[Closed] to ski or to snowboard?

Ski's, more versatile and you'll spend less time on your ass and walking to lifts.

If you're going to be living there why not do, or at least, try, both. I find boarding a lot easier and as such, because I only get to go once or twice a year I board as it means I'm not confined to the pistes.
But, if I had plenty of time to learn I would almost certaintly ski, it's everything boarding is but without the mind numbing shuffling and walking.

Oh and forget what's 'cool' and what's not. Sking and boarding are both amazing and anyone who's any good at either can appreciate that.

Ski, why would you want to ride a window sill?

I can honestly say, some of the best moments in my life have been riding powder on a board, this is better than any MTB trail i have yet ridden.
For this reason i would say boarding over skiing as you simply can't get the wide turning sweeping floating sensation on powder with ski's like you can on a board.

As you are out there for the season, do both! You'll need some instruction at the off foe either of these.

Get on a board and get riding. You will have completely mastered it in a couple weeks, but you will be doing well enough after just a few days to hit a variety of terrain.

On skis, expect it to take much longer to master. It depends on you, the quality of instruction and frequency of practice. You will be doing the basics on blues and some reds after a week and after three or four, you will be at an early intermediate level covering all terrain. It can take a very long time to break through to the advanced level, perhaps even years if you don't have a decent instructor.

Whichever you take up, you will love it, especially after the first few weeks of falling over and aching muscles.

Find people to ski with who have some patience and will help you find your feet a little.

Full time job in the Alps - Bastard! 👿 😆

Dave - I would've agreed with you before but we got led off piste last season by a guide on skis and it was incredible to watch.
The new, wider, twin tip, powder skis are pretty amazing.

That said, I surf and the feel of a big wide powder turn on a board is the same to me as a big bottom turn on a clean wave and I have to say, that is a bloody great feeling!

Snowboard, you'll have plenty of time for skiing when you're coming up to pensionable age.

I board, but skiing does have plenty of benefits, like getting along the flatter sections

also skiers are less likely to treat you like complete scum at the lifts

had some top hat ski right over my board last time I was in Austria at the lifts. It was only when I got back to the hotel that I noticed 4 huge chunks out of the top sheet of the board

I reckon you should try both, but you'll probably soon get bored with learning to board as you'll spend a lot of time on your arse

Well out in the alps the number of boarders is on the way down. There are very few who board out there compared to the ski resorts here. From this I would recommend probably skiing. I am howevre a bit biased I have been skiing for the past 10 years, but I started boarding for the first time last year and having slated boarders for my whole skiing life I actually really enjoyed it, but you do spend quite a lot of time sitting on your bum to begin with. I think it looks really cool seeing a really good boarder carving down the hillside, it is preference to be honest. But if most of you work mates are skiing I would probably suggest that.

I board, but skiing does have plenty of benefits, like getting along the flatter sections

As above. I've not felt that I'd be better off on skis when actually riding (although obviously it depends what you're doing, and if I was any good I might think differently) but there's a lot of faffing about at the top/bottom of lifts and on flat sections that skis would avoid.

If I had the time I'd learn to ski as well but like Richie I'm lucky if I get a week or two a year so snowboarding for me. Coming from a surf/skate background I picked it up really quick.

carving on a snowboard feels similar to riding a succession of berms and i like berms.

I am sure would enjoy both
Skiing for me thou,
You may probably get fed up of snowboarding after a while,
walking on flats sections and unclipping at lifts.
Dont be fooled by the rad dude look, as most young kids these days have given up on the board in favour of twin tips and fats etc as you can do more on them.
Which ever you do you are one lucky chap spending winter out there.
Biking will seem quiet tame after spending the season on snow in the alps,
unless you buy a downhill bike 😛

Ski. Start off by skiing because you can do so much more. Once you get good at skiing maybe mess about on a board for a bit and see if you like it but to be honest, if you have never done either before it won't matter. There just as hard as each other to learn so take you pick

Oh yeh Ski's are "cooler"

Well you know what they say, the hardest part about skiing is telling your parents you`re gay, only joking ,but as a rule of thumb over 60 years old -ski under 60 years old board all the way.

