switch from skiing? my 14 yr old son wants to board

A snowHead

He's done about 10 ski holidays and can competently ski a red, but he thinks snowboarding looks way more cool. Before I spend loads on retraining him could I have any positive stories from someone or someones children who have switched to boarding and how quickly does it take to get competent to handle most blue runs?

Thanks in advance Boardy Peeps Happy

A snowHead

@Bizziegoblin, I switched late teens. Can he skateboard? A few of my mates switched at the same time. Generally the progression to skiing blues is quicker versus boarding. I would say most people spend the first week with bruised backsides when trying to learn to board, as they learn to balance and use the edges correctly. Weight distribution is less forgiving on a board versus early days of learning to ski. However understanding the edges is half the problem and having skied your son would probably pick it up quicker compared to someone who has no experience of snowsports.

If he can skate or surf it will also give a good head start.

Why not let him try a new experience?

Very Happy

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

My brother changed to boarding when he was about 15 after 10 years of skiing. Didn't do a lot the first week (but could probably manage some blues-was a while ago now so cant really remember). He had a good instructor in his second week later that season who did some gentle off piste with him. After that, he could do most things. Interestingy, went back to mostly skiing about 6 years later and now uses the board only if there is lots of powder around or expected

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I Skied for many years as a kid and in my early 20's I had a motorcycle arm which damaged my hip joint and shoulder. After that I didn't really have any winter holidays up until 2 years ago when I joined my friends on their annual trip. After a 3 days of finding my feet again and making a few mistakes I had a pain in my hip from the twisting and tuning and switched to Snowboarding, with the idea of it being much friendlier on my hip (which it is)

Since then I had done a set of dry slope lessons, a week in VT, a long weekend (no lessons) and I'm going off at the beginning of march for another week of lessons. Now by the end of my VT trip I was OK on red slopes, certainly not great but I was getting better, I'm 33 and stubborn, but I'm getting there.

Taking in to account how little fear kids have and how quick they can be to pick up balance, I reckon he'll be fine; but do get some lessons.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

There are other threads on this. I was an advanced skier before I switched, It took about 4 hours before I could ride down the equivalent of a blue slope without falling, and the learning curve is fun. It takes a few years longer to get good, which is maybe why most people don't bother.

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Middle daughter switched to boarding at that age after a couple of years skiing pretty much half a day every other weekend and a couple of holidays, was a go anywhere skier. On switching, a couple of days into a holiday she picked it up really quick. Within 3 or 4 days she was happy doing pretty much anything she could have done on skis.

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

He's obviously a bright young man - it's definitely way cooler.

After all it is free

He could do both in the week.

As mentioned above, he will have the easier sport of snowboarding cracked in 3 or 4 days - so can then get back to concentrating on the more difficult sport (of skiing) for the last couple of days of the trip. Simples! Toofy Grin

And of course it's "way cooler!" wink

For a young competent athletic skier about a day if he's prepared to take his falls. Needs good tuition though - none of the ESF swing the shoulders around like a gibbon crap that you used to see (thankfully even the ESF seem to have competent snowboard instructors now)

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@Bizziegoblin, Does he need a firmware update, could be the issue? Before you spend loads of time and cost on the boarding I'd suggest turning him off at the mains, waiting 30 seconds and re-booting, it should sort out the problem.

Welcome to SH by the way!

wink

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Snowboards have -50% fewer edges than skis.

Snowboarding is +50% easier than skiing.

You can become an expert in <10 weeks.

snow reports

I took group lessons in Canada in the late 90s, after 3 mornings I could go down a blue.

My son (then almost 10) swapped last year; he is an excellent skier (been skiing since he was 2) and was boarding reds within 2-3 days. He had a few private lessons plus his Dad is a boarder, so was out with him between lessons. He's pretty much swapped to a board now though he did some skiing at New Year as the snow was terrible.

On the other hand, my daughter was 11.5 at the time and did the same lessons, and can now board a bit but prefers skiing as again she's very good at that so disliked going back to basics! So it may depend on his attitude to being a learner again and his tolerance for falling over... It definitely helped to have his Dad around to keep up the practise too - I'm a skier and know zero about boarding so am no use to him whatsoever (plus my kids are much better skiers than me so gave up listening to me on a ski slope years ago!)

You know it makes sense.

My son (11) does both. He starting skiing at 4 and then boarding from 8. If conditions are good he'll board a couple of days but at Christmas when it was all piste skiing he only did one.

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

@Bizziegoblin, It will be good to see some younger people giving boarding a go.

A snowHead

If he can handle being rubbish again for 3 days - then it's definitely worth it.
Some people cannot handle the frustration of going back to basics and jack it in before it clicks.
Naturally he is right about it being cooler, and the clogs are way more comfy.

A snowHead

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

Thanks everyone

Really helpful

Happy

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

This was me about 15 years ago - although I hadn't done 10 ski holidays, maybe 2-3. I switched to boarding because it was cool and the boots were comfy.

As others have said the learning curve is steeper but shorter - I spent 2-3 days really feeling like I was getting nowhere but it soon clicks. Once you can carve your turns you can pretty much do it all - usually takes a few weeks to sort that out though, many don't bother.

I have really enjoyed snowboarding since then but I am now at the stage where I'm realising that I don't particularly want to be a snowboarder nor a beginner skier in my 40s/50s, so I am re-learning skiing, and enjoying it. Boots are so much nicer than they were even 15 years ago.

If your son can do both from a young age, that's awesome.

Help!!

switch from skiing? my 14 yr old son wants to board

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