By Brock Nye
Picture this: you wake up one wintery morning to find that a whole foot of fresh powdery snow has just landed. It’s a blue sky day with the sun shining and luckily you woke up early enough to be able to make it to a ski resort before it’s already all tracked out. You call your friends and grab your snowboard and head up the mountain. The next three hours are spent weaving trees, hitting jumps, and what feels like floating on clouds.
There is nothing like dropping cliffs into five feet of soft snow and carving down steep slopes bringing an adrenaline rush! Skiers and snowboarders alike will agree to the statements above about the thrill and excitement that this winter sport brings. They don’t see eye to eye, however, on the answer of the age old question of which is better. Most skiers obviously think that skiing enhances their experience more than snowboarding and vice versa.
As a snowboarding enthusiast, I think snowboarding is the better of the two; however, setting biases aside, we are going to answer this question by looking into what history has to say, what the SVU student body thinks is the better of the two, and answering three fundamental questions: Which is easier to learn and be good at, which one is better for maneuvering on the mountain, and through comfort which allows you to have a longer and more enjoyable day on the slopes.
“The reason that I would say snowboarding is better than skiing is I don’t think the flow and the feeling while snowboarding can be replicated on skis.”-Skyler Nelson
“I love skiing because it’s something I’ve grown up doing with my family. I love being in the mountains, and it’s an adventure every time you get off the lift. No two runs are the same! In my opinion it’s better than snowboarding because some of the nicest places to ski and snowboard are for skiers only. So we get the special treatment!” Lauren Fowler
And so it Began…
Skiing today is nothing like what it used to be. Today it’s more relaxing, glamorous and enjoyable. When skis were first used at least 6000 years ago by the Siberians, they were used for hunting, traveling, and warfare. Imagine that! Using people on skis as your war strategy sounds brilliant. We’ve also found ancient historians, such as Herodotus, talk about the use of wooden objects to get around during winter. These original skis that were made of wood required extreme talent to be able to ride due to only being strapped in by your toe. The crazy thing is that skis didn’t get a second strap around the heel until the Norwegians invented it in the nineteenth century. Skiing didn’t come to America until the eighteenth century where it was used by fur traders and then slowly incorporated into postal workers. Most of these postal workers were Norwegian, one of which was Snowshoe Thompson. Talk about dedication to your job.
The size of the skis back then were insane. In the first downhill ski competitions in the world, which actually took place in California, the participants used twelve foot long skis! These downhill racers were speed addicts and got up to 60 miles per hour. I mean compared to our Olympians today who can get up to 90 miles an hour, that’s nothing, but 60 mph back then on sketchy wooden skis that’s pretty impressive. As shown, skiing has been around for thousands of years and has a long history about it. The real shredding started though when in the 1970s people started buying snowboards.
Baggy Pants and Bad Attitudes
The history of the snowboard is way less complicated than skis.
There really isn’t a specific moment in time that we can point back to where the idea of snowboarding was created. I mean everyone at some point has started a competition with their friends to see who can stand up the longest on their sleds. Surfing and skateboarding were already a thing, which definitely makes certain that some dedicated groms had tried to do what they love in the winter. If we had to point to a specific moment in time when it became a public movement, then the invention of a kids toy with a really rad name called the Snurfer would be what lead to the invention of snowboarding.
This was invented by Sherman Poppen and really wasn’t anything special. It was a ski board that had a string attached to the front that you could hold on to as you stood on the board. He made the Snurfer as a means of entertainment for his daughter. Luckily for Sherman, the Snurfer idea exploded and created a multimillion dollar business from him. The Snurfer evolved into the snowboards that we have today thanks to people like Tom Sims and Jake Burton. If you have any experience at all with snowboarding, then the name Burton will definitely ring a bell as the majority of snowboarding gear today comes from his company. Sims owned one of the first snowboarding shops located on the West coast. Sims got into snowboarding at a young age as he created his first snowboard as a thirteen year old in a woodshop class. These first snowboards were built for shedding the ungroomed powder. They were made of wood and didn’t have any bindings making it just like surfing except on snow. Bindings were first introduced at a Snurfer competition in 1979 which Mr. Burton himself ended up winning.