I 'board, the wife has done a bit of skiing. However, when we went to Whistler, I talked her into trying the boarding. In one day, she had surpassed her skiing ability. Plus, when you stack, your hips, knees and ankles stay together rather than being forced to do the splits!

However, you've got time for both, so try both. However, try the boarding first as it's easier to get up and running.

If you're there for the season, try both and decide which FEELS better. Don't worry about how you think it looks. It's actually really nice being able to do both.

I snowboarded for years (started in 1991). My second season away, it stopped snowing mid-Feb (honestly, not one more flake all Winter). I learned to ski as I find snowboarding on pistes a little dull and I'm too big for park stuff. Came back for a third season and found skiing to be far more pleasurable all-round. I like the style of tricks, the extra control and speed and the reduced faff of having to swap between board and snowshoes. Ski-touring with skins is ace too.

I haven't done either for 4 years though, so perhaps I'm a bit out of touch.

Either way, my winter seasons were the happiest years of my life (don't tell the wife). Have a good time.

You will likely get up and going more quickly on skis than boarding, however as others have said it takes longer to get to intermediate level and competance off piste will likely take a long time. Plus point with skis is that getting round the mountain is so much easier than with a board, you can cover flat ground much more easily, which is a killer when you first start boarding.

Now for boarding, as others have said the feeling of being off piste in deep powder snow, in the trees or on steep open slopes has on occasions for me been almost a spiritual experience :0)

So try both they are both great in there own ways and for different conditions.

I've done a lot of boarding and skiing

I prefer boarding but you should try both if you have the opportunity

Plum

Skiing everytime for me(I tried boarding first before skiing)...too much faffin about when learning to board when it comes to the flat sections and lift like people have already said.

But if you are there for a season give them both a go you lucky sod 😉

Skking is easier to start but slower to progress. Personally if there is powder and off piste then boarding is far superior. Have spent days boarding off piste and still fresh and raring to go while the skiers of better fitness are absolutely done in by lunch.

However hard packed pistes are much more fun on carving skis and they are more versatile with getting about the whole mountain.

Do both, ignore what is cool and see what you enjoy instead.

Honestly, do you do winter sports to be 'practical' and 'versatile'? Snowboarding duh! More reasonably put: I skied to a ok standard but became smitten with snowboarding immediately. It's way easier because it's more direct and less technical. Mountain biking is really just a substitute for boarding for me. I will probably go back to skiing when I'm too old for the knocks or want to do mountaineering.
About flats... It's like a singlespeed where to have to carry speed and pump. Because you can't skate like a skier you must go flat out. It takes balls

Neither. Snowblading is where it's at. Trust your Uncle Cougar.

Neither - tele.

Skiers think boarders are scum, boarders think skiers are boring, everybody thinks telemarkers are super-cool.

If you're going to ignore my advice, IIRC there are some bits of the route between Super Morzine and Avoriaz which are rather flat and a total pain on a board - something worth bearing in mind if you're based there.

Telemarking is like having 29" wheels 😉

Nah - boarding is 29", tele is 650b 8)

thanks evryone i will get back to this once i am sober.

fwiw i'll be there for a few uears as i have aproper job there, not a seasonal ski/bike job. win for me.

A board has a lot less drag on the flats than skis, so it is faster, however you need to be a good smooth rider and carry more speed & learn to pump to acheive this.
Catch your edge slightly & you may have to unclip one foot & push like a skateboard, i can't remember ever having to walk on a piste.

Telemark is wicked fun in powder. Fat tele-skis with a set of skins and adjustable poles are a recipe for a day of fun (and aching glutes).

Ski. Easier to learn with the new shorter carving skis. Get some fat twin tips and you will be able to go everywhere really quickly within a couple of weeks.
You are very lucky and will enjoy it alot.

A board has a lot less drag on the flats than skis, so it is faster

I'm a keen skier. Do both.

Like above -boarding in powder beats anything I've done on a bike.

Ski. You can move around when you're not going downhill and you don't need to wear wrist protectors or fashionable clothing to fit in.

