comment comes in I believe but it's nit really valid. Snowboarders come from skate culture so people try to apply style before they can even ride. Cause they want to have that same stylistic steez feeling they have on there skateboard or surfboard. Skiers don't start skiing with these building blocks already applied amd in the back of there mind as they learn. Skiers have less to draw off of in that department it does take years to get style on skis. But to say people master Snowboarding faster is silly we just connect it with our skate and surf culture which skiing doesn't have. We gave that style to you guys though the tricks the clothes the grabs all of it evolved in skiing when skate culture hit snow sports. Snowboarding was born with style skiing had to look for it. They found a lot of it in us. We changed the way they move. What if snowboarding came first before surfing and skateboarding is the question you have to ask yourself. Where would skiing and snowboarding be if neither existed? Not where were at now that's for sure.
@@AlphabetikChemist There's a lot of them us in your comment as a sentiment. I used to skate, I skied my entire life and have begun snowboarding over the past 3-4 years... I completely agree with the saying that skiing is harder to master but easier to learn. It took me 2 weekends to get my edge control in a good shape on snowboards (broke my wrist first attempt lol) but once I got over that hurdle, the rest came very smoothly, that's not to say I've mastered snowboarding yet, but the drop in difficulty learning is HUGE once you're capable of carving, it's just a matter of listening and tweaking your technique. Whereas for skiing there is no HUGE hurdle, it's all just a progression you make through practice and improvements. So while I agree with the saying for what it conveys, they are both equally difficult to be perfect in.
And skiing had and still has style XD skaters didn't invent style, the style of skiers before snowboarders was just wildly different tastes. Search up the ski dancing to get a taste, not my thing but my point is there was style lol
That comment about style is interesting. I can appreciate good skiing style, but coming from a surfing background I don’t really get snowboarding style. IMO the snowboard design applied to firm pistes limits the smoothness/elegance/stability of transitions from edge to edge - compared to surfing, surf skating, or skateboarding. Off piste is obviously a different story.
@@AlphabetikChemist Yeah... I disagree with that... I skated fulltime when I was younger, mostly street but also some halfpipe... I have decent balance and began skiing 3 years ago. Whilst it was fairly easy to get going on skis and I was parallel skiing by day 2, it has been very difficult to master, especially full carving turns and off piste stuff. Last year, out of curiosity I strapped on a snowboard for the first time and even got a lesson. Within half an hour I was doing heel turns down the slope, 'falling leaf' style, and within two hours was turning toe side... It felt incredibly natural and clearly for me - thanks to the skateboarding and surfing of my youth I suppose. I have chosen to stick with skiing because it is absolutely challenging, especially mastering full carved turns en piste, but also in the powder and crud off piste - which I imagine is way easier on a snowboard.
I am over these snowboard versus ski youtubes, but I'm a sucker for the clickbait - in the end though, who cares... if you guys want to mess around at the top taking precious minutes to strap back in... avoid runs with flat sections like the plague... then go for it... in the meantime I'll persist with the horrendous torture devices called ski boots and everyone should be happy. Just don't camp out in the middle of a run below a rollover and we're all good!
Highly subjective question. I’ve done both. Skiing picked it up in less than an hour, snowboarding constantly fell for the first hour. Now to ski or snowboard with any kind of precision with correct technique I’d say even.
You can easily tell the folks trying skiing in this video do not ski or are complete amateurs, back seat out of the gate and consistently, base platform way to wide, poor edge control, late turns, tail wash out, upper body rotation just to name a few. These are all aspects of skiing that are built in blocks not mastered in 4 days.
I ski and way prefer it over the board, much more versatile platform especially in the back country and off piste trees and deep powder.
Great video. Ultimately pick what you enjoy and shred the gnar
Skiing is not only more versatile. It’s also BOTH the safest AND fastest way down mountain
@@newagain9964I do both it is the fastest but certainly not the "safest". Injuries are more common on skis, major knee and leg injuries are less likely on a snowboard. I see far more skiers on the sled than snowboarders and I have seen some real Jerry's snowboarding on slopes way over their heads.
I started snowboarding at age 42 in 1990 and did so for 11 years. I went snowboarding last week for the first time since then (23 years ago) at age 75 and still had the basics down. Now I will continue. Snowboarding is harder to get started on the first few days. The first day is hell. The second day you progress 100% and are ready to go up the mountain (that's what I did in 1990). After that you progress quickly and I think it's easier to get better faster than skiing, but skiing is easier in the very beginning, but takes longer to get real good after the beginning. I learned and saw that in the 90s. It all seems like snowboarders have more fun on shallow slopes, but skiiers seem to just want steep and speed. Snowboarders have fun with tricks, like jumps or going fakey while going downhill and then go spin back the other way. I also would go down all the black diamonds and moguls back in the 90s. But all you have to do is be good at turning and the board is shorter than skiis, which makes me think skiis are harder on black diamonds and moguls because they are so long.
Awesome to hear you are snowboarding again
23 years ago, I left the mountains of Colorado and went to Florida and now in Asheville, NC. It's winter and I decided to see if I could still do it at Sugar Mountain, NC.. Snow's not as good as CO, but it's snow. Some sore muscles and sore from a few falls, but nothing extreme. Plus more tired than two decades ago. I'll try and keep it up. I'll check out some youtube videos to help, including yours.@@ShredSchool1
I think the biggest difference, apart from the first time stepping on either, is that for skiing mastery is quite defined and requires a lot of finesse and minor details, whereas in snowboarding even the pros often dont know the definition of "mastering it". Snowboarding is more free spirited hence mastery is your own definition whereas skiing is more set in stone with rules for every minor thing
I think that is a narrow view of skiing. Are there very well understood technique for racing and moguls? Yes.
However, it is not a static sport and there is a lot open to personal preference or the details of the equipment.
Fads come amd go. In early Freestyle skiing, various competitions would grade people on how well they cartwheeled in a fall.
Equipment changes what is optimal as well. Compare Stein Erikson to Ted Ligety or look at how fat rockered ski pioneers like Shane Mcconkey handled powder compared to their predecessors.
