everybody thinks telemarkers are super-cool.

[quote]

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 both 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

is that the thing that’s like a slalom water-ski? – always fancied a shot on one

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:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w7sVSMbjyM[/video]

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

Interesting – having never been on one I’d not really thought about the dynamics – not so much that you’re on the outside edge (which you are normally on your inside ski), but that the weight is on the inside leg. Has got to help with two footed weighting for off-piste and tele

landrylapwing

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

Try HERE

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!

I love the fact that people feel the need for a sticker to show their indifference!

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.

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