I'm not bothered really, both are fun but if you're just starting with both, skiing will come much faster and will be far less frustrating.

As Mr Cougar points out, once you can ski you can snow blade and that is totally awesome. It's like ice skating on snow, down a big hill. A great laugh, you feel like you're completely out of control most of the time.

Board, how often do you intend to be walking or traversing flat stuff, if you want to do that get some roller blades! Its very similar to riding especially in powder and tree runs etc. I dont really ski v well but boarding is so similar to dh/riding.

I would also board as you can get good (I think) quicker than you can on skis and its easier to get off piste etc. Plus on shit days you can hit the park which doesnt take as long to get into on boards as i does on skis. Having said that though skis are better on icy days.

Gte yourself to bar robison and nail some mutzig! I did a season out there was a right laugh!

Forget ski blades they are ghey, unstylish and very very dangerous. Believe me when I say that you will face enough stacks, danger and high speed slams doing a season that you wont need the added risk of gay blades!!!!

Yeah I did some snowblading for a bit and actually enjoyed moguls because they are so manoeuvrable. I confess to never having tried carving skiis or fat skiis and I'm told they are more fun that long straight skiis I used to use. I would also say that carving turns on piste is more like biking in the way you weight your feet and point in the direction of travel. But last time I skied I did not like how loose my legs felt like they would get twisted. With boarding you legs are secure in a strong A shape. It just feels more direct for me not having separate surfaces and edges tp manage and no poles. Boarding in pow is like heaven real smooth and floaty it feels like flying. But it's a really deep play as you body interacts with the snow and your course while the brain just shuts up and it feels like a direct coonection between you and the environment. The terrain unfolds and you just find places to play little bumps and drop round trees lips and gullys. If you just a handful of good pow runs in a weeks trip it makes my year.

plus if you dh or own mountain bike goggles (ie clear ones!) take those as well as they are great on flat light (cloudy days) days.

Nick

hmm - wearing, hard boots, falling over in restaurants sober, losing skis in the powder, bending poles. I think I'd only ski if I had to. As a seasonire you'll be able to cruise the flat sections, snake the queues and shred the park after a few weeks on a board. The first couple of days are hard if you don't have impact shorts.
Unfortunately skiing is probably more practical if you're doing it for a living though.

Ski, it's a no brainer.
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everybody thinks telemarkers are super-cool.

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Forget ski blades they are ghey, unstylish

You know, I'd forgotten all about my experiences with 'boarders when I was learning and how kewl and l33t they thought they were, thanks for reminding me.

Standing sideways on the edge of the piste with an instructor whilst I was learning to stand up without falling over, there was only one group of people who thought the shortest route between the slope and the uplift was to literally ride over the the front of my skis.

Only shit skiers think blades are shit. 😉

For this reason i would say boarding over skiing as you simply can't get the wide turning sweeping floating sensation on powder with ski's like you can on a board.

I think you mean you can't get it without practicing and getting good whereas on a board you can venture off piste within 5 minutes of starting. The only difficulty I have had with skis when out with boarders was in really dense forest which required constant jump turns in the end and I got goosed whereas they were still able to turn and tea tray heel edge down. Fat skis are where it's at. I personally have noticed that the numbers of boarders is dropping quickly in recent years. Probably because of the reasons stated above. Twin tips have swung the momentum back the other way. If I was going out for a season I would do both. And mono boarding and telemarking.

"Twin tips"??

Ski easier to learn but harder to master

Boarders = Gays on trays

"Twin tips"??

Skis that curl up at the front and back so you can ski forwards and backwards. All of a sudden all the cool tricks that the boarders could do were getting done better on skis and skiers were winning the extreme freeride comps. Despite all the culture and trendiness attached to boarding, it's a bit of a niche sport that is only really practical in a very limited number of situations. Watching a skaal being carved down a hill properly is amazing however, those guys are proper cool.

Gays on tray's I like that 😛

As above
twin tips usually softer and a bit wider that alpine or general piste ski's. Also can have reverse camber to aid tricks such as 360's whilst traveling down the piste (like a doughtnut in a car etc..)