Went snowboarding for the first time in 2001, a friend who knew me as a skater took me down my first run which was a Blue. I did well, so the next run was a black, i survived... so the 3rd run was moguls. I ended up doing cartwheels down the entire run and have laughed about this ever since. I've kept on boarding for 23 years now, and 3 years ago my 6 year old kid wanted to try skis first, so i taught her what i could (being a snowboarder after all) and decided last year I would take up skiing to help her along. I have been on skis but 5 times now, and am just now feeling comfortable enough to take on easier blues. So my point is, i was able to "descend" black diamonds on a snowboard my first trip, especially because you can bail on a snowboard, but 5 trips in on skis and i still wouldn't attempt a black diamond, because the technique needed to properly descend a black diamond, at least here in the NW where things are quite steep, well it takes time to master... plus skis have so many other niches that aren't even touched by snowboarders like ski jumping?? When is the last time a snowboarder launched themselves 600 feet headfirst through the air at 60 mph? As it is though, i prefer skis to be honest. There is a lot less falling on skis...
Can do both. Mastery of either takes years and dedication. The only think I saw you guys master is having a great time.
But they only need four more days to become masters! Based on what I saw in this video, I don't think 4 more years was going to get them there either.
I skied as a kid now snowboard as a teenager and one thing I hate about snowboarding is that you cant see to the left (if you ride regular) very well and it makes me worried that when I go heel edge I'm going to hit someone whereas with skis you can see way better
You just have to look up hill regularly, on each of your toe turns get a good idea of where everyone is behind you on the slope, then on your heel turn just look back over your shoulder to make sure there are no surprises. I've never turned into anyone, and most of my close calls were from people on (mostly)skis or snowboards who never look uphill at all, and especially before they make a sudden wide turn that breaks their turn pattern.
For instance you are behind and to the side of someone going down slope, and they are making consistent shaped turns, then suddenly they make a much wider and slower turn straight into your line without ever checking their blindspot. Skiers especially seem to have an issue with only looking directly straight in front of them, and never even turning their heads to the side. So many times I've pulled up next to a skier and ridden next to them for a couple minutes or more without them ever seeing me because they never turned their head.
I thought that’s only me having this nightmare 🤣👍🏼
@@Negentropy369 thanks for the tip 👍
I think that this phrase mostly comes from the first day of learning.
Been skiing for 35 years and last winter I decided to learn how to snowboard. Alone, without help. It hurt. A lot. Maybe even had a small concussion.
That does not happen on skiis. Pizza, then fries, so you progress gradually. It can lead to slow progress, because you don't have to fight for dear life when skiing.
Once I figured it out, snowboarding did feel faster to master than skiing. Had some smooth turns on day 4, which took at least 20 days on skiis
I can’t understand how ppl have money for CLOTHES (always the about the swag) and gear but not just ONE half day lesson 🤷♂️🤦
@@newagain9964a full set of clothes can be 150€ at decathlon, half day lesson a bit over that. But you can’t be on the slopes without clothes, for some the problem is to pay for both. Also as a kid, clothes are muuuch cheaper if not free altogether as you can get them from older kids from friends and family.
Having done both as well, I think whatever you start with is easier to learn because alot more transfers over than you might expect. Years of seeing skiers on the mountain meant that the transition took 2 days rather than 15 years. Obviously not hitting anything crazy or near a big air spot. But both are just based on what you already know.
I used to ski race, and i can definitely say that what most people consider carving, isn't. To properly carve on skis, you have to be super forward and not slide the edges at all (for both skis). Both skis have to be parallel and at the same angle and there are very few skiers who can do this (almost exclusively racers). I tried snowboarding for a little bit, and after about 6 or so hours, I was able to lay down some smooth carves with no counterrotation. So I think basic turns might be easier on skis, but advanced carving is infinitely more difficult and takes years of training to master on skis.
This is so true. I am NOT the best skier on the mountain. I've been skiing since 2018 (I'm in my 60s... Late starter). Most attempts at carving are nice turns but not real carving. Occasionally I'll get it right and I just accelerate out of the turn like a rocket. At that point it is all I can do to initiate the next turn.
OTOH, its all fun, whether I'm carving or just skiing with a bit of tail skidding.
With modern carving skis practically everyone can ride down a prepared ski slope in a resort without too much trouble. It was different 45 years ago when I learned skiing (I never heard about snowboards back then - I think they didn't exist in our country).
BUT: Although it took quite some time to learn the proper technique, as soon as you managed to go down a black slope in one piece you nailed it. And this proper technique you need in more challenging conditions, like in terrain, in Powder or a very steep slope. What you presented here was not skiing, it was managing to get downhill with skis mostly on. It does take more than four days to master it, maybe even more than four years.
I find riding powder (especially very steep terrain like when doing cross country skiing) much more difficult on skis then on a snowboard and even though I am not a skiing master I am even worse on the snowboard :)
And I never managed to hurt myself while skiing - three weeks ago I managed to damage my knee while getting off a chairlift with the board and can only watch snowboard movies in this season, no riding for another 8 weeks or so :(
Not gonna lie, after being on the snow for 30 years and most of it without any safety gear, I now always wear my skating wrist guards and the most basic triple-8 brand knee pads along with a helmet (after nearly getting a concussion 2 years back after catching an edge). Just those basics can make a world of difference at times.
I tried skiing when younger and didn't like it. As I grew up surfing and skateboarding, I was carving after the first day snowboarding. It was easier for me. I go snowboard every 2nd to 3rd year and it's so easy to pick back up and carve. Definitely snowboarding is my preference.
I have skied a lot with pro snowboarders. I've done hard plate snowboarding only. Well we agreed on verdict.
IT DEPENDS ON THE CONDITIONS!!
Good Snowboarding much more natural in powder. Boots comfy. Rails etc more fun. Easier bailing yet prone to breaking clavicle cuz board wont come off unless you go aftermarket release bindings. Flowing ride
Good Skiing much more skilled in icy conditions, fast tight turns and moguls. You can go much higher inverted. And helicopters look sick
And as always who's ever having the most fun wins 🏆
The biggest lie is that you guys have never been on skis before.
Meh. I've never been on a snowboard. But I can see how a few years on skis would provide the conceptual understanding of snowboarding. I'm sure I could sufficiently pick it up in half a day so that I could ride down a blue groomer.
