Does anyone ski and board?

A snowHead

Hi everyone!

I'm new here but have been reading lots and found some useful information, thank you!
My partner and I both skiied (I skiied and boarded) as teenagers. We're now in our thirties and have booked our first trip in 15 and 23 years respectively!! Very excited. We've been to a local snowdome, rented some skiis and are sure that we'll never have such a gap between seasons again. So my partner has bought some ski boots. I will do too, but I remember that I used to do both skiing and boarding. I was good at skiing and still learning at boarding. I still want to learn a bit of boarding but i'm not especially keen at the idea of lugging 2 pairs of boots abroad. I guess i'll rent board boots.

What do other people do?

Thanks!

A snowHead

I think the answer to your question is "Yes, there are people who do both". If you poke about on the interwebs I you should find some relevant accounts. They seem to get the board out for the fresh off-piste stuff and use skis when the conditions are not so favourable.

The thing is - skis have developed even in the last 15-20 years (influenced by boarding) so that you can pretty much do anything on skis as easily as on a board. i.e off piste, snowpark, freestyle.

So ask yourself - "What will I get from boarding that I can't from skiing?"

In your shoes (boots) I would forget the boarding and concentrate on the skiing - take lessons, learn to ski off-piste.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@bobcat, welcome to snowHeads. I mostly ski but enjoyed boarding occasionally. I took my own skis and boots. I rented board and soft boots in resort when needed.

Generally, I'd board if there was fresh snow and if conditions not good for piste skiing, eg poor visibility, key lifts closed due to high winds. Then I really enjoyed floating on fresh snow on a board, on or off piste.
I gave up boarding about 5 years ago after a couple of injuries. Glad I did it while I could, despite the punishing falls..

If renting, some shops let you switch equipment daily for a single extra supplement with the package. I think Skimium is one that does.
Enjoy your sliding, whatever you're perched on!

Very Happy

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I do both and have hired both sets of gear in the past. However now I have my own boarding gear, so hopefully those days are gone!

Last trip I didn't take my boarding gear and just skied, although personally I suspect I'll focus more on boarding for now on.

What I have noticed is that in terms of gear available, you do tend to have a better selection for skiiing.

So if you are set on doing both it's cheaper to buy boarding gear and you'll have a better selection of ski gear to hire. The reverse costs more and hiring boarding gear is more of a lottery.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for your responses!

I don't know what i'll get from boarding that I won't skiing. It will be more of a challenge, it's just different really.
Snow board boots are more comfortable so I don't mind hiring them, ski boots are potentially mutilating in my experience! So I'm more keen to buy ski boots. I don't know anything about hiring board boots being more of a lottery though? (As in not a clue, not challenging your statement there).

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I meant the board rather than the boots in fairness Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

I do both. Skied longer than boarding, better skier but getting better on a board. Both piste or side piste, both no jumps, tricks etc.
Took up boarding ( at over 50, far too late for the painful bits, really!) because hubby boards, I wanted to know what it was like, I like the friendliness and attitude of boarders vs some over-serious skiers (sorry, chaps & chapesses, I generalise) and, most of all because I was fed up to the back teeth with not getting good fitting ski boots & having holidays & technical abilities spoilt by them.
Still find snowboard boots much better, still consider myself primarily a technical serious skier and a fun boarder. I decide which to do according to conditions (hard or ice=skis, deep or soft =board or AM skis if I have the latter with me) and which muscles or other body parts hurt most or need a rest. Board is also lighter if walking a long way or uphill without uplift; boarding boots ditto easier if walking.
I have my own skis and boards, though have hired in the past and will in future if necessary. I have to date travelled abroad with tour operator packages & take a board & a set of skis in a double carriage bag plus own ski boots and snowboard boots (& 2 jackets & trousers) in hold or equipment luggage no probs.
I find rented snowboard boots as much of a pain & fit problem as rented ski boots; small, narrow feet. Board boots are so relatively light it's not exactly an issue taking my own too.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I do both. Mainly board though. Decided a few years ago to learn to ski as well, and now tend to hire skis and boots for a few days each trip, depending on conditions. Have my own board and boots.

Of there is fresh snow then the board always wins. It's when it starts getting icy, or really hard packed snow that I try the skis for a bit, and ice really isn't fun in a board.

It was a few icy days one holiday that made me decide to learn to ski.

I don't find ski boots uncomfortable, but won't leave the hire shop till I get some I'm happy with. Last week that was the 4th pair they got out! Still don't understand the difference between the skis on offer, but seem to get in well with what the shops give me. Make sure to accurately describe your ability to get something suitable seems to work ok for me.

I'm even considering having some more lessons and leaving the board at home one week next season, as I think I've reached a point where I need lessons to progress. I initially picked up skiing quicker than boarding, but finding it slower to progress.

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Skied for 40 years and still do.

Boarded for 20 years starting in skiboots on a Winterstick. Never got into the park stuff but on a deep powder day I loved to board. Had to give it up as the knees gave out.

I used to travel with both board and skis and packed my boots. The last times I boarded were with rental boards and soft boots.

snow reports

This has probably been done to death. If you're not doing seasons then it is really hard to do both to a high standard and if you are flying to ski it is hard to take 2 lots of kit. Boards are great when it is soft or in certain specific conditions which can be a pig on skis e.g. breakable crust.

All that said I think all skiers who aspire to a high standard on skis should at least get competent on a board - it teaches you to read terrain differently as well as getting comfortable with things like drifting turns. edge feel and dynamically weight changing.

You know it makes sense.

