 Poster: A snowHead
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Let's assume I wanted to spend some time with mrs horizon on the blue runs, while still challenging myself. I can of course do things like skiing backwards / eyes closed / working on technique, or I could try something different so she can have a laugh at me and feel better about her capabilities (and I expand my, er, horizons).
Given the scenario, it would have to be learn-by-myself, not with an instructor.
Should I take up snowboarding or telemarking?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was in a similar position myself - got insane-bored skiing with slowcoach Mrs perv. Get some snowboarding lessons at an indoor snowslope to get the basics, then you can cruise the piste together. Not a good idea to self-teach from scratch.
Bear in mind it won't work forever - I leave her behind even on a board nowadays. I am far too cool to telemark so don't even go there! 
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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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If you want to give her a real laugh for a couple of days while you cream yourself - snowboarding, after that you'll be above her level and want to off again.
If you want to feel like bambi on ice for a while - tele, you probably already know the principles so it'll be easier to self teach although I recommend Allen&Mike's really cool telemark tips for some good visual images.
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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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Had a similar situation - went to Telemarking - 3 days and we were back to the same situation - waiting for Mrs Fred !! Snowboarding took a little longer - 2 weeks and I was faster.
That's not the main point though - even though I have to go slowly for Mrs Fred having the variety of 3 disciplines is great for keeping things fresh. Speed is not all of it there is often some good little jumps at the sides of blue runs and little cut off's etc. Skiing backwards on Telemark skis took a while and at my age any acobatics on the snowboard normally give some one some entertainment.
So Horizon give both a try - its not too hard to move quickly on piste whichever you choose. What I would say though depending on your age - snowboarding will probably give Mrs H more entertainment than Telemarking. I am sure there will be plenty folk here that will disagree but this is my personal opinion.
Whichever you chose the main thing is that you have fun.
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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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horizon, how about getting Mrs H some intensive ski lessons/course ?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Boardin I would say - completely different feeling to skiing
HAve done both - prefer skiing cos am better at it (not great but ok) -
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telemark!!
certainly slows me down.......
great fun, good feeling, less risk of injury than any other snow sport (unlike learning to snowboard- why not just go and break both wrists/ thumbs/ ankles now), similar equipment, very friendly (anyone else who teles will talk to you...anyone who has ever teled will talk to you- and be friendly) no new problems with lifts, no sitting around like a knob in th emiddle of the piste, no scraping down on heels....can carve turns, not many people do it...garceful...great feeling, makes you stop because it is so knackering, probably not as afast a learning curve as boarding, can still revert to alpine turns if you need to.....
tele!
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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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Boarding can be painful to learn but worth it.
I was in a slightly different situation, a couple of seasons ago i kept breaking skis and the shop that had lent me the skis for the whole season started to get annoyed and stopped giving me them, so i borrowed a board from a mate and learnt in about 1 week now can hit anything the mountain has to offer.
It's a nice thing to do both.
Never tried telemark so perhaps if i brake some skis this season i will try that 
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I had this dilemma so I decided to get snowboard lessons at Castleford. Problem is, I've had 6 hours of lessons now and I'm better at snowboarding than Mrs olster is at skiing. Back to the drawing board!
You could try monoskiing if you can still find one. One particularly sadistic ESF instructor decided to give us two days of monoski lessons back in the 80s. I still couldn't turn properly by the end of it. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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olster, hey, I said I wanted the mrs to have a laugh at me, not the whole resort! 
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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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Telemark.
Snowboard and skis tend to prefer different kind of terrain. Telemark is more compatible.
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| Quote: |
telemark!!
certainly slows me down.......
great fun, good feeling, less risk of injury than any other snow sport (unlike learning to snowboard- why not just go and break both wrists/ thumbs/ ankles now), similar equipment, very friendly (anyone else who teles will talk to you...anyone who has ever teled will talk to you- and be friendly) no new problems with lifts, no sitting around like a knob in th emiddle of the piste, no scraping down on heels....can carve turns, not many people do it...garceful...great feeling, makes you stop because it is so knackering, probably not as afast a learning curve as boarding, can still revert to alpine turns if you need to.....
tele!
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That says it all really. I wouldn't go back now.
I tried boarding first and quite liked it but quickly got fed up with the lack of versatility then broke my arm  .
Monoskiing is great fun and hugely underated.
Is it me or has snowboarding now plateaued out and possibly even started to decline ? Its noticeable how few snowboarders there seem to be in the alps these days  Presumeably that is because of the emergence of fatter skis ?
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You know it makes sense.
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Personally I'm more tempted by telemarking because it's an allied discipline and I think more people are getting interested in it these days. This is from the perspective of doing a second discipline for BASI though so perhaps slightly different reasons than yours horizon.
I'd like to try boarding at some point though and will probably make up my mind once I've had a go - the broken wrist and bruised bum thing doesn't make me overly look forward to it though!
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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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Go for telemarking, but you'd have to do teleturn only.
I ski on telekit with friends who are normal skiers. If I'm doing mainly tele turns I'm a fair bit slower than them (probably because I'm crap  ), but if I do parallel turns I can ski at speed as if I was on fixed heel kit and keep up easily.
I find tele skiing more fun though, so I'd say go for tele.
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Poster: A snowHead
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roga, I'm not sure that broken wrists and a bruised bum are inevitable when learning to board. I haven't actually fallen over yet and it took me about 30 minutes to be able to balance well enough to not have to sit down every time I stopped. I have only done it at Castleford so far though so if I tried it on a red run it would probably be a different story.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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[quote="Peter S"]
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Is it me or has snowboarding now plateaued out and possibly even started to decline ? Its noticeable how few snowboarders there seem to be in the alps these days Presumeably that is because of the emergence of fatter skis ? |
I think there is a trend toward multifunctioning or perhaps now that snowboarding has become the domain of middle aged bankers & lawyers its not necessarily the cool thing for kids to aspire to so there is a fair chance they will be coming in as skiers (not least because they can huck themselves harder and faster on skis).
Personally haven't snowboarded in the alps in a few years as the snow is rarely reliably deep enough to give it the decision over skis & the traversing issues you get with more interesting terrain mitigate against it.
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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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