My son has been teaching snowboarding the past few winters. Maybe the next time he and I are wintering in the same state I'll get him to teach me how to shred on a board.
100%
How’s that copium taste?
I learned to both ski and snowboard as a child. I found snowboarding very intuitive and was doing turns on my first day so for me snowboarding was way easier to learn.
However, I already had been skiing for many years before that and had skateboarded for a couple of years and I think that is what made the difference.
I think bailing is highly underated. Because on skis its a pain in the ass to collect all your shit so skiiers dont go out their comfort zone as much as snowboarders
This weekend I crashed on skis in a powder stash. I had to posthole back to my skis. I was reminded how annoying it is to get your skis solidly on the snow so that I can step on them and click back into the bindings. It kinda sucked. It certainly used several minutes that could have been spent making turns.
It is definitely true that skiing is difficult to master. Seeing the way you were riding those skis, you are an extreme exception. In fact, I would discard you from the statistical sample as such an unlikely outlier that counting your performance would skew the sample badly.
I do both skiing and snowboarding and started with both just 3 seasons ago for the first time in my life. On a snowboard, I can already carve and ride down double blacks, but can't handle moguls. I am also able to do simple jumps. On skis, I still haven't been able to carve, maintain narrow stance a I am able to do simple jumps on skis.
On skis, I have actually torn my ACL once and damaged the MCL on the same leg, and haven't fully recovered yet. In contrast, there were zero serious injuries with snowboard. Did get a few tailbone aches though.
In summary, your performance is unusually good for a first time skier. Most normal skiers spend 5 to 10 years trying to master it. The average skier can go their entire life skiing at a high beginner level and never noticing the difference.
As a ski and snowboard instructor I have to say that skiing is definitely easier to learn than snowboarding however the mastering of either depends on what type of riding you want to master and the rider themselves. For most people it´s easy to get started but they´ll never get to proper carving, mogul or powder skiing. But I´d say from my experiences that´s more due to the people than due to the sports nature. Most skiers aren´t skiers because they want to carve, shred pow or hit jumps but rather to have a mostly chill sport to do in the mountains meanwhile snowboarders are more after the fun of riding such as carving, jumping etc. For this reason as well as skiing by nature being more technical at the higher level since there´s more variables I´d agree with the phrase. However in the end who cares what´s harder, how good you are or which tricks or runs you can do as long as you have fun.
Snowboarding for 29 years now, learned to ski 2 seasons ago. Comfy on blacks, trees, still suck at moguls. I think as long as your first skill on either is to learn to stop confidently at any time, the rest will come. Saying one or another is harder to 'master' is way too vague, there are so many sub disciplines all with their own techniques. Like DH racing is different than big mountain, different than park, etc.
Since I started snowboarding in 1988 the saying was "If you've never done neither, snowboarding is way easier to learn. After one season you could be an OK skier but after one season of riding you can be pretty good." The only people that squawked about snowboarding being harder was seasoned skiers that tried snowboarding for the first time and typically without an instructor or any idea of how to distribute their weight on the board.
Good timing, this is my 3rd full season snowboarding and loving it. Wife also started but she is jumping ship and doing a ski lesson next week. Im interested to see how it goes, hopefully she likes it. I encouraged her to stick with snowboarding but she wants to try and if she is better at it and can be on the mountain having a good time then I’m all for it. Our skier friends seem to think she’ll like it way better😂
Even once you’re skilled. Falling is a part of boarding. For that reason I Board maybe 3 days a year groomed blue and blks only
I have done both for 30 plus years and this statement does ring true to me in some ways. Snowboarding is definitely awkward and less natural at first (especially getting off the lift 😆) but I feel like I can really carve on a board and I feel like a pro in powder (it's just effortless and magical). While I agree that skiing is more natural to learn, I don't think I have ever really learned how to carve right and I fully suck at skiing powder (maybe because on powder days I almost always snowboard 😆)
I've snowboarded for decades but started as a child on skis. Last year I decided to get back to skiing to get something new. Skiing been a nice change of pace and style loads of fun to be good at both. The cool part was skiing really felt like riding a bike after all those year the skills cameback quick. I think the saying holds up to advanced intermediate level. Most folks stop there or stay on piste where there more to body movement in skiing to master at the end for marginal gains in turn quality etc... After that they both have parts of the mountain where they have the upper hand Powder: I'd say snowboarding is so much easier and the feeling is 🤌 on highly technical terrain (trees, narrow chutes and couloirs, super steep terrain): I'm going on skis, the maneuverability helps so much, poles are really helpful (not just to move around, to anchor turns and balance/sensory input) etc... Send anyone that thinks it's easier to master snowboarding to do some really steep and sketchy stuff in the backcountry to see how they feel about it after. It gets hard fast.
my first time snowboarding this year after years of skiing. Snowboarding is SO MUCH HARDER!!..... for me at least
I agree. It took me 2 days to learn skiing, I was in steep slopes in no time. Yet, it took me like a year to learn to snowboard.
But I am a hockey player, I think skating helped me to ski.
Every snowboarder I’ve ever met, including myself who snowboarding first and then tried to ski always found skiing incredibly easy to do. It’s a lot more intuitive. You’re not locked onto a board you have tons of points of contact. But any skier trying to learn to snowboard it’s a completely different beast. You’re just not used to it.
Your video is fun to watch and well produced, kudos! I ski and board, but my boarding leads to multiple daily crashes, skiing it's unusual for me to crash. I learned both starting in January of 2023. I don't like being in pain after a session, so eating it is something I am actively avoiding. If I had started both a lot younger, I may have been more fearless, but I've also had a LOT of lift conversations about fractures (and radial fractures, *shudder*) so my goals for a good day are... make it home without pain. I'll continue to improve my boarding, but a lot slower than my skiing, where today I can put 95% pressure on the downhill ski and float the uphill ski wherever I need it... slowly putting more pressure there and attempting to master the hockey stop.
Ive done both and I definitely think skiing is easier, but snowboarding is just more fun imo
for me, bad skiing was far less painful than bad snowboarding
then again. i learned to ski decades ago. i did all my ski falling as a kid.
i'm trying to pick up snowboarding 30 years later and i weigh literally almost 150lb more than i used to, the falls are just brutal.