Snowboarding was not welcomed with open arms by most of the ski world. Ski resorts were very hesitant and didn’t allow people to snowboard at their resorts. There are many reasons for this, but two main ones were for safety and to keep a prestigious culture. At the time, snowboarders were looked at as rebellious and even thugs. It’s funny because this stigma still lingers with the sport today even though the baggy pants, long hair, bad attitude, and slang language are common among both skiers and snowboarders alike. An example of this comes from my own experience. I was sitting on a ski lift with a random skier that told me to “Go spank that powder.” Weird hip language may have been a stigma of snowboarding in the past, but these days there is no difference among both winter parties.
The safety concern has many different dimensions. Resorts didn’t like the fact that boarders have a blind spot because they are turned sideways, and thought being strapped in was dangerous. Finally, however, they came to their senses and most ski resorts have opened their doors to snowboarders. History definitely would rather us think that skiing is the better of the two. It’s been around longer and doesn’t attract the rowdy people that snowboarding does. The scoreboard for the superior snow sport as of now: ⛷️1–0🏂
Today there are still resorts that have a ban on snowboarding, two of which are in Utah: Alta and Deer Valley, and another in Vermont called Mad River Glen.
Fundamentals
History might show skiing to be the better way to send yourself down the mountain, but what do the fundamentals show? One of the three key fundamentals is which one is easier to learn and be good at?
There is a famous saying of “Skiing is easier to learn, but harder to master and snowboarding is harder to learn and easier to master.” This saying actually is very accurate. When I first learned how to snowboard, it took several times of me going before I could even remotely get down the hill without crashing twenty five times. After I learned a few key concepts and skills however, the rest of snowboarding came really quickly.
This is the case for most people too, skiing initially is more natural because you are able to face forward and both your legs are separate as they normally would be. Skiing gets hard when trying to master it because of the use of four edges instead of only two with snowboarding. The trouble with snowboarding comes with having both feet stuck to the same board and having to go down sideways. Initially this is a shock, but as soon as riders can get used to it, shredding the pow like a master comes quick. It is for this reason that I think snowboarding is better than skiing in this category. People like to be able to be good at something quickly, which snowboarding provides; although the learning curve is a bit higher, the overall time needed to be able to shed the slopes is less than that of skiing. ⛷️1–1🏂
“I’ve only been snowboarding once and fell on my head several times…but it was pretty gnarly” Chase Pope
The second key question we need to address is which one is more practical for maneuvering on the mountain? Skis have the option for poles which can bring stability and can be used to push yourself down long cat tracks or just slow areas in general. Having your legs separate also gives the option to be able to speed yourself up by pushing off of them one at a time like you do ice skating. Skiers don’t have to sit down and bind themselves in either, they can conveniently throw down their skis, jump in and go. Snowboards can go about anywhere skis can; it just takes more effort and an experienced rider. It requires being careful to keep speed and momentum to carry you over the flats or up hills. As much as I hate to say it, this one definitely has to go to skiing. This brings our score now to ⛷️2–2🏂.
“Skiing is better because it’s classic and fun, snowboarding is for people who are a child. Every snowboarder I’ve ever gone up with makes me drag them whenever we hit a flat section” Jex Mecham SVU student
Along with practicality, a crucial quality that affects the overall experience and ability of an alpine enthusiast is comfort. Many people may think that comfort really doesn’t matter, but if you are not comfortable you are not going to be able to last a full day on the mountain. There are many different contributing factors that play into determining comfort. Which one is easier on the body, which hurts less to crash, which is more tiring etc.. These are tough questions to try to answer as both of them can destroy you when you catch an edge. They also use different muscle groups making it hard to determine which is more tiring. There is, however, a clear difference in the comfort of equipment. It is a known fact that snowboarding boots feel like walking on clouds compared to ski boots. This may not seem like a big deal, but just a couple of hours of having your foot jammed into a rough plastic boot can be enough to make you call it quits for the day. Boots also are a huge deal for those who like to hit the untouched bowls. Many of these require hiking which again snowboarding boots are just completely superior. They are easier to walk in and overall more comfortable to have on for long periods of time. Point snowboarding, which puts the scoreboard to a tie at ⛷️2–2🏂.