No surprise that opinion is divided as [b]both[/b] are fantastic fun. I would also say that with modern fat skis, the learning curve is not that much longer than a board.

I've skied since I was a kid but I've boarded more than skied for the past 6-7 years and I'm very glad I can do both as there are certain conditions where one is better (or more fun/less hassle) than the other, for me anyway. A lot depends on the resort and snow conditions for me ie. if it's icy/resort has drag lifts/powder in trees/steep pistes, it's ski's all the way. If it's open pistes, powder off piste or good snow then I would tend to favour a board.

Get competent at both, remember you have all season and you can have the best of both worlds. You may find you have a better aptitude, or enjoy one more than the other, in which case the choice is yours but at least you will have made the choice from personal experience.

Edit: My daughter who is 22, started off skiing when she was 6, then boarded from 16-21 as it was 'cooler'. She skied last season and really enjoyed it again and is now of the same opinion as me and mixes and matches depending on resort/conditions

I have a Pair of Rossi Scratch Twin tips for general @rsing about on. Not great carvers but good for spins and bump and jump skiing. They rock going backwards though and I can just about carve turn going backwards as well as forwards.
I can ski and i hate 'blades . They are only good for low light days with icy pistes. I hate the way they wobble at any sort of speed and constantly need to be carved everywhere.

Watching a skaal being carved down a hill properly is amazing however, those guys are proper cool

OP, you could always get a skibastard, or whatever a wide single ski with 2 bindings side-by-side is really called. After that, everything will seem fantastic

OP, you could always get a skibastard,

It's called a mono-ski and is brilliant off piste and in moguls once you the hang of turning on your 'outside edge'. Also very good if you want wiggle your bum and ski like a girl when you get back on normal skis!

It's 😯 when it's icy !!

Having tried to learn both I picked up boarding much easier. When you get better on the board and know the pistes you won't have any trouble with needing to walk / skoot. Been to morzine on 3 occassions now and I don;t think there is a piste you can't clear if you keep your speed up.

One bit of advice - get a decent 'appropriate' board, I started off on a cheap second hand burton seven (park board) great for tricks but not what you need when you are learning! Second board was a bigger (163 as opposed to 158) ride prophet. Ride was like night / day so so easy to ride fast compared to the flexy park board with chattered at speed.

You'll take much much bigger slams learning to board. Make sure you wear wrist guards!

IMO snowboarding is harder to learn the basics, however it's easier to progress and try new things. Skiing is apparently easier to pick up the basics.

Personally, as snowboarder I can't understand why you would want to ski!

gotta be both..........

i've skied for 36 years and boarded for 12.............

both have pro's and cons but you have to experience both's pro's.....

good luck mukka

Just being on snow is fun does not matter if you board or Ski.

As people have said getting around the mountain is easier on skis, if you fancy doing any sky touring then skis make more sense.

I ski but most of the guys I were riding with were boarders, they seemed to be having just as much fun as me 🙂

Thinking of trying a set of nice big fat rocker powder skis this year cant wait.

Going out for the Val D'Isere opening weekend on the 26th of November 🙂

Bazzer

"only really practical in a very limited number of situations"

huh! The only limitation is that you cannot skate or pole on Flat ground. It is not a problem if you anticipate and go flat out to the next slope. I rarely have to walk. Neither are icy pistes which are no more difficult than on ski. And they are superb in slush and powder and crud which skiers moan about. Perhaps the only real issue is steep mogul fields which are a devil spawn made by skiers. A snowboard is just a big mono ski set up to ride like a surfboard.

10, is that a sticker that can be gotten hold of? it's awesome!

Cross Country Snowboarding is where it's at:

It's called a mono-ski and is brilliant off piste and in moguls once you the hang of turning on your 'outside edge'.

landrylapwing

10, is that a sticker that can be gotten hold of? it's awesome!

Try [url= http://stcthreadwear.com/store/index.html ]HERE[/url]

Have a done a few seasons in the alps and have to say that Boarding and Skiing are both amazing once you are good at both! For beginning then boarding is more painful, but after a days tuition, you will look reasonably cool coming down an easier slope, whereas with skiing, you can be doing it for years before getting good enough to look half decent. Indeed, many people never get that good, as you need to really be skiing every day for a season before you get really good at it.