If you have never been down the a slope on anything, defiantly never jumped before and never seen people skiing you would not have had such an easy time skiing at first. You are highly experience snowboarders and that makes a huge difference. Glad you had a good time and didn't get hurt.
This is a great point. As a snowboarder myself, I think the understanding of edge control and feel of the snow and slope would give a huge advantage in learning to ski.
Started skateboarding at age 4. Am a certified snow junky so much so that I actually shoveled snow into the shade of a hedge on the west side of my backyard so I could sled ride another day! *I also had a Snurfer (which is the Grandfather of snowboarding!) that I was trying to figure out how to get my feet attached to the Snurfer! Went skiing for the first time at age 10 and figured out on my own, how to link wedge turns by the end of the day. I was hooked! Was a trip captain for a ski travel agency by the time I was 16. Took 4 bus loads of people to Canada at age 17. At age 18 while in college, I was a weekend ski instructor. After college, I fulfilled my self promise to go skiing in Europe and went skiing in Austria. Our tour host was on the Austrian National Ski Team and placed 7th in the Olympics! He took us to some of the steepest terrain I have ever skied and we also skied a GS run a few days after a race from the gate house! At age 22, I started my own part time travel agency taking bus trips and taught ski lessons for our patrons. We had every single person linking turns and getting on/off the lift safely before lunch. At age 24 while on vacation in Colorado, I saw snowboarding on a low power Summit TV station in the condo and my last 2 days, I rented a board and went to Arapahoe Basin to try it because in 1988 they were the only resort in Colorado that allowed snowboarding! I didn't take a lesson because there were no lessons! After 3 trips down the Molly Hogan (beginner lift) my friend's talked me in to going up the MT. I was doing Blues my first day. *Just like being self taught skiing, I learned a lot of bad habits on the board. The following year, I got a rental board at the end of the season ... A Burton Cruise Missile!!! I would ride it for 6 years! *I went to ski areas that didn't allow it but I rode it anyway and out ran their ski patrol for hours before they gave up. Moved to Colorado in 1996 and the following year became a snowboard instructor. Got my full cert by the end of my 2nd year of teaching. I offered to teach some friends how to ski better one day and gave them intermediate lessons in the morning. I switched out for my snowboard after lunch and I am here to say definitively that snowboarding takes way less energy than skiing. Having taught both for decades, I can unequivocally say that it is not a myth... skiing is harder to master. 100% of my ski students are linking turns by the end of my beginner lesson but only 90-100% are when I teach snowboarding. Both of my lesson plans are designed so that there are minimal "falls" while you obtain the basic skill set you need to progress. We always said The difference between a beginning skier and an expert skier is a lifetime but the difference between a beginning snowboarder and an expert is 5 good days! Half the equipment - Half the energy - Twice the fun!
I've done both since 1992. Snowboarding is much easier to learn. As soon as you learn to keep weight off your downhill edge you're golden.I was a teenager and picked it up in an afternoon, was doing double blacks/cliffs in a couple weeks. Steep and deep on a board is soooo easy. Steep and deep on skis is a real workout, and you need to know what you're doing. Skiing is super easy if you're on a groomed run, but as soon as it gets chunky, heavy, or deep, it's so much harder than boarding. A board will just float on top of all that crap. Similarly, if it's icy out I want to be on skis, because I have more or less twice as much edge. Powder day? Trees or bowls? I'll take my board every time. Bluebird spring day or icy conditions? Skis all day long. Park? Either/both.
The title made me think the video was going to debate "Is snowboarding actually more fun than skiing?" because I always assumed it was.
when me and my wife are too old to snowboard, we'll make the switch to skiing.
I snowboard exclusively these days (since I don't have ski boots that fit anymore), but I started as a skiier, then a downhill ski racer, then a ski school instructor. Skiing was much more intuitive for me. On my first day of my second season of snowboarding, I just blanked and couldn't remember how to turn at all first, despite having progressed quite a bit the previous year. So, for me, snowboarding is definitely harder but often more fun partly because of that challenge.
i started on ski's and had a really bad accident (I was intermediately skilled and another skier ran over my skiis, destroyed my shoulder, helicopter off the mountain, bad news) after that I never had the confidence in my skiing again. I switched to snowboarding and never looked back. It really just comes down to if you prefer to be facing in the direction your moving or not, and my preference is to be facing sideways. Having fun shredding is the only requirement! The number of boards under your feet is truly personal preference. Skiing/Riding is what makes cold winters worth it, get out there and have some fun.
I think this was more of the case 30 years ago with straight skis. Now, modern skis are just easy. Even 10-15 years ago, not many people knew how to carve on skis. Now everyone is doing it - mainly because ski new shapes are very forgiving and make it simple, even if your balance is centered or backseat.
