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Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 1:20 pm
We are planning a family vacation to go to a ski resort around Christmastime this year. None of us have ever been snow skiing before, so we were just wondering---
As beginners, which one would be better (easier) to learn, skiing or snowboarding??
My wife and I are in our mid to upper 30's, our kids are 13, 10, and 7.
We are not looking to become pros. We just want to have a good time for a few days. Which would be better to try?
Injury-wise, I hear skiing can be hard on the knees/ankles. Snowboarding can be hard on the wrists and butt...
Personally, I think I'm leaning towards snowboarding, but would 3 or 4 days give us enough time to get through the learning curve and have a good time (if even only on the bunny slopes)?
- Marc
- Your friendly Air Traffic Control Atheist.
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RE: Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 1:31 pm
The art of skiing is down to using both boards to control you decent by moving you feet and legs at certain angles. Snow boarding is similar but requires you to deform the board and try to get the angles whilst on one plank. My son is an expert skateboarder and he couldn't get the hang of snowboarding over he course of a week whereas I got up to red runs my first week skiing.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
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RE: Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 1:46 pm
I did skiing for a long time of my life. It is the best, snowboarders only scratch open the slope leaving marks in which a skiier easily loses control of himself.
I stopped some years ago due to lack of interest and dutch skiing tourists
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RE: Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 1:55 pm
(This post was last modified: February 12, 2013 at 1:57 pm by Napoléon.)
Skiing is definitely easier to learn. I've been on two ski trips when I was in school, Austria and Vermont, tried my hand at snowboarding but kept falling on my ass. As for learning curve? I duno, some people pick it up faster than others. Probably took me a good 5 weeks of visiting the snow dome (in Birmingham, once a week 2 hour sessions on a bunny slope basically) before I was really ready to go skiing proper.
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RE: Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 2:52 pm
I have been skiing since I was 4 (wow, that's 20 years now!) and that I do pretty well. Snowboarding not so much.. XD
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura
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RE: Beginner: Skiing or Snowboarding??
February 12, 2013 at 2:54 pm
I used to ski, from the time I was 4 or 5 until my early 30's. I tried snowboarding a few times, unsuccessfully. Not saying that snowboarding is necessarily more difficult, but it uses entirely different skills and techniques.
