 Poster: A snowHead
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After 20 years skiing , I went to Tamworth and had a board lesson, booked in for a follow up and went to Sierra Nevada for 4 days with a very patient pal for 4 days boarding. Last year had 9 days boarding and just got back from Bansko , and now have got it . Got the bug big time , now letting the board run flat , carving and pissing about off piste between the trees.
Wish I had started boarding years ago and now can't wait for next trip, Austria in April.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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boo907, welcome to the dark side 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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boo907, I did the same just over 20 years ago.
For some years I did both, but boarding slowly took priority. It's probably 7 years since I last skied. I keep saying I will rent a pair of skis for one day of each trip, but I never do.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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you all have choosen the best option Snowboarding , and in summer try Wakebaording guys ... keep ya legs fit
How was Bansko boo907 ?? Its my second home 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Did the similar about 10 years ago after 20 years on 2 planks. This year is actually the first board only trip, now that both my kids have converted to the dark side.
I'll keep working on Mrs S, but I think she is a resolute 2 planker. (what a thing to call her on the 14th Feb !)
Woop Woop, Val T at the w/end !
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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boo907, +1. I learned to ski in 1972 and ran out of available funds in about '97 so stopped going. I went on a lads trip 7 years ago and having learned to surf in the interim decided sideways was the way. Haven't looked back since (figuratively speaking of course). I did try out some skis for an evening in Banff last year. Really easy to ski, just lean and carve, simples.
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I haven't skied since I got my first metal-edged board in 1989. Nothing wrong with it, I'm sure I could still rip, but why bother?
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Ive been skiing all my life from the age of about 5 and took up boarding a year or 2 ago, got to say Im still a skiier and always will be but now take a board and a pair of skis away with me. I find theyre good for different things so if Im feeling like getting some proper speed Ill take the skis but if Im just up for messing about and spinning around alot then its a board day. This year found it really nice on the legs too as they tire out different muscles so just did one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Best of both worlds!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm with the do whatever feels right for the day, the company and the conditions . . . as long as I'm on a hill and having fun it doesn't matter what I'm sliding on.
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Hi winterfunman , had a good trip to Bansko, but staying at the Kempinski grand arena helped. Had the best of conditions but it was getting very icy and needed some fresh snow. We did the blacks and reds off the Chalin Valog a lot as the steep slopes kept the ski schools away. If you ride up on the 4 man chair at the bottom of Chalin Valog you will see a sign for a picnic BBQ place hidden in the trees off the blue run. We tried it one Thursday lunch time after recommendation from from 2 Swedish skiers we met on the lift . I ordered BBQ house sausage and when it arrived the waiter said not house , " horse sausage ".
It was a bit tough and spicy but I've eat worse , and 7 lev , bargain.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Why do people think boarding is better, is it all down to personal preference?
One thing I noticed from a recent trip with a bunch of boarders is that some of the boarders who had only done 3-4 trips were doing things I couldnt, especially on powder and ive done 7 trips, and am not a bad skier.
This has got me thinking maybe trying to improbe my skiing with independant feet and poles etc...is a waste of time nad maybe I should just jump on a plank?
Is there anything universally agreed that its easier to master boarding or anything?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Sarny, why do people think football is 'better' than rugby? Or vice versa. Or hockey, or tiddleywinks, or whatever. they have different personal preferances and opinions.
If you're just after something easy, maybe you should consider the tiddleywinks.
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Sarny, from the sound of it, you should stick with your skiing and yourself get some professional advice on getting better, rather than switching disciplines. Use the summer to get to the domes and get through that skill plateau.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Sarny wrote: |
| One thing I noticed from a recent trip with a bunch of boarders is that some of the boarders who had only done 3-4 trips were doing things I couldnt, especially on powder and ive done 7 trips, and am not a bad skier. |
People who can both ski and board tell me being on a board is easier & better offpiste although the gap has closed as ski technology has improved in recent years.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| DB wrote: |
People who can both ski and board tell me being on a board is easier & better offpiste although the gap has closed as ski technology has improved in recent years. |
Not necessarily - the board is a more natural "tool" IMV in soft snow and therefore at a lower level of experience/progression one can have more time having fun rather than suffering consequences of poor technique. But a poor boarder will still find themselves digging out a lot just a poor skier will be looking for their skis.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yeah, both of those apparently contradictory statements are true.
So if you try riding a snowboard through untracked deep powder in an an old-growth forest with a gentle slope at the bottom of a run then if you're not a competent rider you're going to struggle to make even one run, irrespective of how fit you are. The problem there is that you need to keep your speed up, but you're not good enough to slalom the trees, so you wipe out... and it's not steep enough for you to get going again so you have to paddle. For those runs, bad skiers do better than bad borders.
For a "hero terrain" wide-open powder slope... it's easier for bad snowboarders than bad skiers I think. Snowboards make dodgy snow easier too - the sort of snow which is tough for good skiers is just not noticeable on a board.