So I've skied since I was 6 up to right about 17 and that's when I decided skiing became a bit too boring and parkwise, a bit too complex and risky, so I started learning to snowboard. Now I'm 35 and haven't looked back, convinced snowboarder right here, I've skied maybe twice since I started snowboarding. The big difference is that I've learned to ski correctly from my father and from instructors, whereas with snowboarding I am completely selftaught and caught up on a few tipps and tricks from friends. Probably my oppinion would be a bit different if I had the same upbringing on snowboard as I had with skiing, but, to come to a conclusion: For me it took like 3-5 years to get my skiing skills to a point where you would point me out in a crowd for ellegance and style. I was also a kid back then so I'm sure as an adult I wouldn't have needed that long to get there. But at that point I considered that I have mastered skiing ... up to doing tricks on skis .... where I really struggled, it felt unnatural for me so I ended up quitting. With snowboarding, coming from skiing, I needed maybe a weekend to start linking turns and a whole season to confidently ride down all types of (this is important) groomed terrain. I did need 5 years in total to polish my riding and it was a lot of hard work and feel that I still haven't mastered snowboarding. I am still not convinced that I look "cool" and "elegant" when I ride, although now I am confident on any groomer or offpiste with the snowboard. So where with skiing I felt like I have nothing more to learn after 5 years, except for park riding and tricks, with snowboarding I cannot say the same after 18 years of riding and actually getting longer seasons now as an adult. All in all it all comes down to the amount of work dedicated for each sport, they are different from all aspects except the fact that they are both snowsports that use metal edges and a flat base, but otherwise the techniques involved are very different. Still, at least it's been for me like this, snowboarding simply intrigues me more, challenges me to get better with every season, whereas with skiing, as I already said, it feels I have reached a limit, and I cannot improve beyond this limit so skiing is not so fun for me anymore. Just as a comparison I can ski with my legs completely tied together, I can carve with them tied together or spread appart, I can do backwards riding effortlessly, one legged skiing, binding tricks, I even did some rail tricks. I cannot do any kind of tricks like 180s or 360s or backflips and stuff like that I've never tried on skis. With snowboarding I can carve aggresively, I cannot do completely laid over carves or eurocarves yet, but getting there, feel pretty comfortable riding switch although I ride mostly directional boards, even swallowtails, can ride backcountry, trees, can do some light buttertricks and 180s front and backside. So this is a summary of my skiing and snowboarding journey. Both are hard to master, both have their easy and hard parts and in the end it comes down to each individual struggles. Hope my insight helps people take the right decision, although there is no right or wrong decision to make here. Just have fun and work hard for the sport you want to practice with joy.
As a snowboarder who learned to ski in my mind, then went up the hill and learned on the way down. Skiing is way flipping easier to learn than snowboarding. Skiing is like rollerblading. Snowboarding is like parallel skiing to me, except youre sideways and skiis are perfectly spaced already and never move from that position. I literally tried a 360 on my first run down skiing; I definitely ate shiet, but I sent it hard😎.
Im would say I’m a beginner at both. Snowboarding was so much harder those first few days compared to skiing. Both are equally difficult when you move on to the steeper runs
Nah. Concepts and techniques are same for boarding when on greens and more steeper runs. Not the same with skiing. Somethings u can’t get away skiing blk runs but could in greens.
Ur talking about comfort with speed and confidence
Important to remember that since you have mastered snowboarding and understand edging on the snow it makes it quite easy for you to transition. Learning snowboarding from skiing it took me maybe half a day before I was already semi-carving down the slopes on a snowboard. True beginner experience may not reflect this quick progression. Congrats!
true and very good point
I had this same experience after about half a day trying snowboarding I could get on edge and kinda carve since I had a good understanding of edge control
I do both and can honestly say that it is easier to learn to ski but much harder to truly look good on skiis. Especially in deep tracked out powder! The first couple of times on a board were harder but within a few weeks I could ride steep trash and look like I knew what I was doing.
Been skiing all my life and snowboarded for a season when i was 12 or so. Just started snowboarding again at 22 and took it quite easy, probably because i skate a lot. I never expect to convert entirely to snowboarding, but i have noticed it have some benefits and more fun aspects. It feels way more freeing on board and especially powder feels so much more fun. On skis you have to ride powder with your legs pretty close to really float well (even with powder skis) and keeping them close can be hard when navigating trees or going carves, on snowboard you can really just surf, feels more like a knife trough butter, while skiing can feel like picking up soup with chopsticks at times. It’s been a fun, but also annoying journey. When on board i miss the occasional rips trogh the park, hitting every jump and rail in my way. But seeing the mountain in different ways have made me fall in love with terrain i know very well all over again. If you have skied all your life and feel tired of it, i suggest snowboarding, and vice versa (even though i think skiers going to snowboard makes more sense. Thank you if you read this far.
As a lifelong skier, had only one chance to try snowboarding for now, which was on board with faulty "ski boot" type bindings, which ejected my boot as soon as I tried to apply any kind of pressure to steer the board, so need to give it another chance someday.
That being said, for the first day/session on skis you did really well, but you were far from mastering it xD The balance and some skill from the snowboard definitely transferred to skiing, so you skipped the complete beginner phase and are now in the beginner-intermediate level as far as the general confidence and movement goes. But I would love to see how you would progress with a few more days of practice and your transition into the carving and how would your opinion about the perceived mastery difficulty be then. But it is true that like for the most sporting activities if the person is a sporty type, you can pick up almost any sport and be good much faster than the average person.
The thing I love about skiing is that even though I am a rather good skier, I always feel like there is still room for improvement when I am carving. And every time I am on snow skiing I am trying to improve my technique, increase the edge angle, better my movement so I get a more fluid motion etc. And at least for me, there is no better feeling than leaning so much that I am touching the snow with my hands, same must be true while snowboarding, and the main reason I would really like to learn how to snowboard is the alpine carving snowboard, it looks fun AF :)
Born a skier then started surfing, skateboarding and naturally snowboarding. I love snowboarding but I started missing something when I got heavy into cross country skiing. This will be the first year I’m going to alternate between the two !
For sure skiing is easier at first but I think both are equally difficult to master, however snowboarding looks a lot cooler 🤘
I just refuse to torture my feet with ski boots
I prefer to be in the surf/skateboard stance vs the roller skate stance. I've surfed (and still so) since the early 70's snowboarding is one board two edges and no poles, it's a freedom expression. I skied from the 70's - 90's then started snowboarding. When snowboarding first came in in the surf mags we were blown away you can do a bottom turn on a 500' foot type Mt slope/[wave,] I feel like I'm surfing - or it's close to surfing which for me is hands down thee greatest feeling in the world and trust me I've don it all. For me skiing is rollers skate S turns that's about it, not knocking it just not my stance or cup of tea. Visually snowboarding is amazing to watch and I'm not talking the airs I'm talking how the masters surf the Mt and rip it like a wave, carves and lines unimaginable back in the 70's and 80's not aggression more of the art again expression. Sorry long winded, Peace
Ive done both. Skied for 13 years could do everything on the mountain and backcountry/steeps. Snowboarded for 5 years now and i prefer it so much. I think the reason its "harder to master" on skis is because its a lot easier to get down harder terrain with terrible form. A beginner skier could do a black run with the ugliest form meanwhile snowboarding backs feels like you need a lot more experience and edge control when compared to skiis
What are you talking about. I see snowboarders slide down on their buttocks on double black runs just to say they have done it. Or cheesegrind their edge in a straight line from top to bottom. You can’t pizza a double black on skis….