I've boarded for 20 years and just started skiing again in the last two years after only having skied for a year when I was about 13 or 14. As others have said ski technology has moved on massively not least because of snowboarding.

Personally I try and take both my skis and at least one snowboard away with me though it means I tend to have to pack either ski boots or snowboard boots in a hold bag and not the snowboard bag. If I was struggling for space I'd still take boots but leave the skis behind.

I'm really enjoying the new technical challenge that skiing presents though, having to think a bit harder about technique as opposed to my boarding which is second nature.

If I had to only do one? Difficult but it would be back to boarding as I know I can go anywhere on the mountain and fresh powder on a board, in the trees, is like nothing else.

Embrace both though and you'll have a great time.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I keep thinking about it... but beyond getting into split-boarding perhaps one day, I just keep coming back to why? I can hold my own against most skiers I've ever ridden with at the same time, the kids don't need me on skis, and they're gradually defecting to the darkside, so beyond the point of simply saying "I do both" why bother?

A snowHead

Because they're different kinds of fun?
When I did both before, one was a challenge and a new skill to learn whereas the other was more comfortable.

A snowHead

This is an interesting thread. I'm a 51yr old skier who is reasonably competent now after 22 weeks on the planks in the last 9 years but my knees are starting to cry enough. I was thinking that boarding looks easier on the knees so maybe I should give it a go as an alternative so I can keep on sliding for longer.
But @TQA, has said

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@gixxerniknik, I've met loads of people in their 50s over the years who took up snowboarding after knee problems ended skiing for them. Snowboarding is quite good at isolating the rotation of the knee if thats where your problems lie. Yes, you can give your knees a helluva whack if you fall, but 1. there's padding for that initial phase and 2. once you've become a vaguely competent snowboarder, you stop falling over (as much)

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@Richard_Sideways, to be fair, I wouldn't do it unless I have to as my brother in law is a boarder and I'm not sure I can submit myself to that much mickey taking! I actually took my knee pads on the eosb but there was no way I was going to try it in those conditions!
Talking of which, there was a group of snowHead

who were going to try boarding ...did that happen? How did they get on?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@gixxerniknik, I don't think Masque took them out on Friday. He had Sideways Jnr out snowboarding that morning and think he went skiing that afternoon.

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@gixxerniknik, @Richard_Sideways, depends really on what your knees don't like. Mr G, after constantly irritable knees following several traumatic m/cycle smashes over the years, says he can't cope with skis at all but boards (not freestyle) easily. I never had any ski knee issues (well, until someone took out all my ligaments!) but found snowboarding to put a real rotational twist pain on the rear leg, needing a lot if stance and binding set up thought and much attention to keeping knee in line and sinking hips.
You can but try and see...

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Grizzler, After nearly 32 years I can now say without any shadow of a doubt that my knees definitely do not like being knocked off motorbikes! rolling eyes

It's a pastime I thought I'd given up until last year, so sympathies to Mr G.

The main problem with giving the board a go is that the best conditions to learn must be when it's knee deep in fresh snow. Two problems with this, knee deep in fresh doesn't happen too often and if it does I'd want to be out on the planks!

I think a summer trip up to Hemel for a day's course in falling over might be the way forward.

After all it is free

I've been thinking to learn how to snowboard. Just for fun and because my 8 year old boy is interested. I presume it's good for kids to know both? We both started skiing 5 years ago and we're pretty competent now, and while I'd probably rather spend my time on snow improving my skiing, I think it'd be fun to learn a new thing together. I'm still better at skateboard than him, so I'm hoping to re-gain the lead I've lost in skiing Toofy Grin

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

But wear crash shorts and knee pads!

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Some softish snow helps, but knee deep and you'll submarine the board and go nowhere and trying to push yourself back upright in the deep stuff is exhausting.

And you deffo don't need to go full "Redman Suit" to learn to ride. Bit of time learning how to fall properly at the start will save you lumps later.

snow reports

My feeling is that snowboarding should be better on your knees; my boarding mates and I have had no knee related issues, where as most skiers I know seem to have had issues there. These are people who work in the business though, so that's perhaps not representative.

This and other studies probably are, and suggest that skiing is more dangerous for your knees overall:
https://www.premax.co/index.php/au/blog/recent-statistics-on-skiing-and-snowboarding-injuries

Unless you're athletic then you'd not want to learn in deep snow I'd say. That said it seems a shame to waste it by skiing.

Padding? I'd say lessons would be more useful.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I have boarded for nearly 30 years and skied before that to a reasonable standard. There was an overlap, but I have exclusively boarded other than a couple of days in that period. My other half skis and I've followed what she has done in her lessons (she does a couple of 1-1 each season).

I have a nice floaty powder board and a 'stiff as a table' piste board. In April, I decided to buy some boots and buy some skis. The chap in my local ski shop looked a bit worried as he fitted the bindings on my Volkl Kendos to my Atomic Hawx for me. I had asked for him to set the bindings quite soft as I hadn't skied for over 25 years! The first 10 minutes was 'interesting' but within an hour I was charging around, in control, at speeds at least as good as everyone else around me. After 2 days, it felt as though I had never had a break from skiing... much to the annoyance of my girlfriend wink

I've got a lot still to learn and modern skis need modern techniques but for me, the weight transfer techniques in boarding have direct parallels in skiing and once you get you head around it, the two are surprisingly similar.

I've got back into skiing for icy days. I can board comfortably on icy pistes, but it isn't what boarding is all about. Icy pistes, with two good edges, on the other hand... we'll that is a whole lot of fun. In powder though, nothing can ever beat boarding.

I'll keep a tally of my days on each, next season.

Help!!

Does anyone ski and board?

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