So to look cool quickly, board, to be pain free, skiing 🙂

And pay no attention to skiers who call boarders "gays on trays" or boarders who call skiers, "w*nks on planks" 😀

mono-telemarking

Aye a skaal (squaal) is like a really narrow hard board where the rider has one foot directly in front of the other. They carve like nothing else. I used to mono board in the 90s. It is a lot of fun but eventually the feeling of mincing makes you get the planks back out, but yes, the hardest bit is the opposite edge thing. I think I might try and buy one just for a laugh.

10, is that a sticker that can be gotten hold of? it's awesome!

If you really want to look cool... then you need to be able to Ski, Board and Tele well.

If you want to have fun, try a day or two of each early on and pick the one you feel most comfortable with, whichever it may be,and go with that. Bear in mind, you can change at any time you wish.

If you want to be in the best shape for riding in summer - primarily tele with a day of boarding and skiing every fortnight or so, as it works the core and legs more than the other two.

Try both your out there for a season. Go with whichever one you find easier, youve got time to master both though.

skiing: good for breaking your legs.

snowboarding: good for breaking your arms. and your coccyx.

skiing: good for days when the snow is icy - cos you've got 2 edges = twice as much grip innit.

snowboarding: awesome in fresh snow.

skiing: you can can ski uphill with the right kit - taking you to places you simply can't go without a helicopter.

snowboarding: a bit easier for learning spinny tricks, and generally messing around.

skiing: ultimately, more powerfull.

snowboarding: comfier shoes.

learn both, powder days = snowboarding, icy days = skiing.

+1 Ah Wiles

Done quite a bit of both, started out skiing when I was very young then transferred to boarding later on. If you spend most of your time on the piste ski's are better but on those special days when you have a good dump of snow the board off piste is magical. So I would do both, I keep meaning to get back on ski's but never want to miss a day of boarding to do it! I found progression on the board so much faster but that might have been something to do with the respective ages I learnt them at.

Iain

I reckon you will end up doing what the majority of your fellow seasonaires do, or at least at first. Strangely alot of seasonaires board over ski, although skiing becoming much more popular again.

Get a good relationship with the local hire shop and you should be able to swap and change through out the season without too much trouble.

Boards are easier and more fun in crappy off piste conditions (unless you are a very good skier)

Boards v Skis schussing, it all depends on the ability of the boarder/skier and how good they are at keep the skis/board flat. Carver skis are harder to keep running flat therefore can be slower than a board, but at least when you do stop you can still keep going. Modern skis do not let you have the same ability to get to nutty speeds and still do controlled fast turns, unless you get racing skis.

Off Piste - In decent quality snow skis and boards are just as much fun as each other but in different ways. Many people do not truly know how to ski off piste and end up putting far too much effort in to it, ending up knackered where as boards on the face of it require less effort. Learn to ski properly off piste and you can do it on any type of ski effortlesley.

Me - I've skied for 26 years, raced, skied with some amazing boarders and skiers off piste and wouldnt really change to boarding as I find it too much of a faff, but I do like it for a change, and when I fancy a bit more of a challenge.

Some of the best days skiing I've had have been where there has been a mixture of boaders and skiers, and none of this stupid them and us thing. Total respect for telemakers though, wish I had learnt when I was a bit younger !

Do both

FunkyDunc has hit the nail on the head there!

If you will have plenty of time on the slopes, if you are working nights or have Saturdays as your day off (the best thing in the world in a ski resort, believe me!) go for the skis because you will have the time to complete a long learning curve and you will fully benefit from that in the long term.
If on the other hand, you only have a pittance of spare time and are only thinking about doing one season, learn to board, you will get more out of your time there.

Another factor is when you are up the mountain. If you only have mornings to get out there, expect the runs to be rather hard and unforgiving to novices. This is the time of day when you are more likely to break your arse or wrist and when two edges would be more useful. 😉

Some of the best days skiing I've had have been where there has been a mixture of boaders and skiers, and none of this stupid them and us thing.