100% disagree. Queue: THOUSANDS of snowboarders side-slipping down intermediate and expert runs, afraid to go to their tow side. Ll. Ridiculous.
@@hotcheshlol this season I'll be able to really say I went down The Wall at Kirkwood, CA when I head over there. Last season was my first time there and I side slipped down most of the way until I got brave enough to point down hill and properly turn. This was after I felt it wasn't super steep meaning the last third of the way.
@@hotchesh You’ve got a point, I think too many people are scared of wiping out.
I’m a mountain biker so stacking it on a mountain covered in frozen water doesn’t really faze me. Even though I’ve dislocated my shoulder while boarding.
I started out skiing as a kid. I was doing fine but never really loved it. A few years later I finally got to try boarding (like I had wanted all those years ago). After my first time, I was hooked.
I own one of the original snowboards by Burton. It does not even have bindings. I think snowboarding is easier to learn but much more painful when you fall versus skiing. That I think is the most important item as many people quit because of the falls being so hard on a snowboard especially when you catch that backside edge and and your head impacts the snow with the speed of a cannon ball! This is one reason helmets have become so popular and common.
Yeah, that's why I snowboard with helmet and back protector.
Hi, I’m loving your videos. I can go down blues and below pretty confidently but I often times finding myself cutting to much on heel side turns which slows me down more than I would like. I can go from straight to toe pretty well but my heel turns feel more beginner. Do you have any tips?
I’m a snowboarder, but both of my young daughters ski. Skiing was a stable platform especially on the bunny hill and provided a more intuitive body position. They tried snowboarding but would just do pirouettes down the bunny hill.
I’m hoping they try snowboarding when they get older so I can give them feedback because I’m such a bad skier and have zero ski knowledge. Regardless, I’m just glad they’re outside away from electronics for a while
I've done both, I'm on skiing now and its simply just for the on/off of the lift and going straight into action but man does it suck walkin around
I need this sound track!!!😂😂
I've been snowboarding for 20 years, and Skiing for 3. Skiing is easier in every sense of the word.
I've been skiing most of my life. But I am tempted to dabble in snowboarding for two reasons. Fear of hurting my knees. But also, I love carving, and reaching down and touching the snow in a big fast turn just looks so much cooler and more fun.
With two weeks of snowboard experience behind my belt, at which stage I was able to manage black runs, I went on a school ski trip. They wouldn't let me snowboard, so I had to take up skiing for a week. I found the transition very easy. On the first day, I got caught out by trying to stop by going heelside. It turns out if you try that on skis you end up sitting down, but the skis keep going. After that important discovery, I felt like I could ride the blues and reds in complete control. That's far from mastery, of course. In contrast, my advanced skier brothers have dabbled in snowboard and found it difficult to stay upright. I definitely believe snowboarding is harder to get started in.
Mastery is of a different nature to competency. There can be an objective standard to competency: the ability to cover any maintained slope without putting anyone else at risk. On the other hand, I define mastery by what the very best practitioners are capable of. If we assume that the best skiiers and snowboarders have the same innate talent for their respective sport and are both putting in the same time and effort, mastery will be equally difficult to achieve. To dig a little deeper into the weeds, if more people are pursuing mastery in one sport than the other, it's more likely that people with higher innate talent in that sport will be discovered. That will raise the level of mastery in that sport, making it harder for people in general to achieve. Skiing is more popular than snowboarding, so I'm inclined to agree that it is probably harder to master.
I have done both for a while, both are fun, but personally I prefer skiing. Snowboard is hard to get in and out of the lifts, putting the boots in and out, but specially you easily get stuck in flat areas, much harder to access Backcountry, really hard on icy slopes and it hurts more when you fall down. When you stop you have to sit down or get on your knees, pants get wet , butt gets cold... Snowboard is really dangerous on deep powder if you get stuck head on. Usually you don't see many snowboarders in very steep slopes, or in the Backcountry.
All that been said, snowboards are great for the park, really easy to jump, land and do tricks. Much lighter and smaller to carry around, specially the boots, and the greatest thing is that Snowboard boots do not hurt and is very easy to walk with them.
All that being said I really prefer skiing.
2:54 Can we please talk about how that snowboarder got dragged and crushed by the lift? lol
As someone who has skied for 8 years (one or two weeks a year sadly) and snowboarded for 2. I do agree with the statement, snowboarding is more difficult to learn because of how easy it can be to catch an edge or having to conquer the fear of leaning back on a slope. In this area skiing is easier to learn because it is easier to balance and go down a slope slower. But when mastering both I found that once you know how to snowboard well it is "harder" to catch an edge and easier to learn new tricks. Even after 8 years of skiing I still wobble on my skis sometimes because the edge of my ski caught the snow in a weird way. I know neither of my forms are amazing but I feel a lot better at snowboarding then skiing. I also am way less tired after a week of snowboarding then skiing.
Small note about the gear: I found that if you use the skiing poles, put the poking part trough the loop of the other ski and put the ski trough both it makes it so much easier to carry and more comfortable then carrying a snowboard if you dont use the foot line.
I had ligament damage to my right knee so snowboarding was my only option when I took up snowsports. Love snowboarding to this day.
To master something is to do a wide range of elements that belong to particular sport AND being able to do it in a "smooth, natural" fasion, leaving impression it is as easy as walking.
I skied until I was in 7th grade when I switched to snowboarding. My dad as a lifelong skier of more than 40 years has always said, “The best part about skiing, is taking off your boots.” So the snowboarding boots was definitely one of the best parts of switching.
You had the advantage of learning a second sport under similar conditions, that made skiing much easier for you that day. Something as simple as know when to stand getting off the lift made a difference. Not being intimidated by steeper terrain because you're familiar with it also made it easier. IMO generally speaking most skiers and snowboarder really don't get beyond a solid intermediate level, with few really carving well.