Reverse-camber skis definitely make it easier for bad skiers, perhaps in the same way as the Fish makes deep powder easier for novices. But experts also ride Fish: it's not really about the gear.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| slikedges wrote: |
.................Point is though that you can board quite badly but get around everywhere and look quite good doing it so feel pretty happy about it. If you ski badly, you feel it (you can't go so fast in good control, can't cope with difficult snow, get tired etc etc) and others can plainly see it, so you either a) delude yourself (until you see video  ) b) pay in sweat and money on endless lessons to improve c) just stop worrying, be happy and enjoy the mountains.  |
Sorry, as per the other thread I completely disagree. There is a fundamental difference at the most basic level when learning to ski and board. Learning to board you fall and it hurts, it bloody hurts. Its also tiring as you are up and down the whole time. You can easily learn to ski without falling. As I said on the other thread. You can be a crap skier and go on holiday every year and have a ball on greens and blues. You cannot go boarding unless you 'get it'. You cannot be a crap boarder, it just hurts to much. You can be a crap skier and while you may get tired, you don't have to get hurt.
I'm not having a go at boarding. Now that we have learnt I prefer to board that ski and I am so glad we kept going but it hurts way more than skiing. Skis come off, boards don't.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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thefatcontroller, yes, learning to board you do fall and it bloody hurts, that's why "difficult to learn". The first blue run I boarded I must have fallen 30 or more times, didn't have a helmet, also somersaulted both forwards and backwards and almost concussed and whiplashed myself. But that only lasts a day or two. Then the falls rapidly become much much less frequent. And yes, learning to ski you don't often fall, but frankly most recreational skiers will *never* get it. Just cast your eye over the piste from your next chair... It isn't so immediately evident when you watch the boarders, and they don't feel it either. I guarantee you the skiers, if honest with themselves, do feel it. They struggle with their skis and have difficulty if it isn't good snow. They have difficulty with slush, light powder, heavy powder, cut-up powder, crud etc etc.
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thefatcontroller, not so - bad boarding is very easy to spot. Straight legs, trailing arm waving about, people bent at the waist rather than the knees, kicking the board round with the back foot rather than steering with the hips and knees, weight not centred on the board, immobile rider ........ I could go on. You just don't know what you're looking for.
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Lizzard +1
Actually seeing a good snowboarder is a rare treat.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| ......................... kicking the board round with the back foot rather than steering with the hips and knees,............... |
Aha.....I think we need t have a quick lesson next year. Progress is really good but I thnk a few small bad habits have kicked in. We did have a lesson this year but he was os crap we complained and got our money back 
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=98477#2246137
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| stevomcd wrote: |
Lizzard +1
Actually seeing a good snowboarder is a rare treat. |
and the same with skiing
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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thefatcontroller, it took me about three days in Canada to realise that the standard of snowboard instruction in France is abysmal.
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Lizzard, We were incredibly lucky that we decided to go to Tignes for an early season weekend a few years back and learn to board. We booked this guy through where he worked at the time, Alliance snowboarding. He is brilliant, absolutely brilliant, very sought after and we only really got him as it was quiet and pre-seaosn. Bit of luck. Had lessons since in Les Arcs and all have been shoite.
http://mcnairsnowsports.com/about/
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You know it makes sense.
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thefatcontroller, probably coming at it from different directions. My main contention is that boarding is easier to get reasonably good at, meaning far far fewer lessons and weeks to get to a level where you can just be a recreationalist and not worry about progression anymore if it doesn't float your boat as you can go where you want, not get too tired and people won't laugh at you. But it's painful to learn in the early early stages, no doubt there. Skiing is the opposite. For most, years of lessons and trips and they still can't ski in difficult snow, they still ski like a toilet with extra fixed supports and even a non-skier can see there's something not right. But learning to snowplough is a doddle. The glib generalisations "diffic to learn easy to master and easy to learn diffic to master" are necessarily imprecise, but "diffic to learn easy to get reasonably good at and easy to learn diffic to get reasonably good at" doesn't roll off the tongue so well!
stevomcd, I'd agree watching a good boarder is a rare treat. What they do with their boards is somewhat unsurprisingly what a good skier does with his skis.
IIRC French board instructors until very recently were all just ski instructors who had learnt to board but never been taught to teach it.
edited as fingers typing without brain fully engaged first time round
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sun 14-04-13 17:38; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| thefatcontroller, it took me about three days in Canada to realise that the standard of snowboard instruction in France is abysmal. |
This can't possibly be true after all they've all been through the demanding French system which assures excellence and an ability to ski gates really fast.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hired board for third day! 
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gatecrasher, you so need a lesson.
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| Quote: |
gatecrasher, you so need a lesson.
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+1
Seriously, will be much more fun if you learn how to snowboard rahter than learn hoew to get down without hurintg yourself which is all you will achieve without!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ps....hooked! 
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FAQ
Fundamentally all I am saying (and you agree) that the initial base learning of boarding hurts.
). I think it is very obvious to spot a poor skier from a chair but not so a boarder?
