I just spent the last three days in Breckenridge snowboarding. I boarded once last season and then three days so far this season. I spent years surfing, so boarding was a natural pick for me. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable in only four days, but have yet to step up to any blacks.
Nevertheless, how many of you ski vs board? My girlfriend skis and she says that skiing is “safer” (as far as risk of breaking arms/legs) compared to snowboarding… Thoughts? I’m still going to snowboard over ski, but I want to limit the risk of destroying my triathlon season.
I was at Breckenridge snowboarding two weeks ago. I don’t go down any blacks unless it’s by accident so it was mostly the blue runs on peaks 7, 8 and 9.
Personally I think there is less of a risk of twisting an ankle while snowboarding vs skiing
I just spent the last three days in Breckenridge snowboarding. I boarded once last season and then three days so far this season. I spent years surfing, so boarding was a natural pick for me. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable in only four days, but have yet to step up to any blacks.
Nevertheless, how many of you ski vs board? My girlfriend skis and she says that skiing is “safer” (as far as risk of breaking arms/legs) compared to snowboarding… Thoughts? I’m still going to snowboard over ski, but I want to limit the risk of destroying my triathlon season.
I was at Breckenridge snowboarding two weeks ago. I don’t go down any blacks unless it’s by accident so it was mostly the blue runs on peaks 7, 8 and 9.
Personally I think there is less of a risk of twisting an ankle while snowboarding vs skiing
I’m really tempted to try the two blues off Peak 6… But being that far above treeline is a little intimidating. hah. Plus I hear Peak 6 gets really icy.
I ski, but my son (23) went to the dark side. It’s his fourth season and he boarded Steamboat top to bottom last year.
On Xmas day he just took his first bad fall - at our (icy) home mountain in NY, Hunter. Caught his front edge, fell face first and banged his right shoulder bad. He had huge bulge on his shoulder. I took him to first aid and they said it wasn’t a separation. Lost mobility but wasn’t in terrible pain. I convinced the wife the ER was a waste of time and on Thursday we got him to an orthopedist. X-ray and MRI showed sprain but no breaks. Thank god or the wife would’ve killed me. A few weeks rest and he’ll be fine.
So, yeah, injuries can come from either. Personally I think 2 planks are safer but mostly it’s ability, conditions and common sense. Either way, nothing beats going down a mountain!
Started on skis at 3, switched to snowboarding at 9 and never looked back. I did jump on some skis to help my wife learn a few years ago. It was much easier to teach her that way.
I’ve done both for most of my life and lived in Colorado living the ski bum life for a bit as well. I learned to ski growing up mainly because snowboarding was barely a “thing” yet (I’m 38). I got my first board when I was maybe 12 and then alternated back and forth until going full time snowboarding because I felt like I was in on the ground floor. All in all I had more upper body injuries snowboarding (wrists, shoulders, lower back) and more lower body injuries skiing (twisted and sprained knee mostly). With that said, I went a lot harder boarding then I ever did skiing so those injuries were to be more expected. IMO if you’re staying on the blues and groomers you should be pretty safe assuming you’re competent and pay attention to those around you. Once you start doing bump runs at high speeds, disappear into the trees and finding new things to jump off, well then all bets are off.
Well let’s see…been snowboarding for 33 years and never broke, pulled or sprained anything…contrasted to both Sony Bono and my father in law who both died skiing…I’ll stick with boarding.
Just got back from Mammoth for the start of my second season of skiing. I’ve had a few falls but the skis released when they were supposed to and so far no injuries. No interest in taking up snowboarding although I enjoy the sense of humor of the Angry Snowboarder on Youtube.
Once you start doing bump runs at high speeds, disappear into the trees and finding new things to jump off, well then all bets are off.
Ha! My nephew, a Colorado native, disappeared into the trees at Steamboat last year on every run. He showed us his Go Pro after the first day. I knew then, for sure, I wasn’t following him
One of the above posts had an article that I agreed with and thought was common knowledge. Skiers get lower body injuries more and boarders get upper body injuries. pretty logical as boarders have there feet hooked onto a common surface and move together. Skiers have independent moving legs. I think the biggest injury factor of boarders are going over the high side. If you catch that edge you get slammed over the top very quickly. Thus they have lots more wrist, shoulder and collar bone injuries. Skiers seem to get an acl tear. New developments in boots, easy to turn skis and bindings have reduced a lot of injuries. The study also mentioned more head injuries among boarders. Which seems feasible.
Hitting trees and other immovable objects all bets are off. I think too, some of the snow board injuries occur while jumping and doing tricks. I was too old to catch the snowboard train in my youth, but am amazed at how much fun they seem to be having on the hill. They seem like the happiest people on the mountain.
Used to be only racers wore helmets. Now it is the norm, glad to see that. The first 20 years or so that I rode no one wore helmets either. I always feel really bad when I see someone going down the hill on the sled. Be safe out there folks.
Yes, ski injuries tend to be knees and legs, and can be pretty horrific. Snowboard injuries are more often wrists and arms. You can mess yourself up badly doing either, but IME the risk is higher generally with skiing. I ski raced competitively through most of my teens and switched to snowboarding before I was out of high school. To really hurt yourself snowboarding you’ve got to be going really fast or get lots of air. My worst injury was on a snowboard, but that was a torn hip flexor resulting from overshooting the landing on a jump. My brother, on the other hand, got a compound tib/fib break from a relatively low speed fall on skis.
Once I had kids I stopped getting to the mountains altogether, but recently started teaching my daughter to ski, so have been back at it. I’m not all that worried about injury at this point because I’m not riding like a teenager. Assuming you’re not either, I think you’ll be fine either way.
I started snowboarding when they were still banned at many resorts.
I liked snowboarding but when skis went parabolic I switched and never looked back.
Having a set of poles to get through flat sections is also a big advantage.
That being said, I haven’t downhilled in many years cuz nordic skiing is more convenient and I don’t need an expensive lift pass.
That being said, I haven’t downhilled in many years cuz nordic skiing is more convenient and I don’t need an expensive lift pass.
Alpine touring/ski mountaineering? No expensive pass, great workout, can get great sunrises on dawn patrols, all sorts of freedom, pick your terrain/difficulty (conditions permitting), etc etc.
Granted Nordic can be more convenient, but touring is still pretty awesome.