I cant stop cracking up at the song😂
Done both... snow boarding is only harder to learn because of the odd balance when learning how to sit on your heal edge. And comfort in twisting to still see the downhill when toes side. But once you have that that is all you skiing doesn't have that but as you get better... there is way more sides and weight position to watch out for
i skied for 8 years and this year is my 5th year on board, from my experience skis are harder to learn because of multiple breaking styles, 4 edges, controling the skis etc. theyre also more dangerous but theyre way way way more fun on mougles or speed sends but are harder in powder, tricks and comfort. So suming all up pick snowboard if you want something easy to learn and master thats more safe for you joints and looks cool AF and pick skis if you want maneuverability speed and cardio workout after crash
I’ve done both. Started out skiing, switched after 8 years to snowboarding. Then after another 8 years I switched back. This was one of the reasons. After 8 years of snowboarding I didn’t feel challenged. I’ve been trying to master moguls, that alone has taken almost eight years. So the saying is absolutely true. Not only that but snowboarding is kind of a pain in the butt. Standing in line, getting on the lift, sitting on the wrong side of the lift, getting off the lift, catwalks, moguls, super steep all a pain in the butt on a board but not on skis. As far as losing your gear in a yard sail? That is by design. The year skis went to the releasable binding ski injuries dropped 45%. It’s a clear advantage to a snowboard which will twist and turn your body without releasing causing unnecessary injuries. For the life of me I can’t understand why snowboarding hasn’t adopted this tech. That’s brings me to the absolute worst part of snowboarding. The tech is stale. Boards and bindings haven’t hardly changed in 25 years. The board I bought in 98 looks and functions exactly like a board bought yesterday. Whereas ski tech has and continues to change every year. Skis today barely resemble skis from the nineties, and those changes made skiing much more fun. This is why snowboarding has been losing market share since it’s 2011 peak.
I’m a skier (tried snowboarding once) and can say that,sure you are sliding down on skis (back seated) and are throwing tricks and moves (obviously you guys are very athletic and no doubt very good snowboarders) but “Mastering” you are far from. In regards to what is cooler, it’s hard to tell, but one thing for sure, snowboarders are way more chill than skiers. I have been yelled at on the mountain for being aggressive or cutting people off, always from skiers and never from a snowboarder. 🤙. Keep up the good work and stay cool.
Song name ?
Nice video. I don't focus on the park, nor do my friends. Instead, we ride on slopes and in off-piste terrain. So, the difficulty of tricks is not part of my evaluation. I have a few friends who are experts in both skiing and snowboarding. They agree that the learning curve for snowboarding is much steeper at the beginning. However, it could be because we all started with skiing, so we already developed a sense of gliding there.
I tried snowboarding in my 20s. After 5 days, I was able to do turns on a 100% gradient slope and make carved turns on a groomed red slope. That was more or less the end of my snowboarding journey. I find snowboarding less practical if you're riding in the Alps, where there are sections where you need to skate. Snowboarders lose a lot of time in those areas, and I don't enjoy that.
On skis, I’m a retired instructor, and I have to say that perhaps the hardest part is fine-tuning extreme carving, where you get your body down to the snow. I used to be able to make a 360-degree turn on an edged ski. I can't do that anymore.
I believe that both a good skier and a good snowboarder deserve cudos. Neither one is easy to master at an expert level.
Learned both at the same time last January at 36 years old - can't get enough !! Video tape every day of it.
I think we are more comfortable with our front side pointing in the direction of travel. It feels more natural. My biggest problem when I went from skiing to boarding was having my legs locked in position. It took some getting used to. 😅
As someone who does both -- I'll point out your statements about carving are why i think the trope exists -- there are lots of snowboarders out there who can get down a double-black slope who can't carve... who never carve - and realy haven't mastered a proper turn -- but can get down blacks and double-blacks because you can get down anything on a snowboard with mediocre skill levels by sliding on your heelside edge --- not an option on skis... So skiers graduate from blues to blacks slower than their snowboarding friends.
Yeah I think you’re on to something there
@@ShredSchool1 well that's because I was that guy -- I started out snowboarding in my 20s with very experienced skier friends and went everywhere on the mtn with them, surviving with ABSOLUTELY no skills -- just a lot of bravado and athleticism. I switched to skiing a few years later and then skied for a decade.. I finally went back to snowboarding and took the time to learn how to ride correctly -- 3 decades later I do both -- but at a younger age I'd have never learned to ride properly since I had the easy bailout slide whenever I got in over my head... and was more interested in bragging about doing double-blacks than taking the time on blues to learn properly.
Yeah when I was new to snowboarding I went down a few blacks with friends and it was pretty easy to just slide down heelside, doing some turns with terrible technique just to get down. Meanwhile some of my less experienced ski friends wouldn't go near them.
I did both skiing and snowboarding, and now I'm a snowboard teacher. I would say a lot of snowboarders think they have it "figured it out" but there are so many levels of edge control and body position they have no clue about. I think only a handful of people on this planet have really mastered snowboarding, and even then they still haven't figured out everything, it's just impossible...mastery is just darn hard no matter which sport you do
I'm a skiier who recently learned how to snowboard, and I really can't tell which is harder. I learned how to ski as a child then learned everything above blues as an adult.
Really enjoyed that, subscribed. Looking forward to more.
Every video I watch I have to click the like button before the intro is done because I'm already amused and you're amazing.
K bye!
Between having so much more edge surface in the snow and having the poles, the maximum amount of control that's possible on moguls using skis is higher than on a snowboard, especially when it's slick. It's more complicated on skis too so the skill ceiling for those is higher in a way.
Moguls are way easier on skis, not even comparable. There's a reason mogul skiing is part of freestyle skiing competitions - it's actually fun on skis (as opposed to snowboard). As to the main question, I think skiing is both easier to learn and easier to master.
This video proves the point perfectly. Your day one on skis and can do any of those things, will take you multiple days or even a couple seasons to do so on a snowboard. But you still don’t look good or in control of any of it, ie no mastery here.
Spent 7 years as a kid skiing and was very proficient to diamonds, snowboarding took me 4-6 days, the same day I was able to link turns without stopping, I was carving down a diamond and never looked back since.
The saying is true.