But what does SVU Think….
Surrounded by ski resorts and with students from states that get dumped on with snow, such as Utah, SVU is a perfect place to settle this debate. I talked to about 71 of my fellow classmates, both those who have much experience shredding the slopes, and many that have never participated in the snowy sports of skiing and snowboarding. I sifted these 71 students into two categories, those who have had experience with either snowboarding or skiing, and those who haven’t had any experience. Out of the group of 42 students that said they do one of these, there were 19 that ski and 23 that snowboard. Snowboarding had more votes in every category except one about which is more fun on groomed runs. Other than that, students voted snowboarding to be better in deep powder, cooler for terrain parks and overall just better.
“Snowboarding looks cooler and the tricks look more fun, but skiing gives a person -more freedom.” Carter Johnson
Out of this group of 71 students, there were 29 students who hadn’t been to a ski resort to hit the slopes. Many of them didn’t know the meaning of a groomed run showing their very limited knowledge. Their responses were based solely on their opinions and the reputation that they think each one has. It’s valid and important that we use these opinions as there is less bias than those who actually do the sport and just vote theirs to be the best simply because they participate in it. These 29 students had intriguingly similar responses except for they had snowboarding ranked above skiing in all four categories.
It has finally been settled…. Snowboarding is better than skiing! The snobby sport of skiing has been dethroned by the true king: snowboarding! A major reason for this is because of the many different ways snowboarding translates over into over areas. Examples of this are surfing, skateboarding, and wakeboarding. Students expressed that these other sports they loved helped them be a better snowboarder and vice versa. Kimo Hughey stated, “I like snowboarding more than skiing because it is more applicable. You can use it for surfing and skateboarding. It’s easier compared to surfing and skateboarding but you can also get hurt quick.” An anonymous respondent explained,“I only snowboard every now and then, but as a kid I grew up skateboarding and that’s why I like snowboarding over skiing.” Skiing has some things similar with other sports such as ice skating and rollerblading, but none of these have to do with boards. Skateboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding all have boards that you ride on, and that is what makes all the difference.
Spitting facts about snowboarding, Skyler Nelson stated, “That motion of a clean carve down a hill, there is just nothing like it. Personally I hate winter in most situations, but now every single year I look forward to it because of the opportunity to go snowboarding. I love boating and everything but even wakeboarding, and wake surfing are still just a different feeling than snowboarding gives you. Some of my favorite things to do snowboarding are when you go with a group just to all train together and hit different lines throughout the trees and its just so fun to be able to see everyone going through and making the different lines and just weaving in and out of each other. And every now and then you will find a sick jump out in the middle of the woods that you just have to hit and send it and its just always a good old time especially when you are out there with the boys.”
Regardless of whether you ski or snowboard, hitting the slopes in the winter time is a great way to get rid of the winter blues. As discussed previously, Southern Virginia University is surrounded by ski resorts. There are four resorts: Winter Green, Homestead Ski Slopes, Liberty Mountain Snow Flex Centre, and Bryce ski resort that are all within an hour and forty minutes of the school. The totally rad thing too is Liberty Mountain SnowFlex Centre is actually a year round skiing and snowboarding resort. This allows you to keep your skills fresh year round so you will be ready for the actual shredding season.
Get out this winter and enjoy one of these dummy lit sports that has changed a cold depressing season into an joyful adrenaline rushing one!
Snowboarding vs. Skiing: Which Is Better? was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.