Only tried snowboard and it is definitely not easy to learn all by myself. Compared to friends I saw learning skiing, they really seemed to have a much easier time (apart from walking on the boots all day, this one was easier for me, for sure)
I do both, my verdict:
- ski is easier to become an intermediate but once intermediate its comparable effort to get to advanced in both
- I think why some people say skiing is harder to master is because there are lots of different ways to carve / turn / maneuver ... But once you get it down on a snowboard it doesn't really change
- skiing is easier as an all mountaineering tool when there is natural obstacles and whatnot. Butt snowboarding can be easier in tight maneuverability, and in really steep areas where you're just trying to get down, it's easier to snow plow than to pizza or stay on your side
- I would say jibbing is definitely easier on a snowboard. I hit a rail my third time going, but took me a couple years to figure out the ski slide. Might be different for me though because I grew up skateboarding. Jumps / big air / drops definitely easier on skis. I think spinning is well, backward is a weird feeling
- Moguls definitely easier on skis
- looking steezy is easier on snowboard , poles are a pain amd can look goofy
- popping off side hits so much easier with snowboard. U can get way more pop there fore can get more air with less speed. Plus airing out and back in sideways way less swing effort than skis
- groomer. With skis I just basically go straight and only turn when I need to or to check speed. Sometimes I wonder if I actually know how to carve LOL. Snowboarding know I'm constantly going edge to edge and carving it feels much more intuitive and fun, i think from a technical groomer carving standpoint i might say snowboarding. But it will take you 2-3x the time to rip down a blue on snowbaord than skis.
I see the value of the statement, but i think fact is skiing is way easier in beginign to just go downhill then intermediate onward its comparable and just depeneding what your going for
After half a lifetime of skiing, I started snowboarding at 45 to go with my sons who were not interested in skiing. And I found it much easier to do - apart from the old-style ski lifts 😁. Also, I found that the whole experience of a snowboarding day is much cooler than of a skiing day, with shoes you can walk with, and equipment much easier to handle and bring around. I'm in my sixties now and never went back... For what it's worth!
What I learnt about snowboarding when I had lessons you have turn your head and look where you want to go & when you turn your head your body turns with your hips. When you want to stop as you turn make it sharp turn so you go into a sitting down position with your weight on your heels, almost you about to sit in a chair. Or about you look up the hill if you're turning right and put your weight on your toes.
The unique bond between a snowboarder and their snowboard, along with the boots and bindings, is something skiers will never truly grasp.
That same applies for every board sport.
I taught both for years... I found learning snowboarding easier, because I have a wonky hip, in that my left hip is taller than my right. After I mastered snowboarding, I spent the majority of my 20's and 30's working on my skiing, to the point where I am about equal at freeriding. I can go bigger on skis, landings are easier than on a board, but the wipe outs are more gnarly.
I always recommend learning skiing first, get the physics and basics down, and then try the board, which generally requires more core strength. Man I love moguls.
Your background music's so on point!! 😂😂
Glad someone noticed! 😂
I have several examples of skiers switching to snowboarding because they couldn't learn to ski. And on snowboarding, they finally managed to do something. However, it is more fair to compare skiing to snowboarding if it is a slalom version of snowboarding. But few people ride such snowboards.
9:13 Wearing snowboard pants to go skiing beginner mistake oof. Snowboard and ski pants are basically the same with one small exception. Ski pants usually have a black plastic patch on the inner ankle area which snowboard pants often but not always lack. The problem is that that area of your pants comes into contact with the edge of the opposing ski and it can and will cut the shit out of your pants. Then once theres a hole in the outer layer of your pants snow and ice fill in between the layers and when you go into the lodge you have about 5lbs of ice dagling from your ankles. Trust me I know fom experience. A small section of vinyl plastic on your ankle might seem like a small detail but it will greatly improve the durability of your pants.
I learned to snowboard in the 1983 when it was a crime in most areas. It took me an hour and a half before some buy asked me how long I had been boarding. He didn't believe the hour and a half bit. But I rode skateboard and I slalom trick ski waterski and even rode the then goofy wakeboards in their infancy. I learned to ski in 1970 and it took me quite a bit longer to gain decent skill. But I was nine years old in 1970. I'll be at Copper in a couple of weeks and will remain there for most of the winter. I'll see if I can sniff you guys out. I know I saw you guys last year.
I started to ski first and then snowboard. Skiing for me was harder to find my balance, but over all, snowboarding for me was so easy to find the balance. I had issues with the edges, but over all, snowboarding for me the short time I snowboarded, snowboarding is way easier all around!
I think when we say "master" in snowboarding, we are referring to the point where we can link turns comfortably enough that you don't look like beginners (i know, it's really intermediate stage), which takes a lot more efforts and time than learning how to ski pizza to control your speed and linking turns. For skiing, we say "master" when we are able to ski french fries, which can take forever. so I think it's true that ski is easier to learn, but harder to master and vice versa for snowboard.
You could be right
I think both is hard if you are a newbie, but if you did one and move into the other it's much easier.
True good point
Skied as a kid. Snowboarder for 20 years. Went back to skiing. Ya'll need to get into some you fall, you die terrain and tell me which is easier. On a snowboard you can just sit on an edge. I think that getting fully proficient on skis is harder. It's why I jumped back. For me there was nowhere else to go on a snowboard. You guys did great for it being your first day. You have more skills than most.
good point, we should have hit the steeper stuff
My favorite excuse is my Mom never wanting to go to the mountain until shes "in shape" mom just go skiing it will get you "in shape".
Classic mom thing to do 😂 I feel you
Snowboarder learning to ski. First few days are definitely harder on a board. More falling from edge catches. The slams are more brutal. My partner (skier) learning to snowboard was almost in tears from the pain and frustration, whereas I was having a gentle day on the slopes with my skis.
Skiing seems more precise, snowboarding more surfy. That precision and having to control two sticks instead of one is perhaps why many say skiing is harder to master. True carving and good body positioning in either sport takes some time to nail down. With skiing it seems harder, but I’ve been boarding for years.
I like both but to me, the surfy flowy feel of a snowboard is where it’s at. And being able to load up my tail or nose on a board makes freestyle more fun. Ollies, presses, buttering, etc. On pow days I’m grabbing my board every time. On hard packed days or if I’m with other skiers I’ll grab my skies.