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anyone experienced in snowboarding and skiing?

jlboyell

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Mar 16, 2010
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as a kid i grew up skiing. never really got all that good, but had fun. after a few years of doing nothing, my sister got me into snowboarding. i have been riding for the last 5 years and moved west because of my love for it. im a decent rider, better than a lot, but certainly there are many better than me. i can get down mogul runs, but its not pretty. tree runs, on and off map arent too much of a problem, aka i can make it down. it just seems like skiers look smoother. also when conditions arent great, skis seem to be the way to go. the definite thing is traverses. especially here, to get to some good runs requires some traversing. on a snowboard this is a real pain. my boots are up for a replacement and instead of dropping serious cash on a pair of new boots, im thinking about buying a pair of ski boots and maybe demoing some skis next year or buying a used set. anyone with similar experiences? i dont spend a second in the terrain park, and the more i find myself in off piste situations, steeps and chutes, i feel like i might want to go back to skis. any input?
 

ScottySkis

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I ski most of my life, snowboarding I tried and was fun but my lazy but didn't want to learn a new sport.
 

vdk03

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Mar 26, 2011
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I started skiing around 4 years old and stuck with it till I was about 13, then switched to snowboarding. I've been on a board now for about 12-13 seasons and now feel like I'd like to get back on some skis. I have demoed some tele skis a handful of times this year and had a blast. The first few runs were pretty awkward but by the end of the day I felt pretty comfortable. The days following I had so much fun that I've decided to invest in telemark gear for next year instead of a new snowboard. Tomorrow I am going down to AMR in Breckenridge to pick up my new setup....:grin:182 Fat-ypus L Toro's with the Rockefeller NTN binding setup and the Scarpa Terminator X Pro boots:grin:. All the gear is 2011-12 models but have been demoed this season so I am getting for a great price. I have no intention of giving up snowboarding (nothing beats a board in the powder) but would just prefer to be proficient at both.
 

Telemechanic

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Nov 27, 2007
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I started skiing and snowboarding the same year, 1983-84. The skier in me developed first. My parents were subsidizing my skiing and mountains for snowboarders were harder to find back then. But I did buy my first Burton Performer that season with the first paycheck from my first hourly job and used it at Temple and a sledding hill in Hollis NH. In college I bought my first Board with metal edges and used it at Pats Peak and when I transfered to a Colorado school at Loveland. I finally got good at boarding when I left school and got a job at Loon. I used my board exclusively back then and in my fifth year I joined Ski Patrol where I really improved my control and of course learned to drive toboggans in all terrain. During my four years patrolling I first tried telemark skiing and after leaving patrol I became a full time free-heeler but I still keep my snowboarding gear reasonably up to date and I try to get out especially on hero days.
 

jaytrem

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Variety is the spice of life. You don't each chicken for dinner every night, so why would anybody want to just ski or snowboard?. Tele skis are a blast, especially when you really get the feel for the turns. So yeah, can't recommend them enough. Another benefit of mixing it up is you use different muscles, makes it easier to survive extra long ski trips.
 

Nick

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I've been skiing my whole life, since I was around 3 or 4.

I have tried snowboarding three times, back in 2001? right around there. At Killington, I had some perfect turn lessons and did a couple sessions (with my dad and sister)

I had a lot of fun snowboarding, but in the end I liked skiing better. I also kind of figured that I could either excel at one sport or be mediocre in two. So I concentrated on skiing.

That said, I would really like to try tele at some point.
 

bobbutts

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Mar 18, 2007
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Grew up in NE skiing exclusively, family trips and Mass ski club.
Got a one night a week Season's pass at WaWa with some mixed ability friends while in college around '95 and decided it was too boring to ski. Picked up a board in the shop at the base lodge and didn't look back for many years. Moved to Tahoe and barely skied at all in 5 years there, really fell in love with boarding powder and semi-steep terrain.

Now back in NE I split it pretty much 50/50 last few years. Skis for ice and bumps / board for the soft snow pretty much.
 

jlboyell

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Mar 16, 2010
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theres more than i thought. i actually had thought about getting some AT gear, as i was doing some backcountry stuff and AT and skins would be lighter than snow shoes with a board on my back. decisions. im glad someone else said they use skis for ice and bumps and board for soft days. i thought it seemed better to attack bad days and bumps with skis also. i think im going to get a pair of alpine boots first, not great ones but ones that fit well. then demo some stuff and see where im at
 

Cornhead

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I've tried boarding twice. The first time was with bindings designed for ski boots. I almost bought a board instead of skis when I got back into sliding on snow. I do have one of my son's old Burton boards. I thought of getting some boots and playing around with it. I have a bad shoulder, I don't think I'd try it unless I get my shoulder repaired so that it can withstand impact, it can't now. I know you fall / get slammed a lot initally. It must be sublime in powder. I'd like to have some AT gear. I don't know how much I'd use it. There are some fun looking cuts that have been made for gas piplines in the local hills. I don't know if you'd risk arrest skiing them. I've seen boarder tracks on some, back when it used to snow!
 

Glenn

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I did both for a number of years. I'm on skis now and have been for quite awhile. I keep saying I'm going to rent a board one of these days.
 

witch hobble

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I do both. Though I mostly (like 95%+) ski these days.

Lucky to be born into a skiing family. Turned 13 years old in 1988, which was a bit of a breakthrough year for snowboarding in general. I jumped on the bandwagon. My older brother went to college in Michigan and left his ski set up behind, so I always had some to use, even in the height of my boarding days, so I never had that "tried it and never went back" attitude that a lot of my contemporaries had in the late 80s and 90s.

I was never a great boarder. Solid. Competent. But had some friends who were on another level. I was working in a ski/board shop in 1995, and acquired a set of cable bindings and leather, two buckle boots. Mounted them on a pair of boards left at the shop. Started out just as a silly challenge for myself and to freak out some friends who were aghast at anything ski related. But there was something cool about it.

I resisted the plastic tele boots for a while, as I thought the leather boots and snowboard boots were some of the things that I liked about not having anchors on my feet. But once I got plastic tele boots (2002?2003?) I really have not snowboarded very much.

I still self identify as a boarder, and try to defend against the blatant generalizations that these forums sometimes produce.
 

jlboyell

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i think im going to rent some skis this weekend. for whatever reason, my snowboard boots kill my left foot. to the point of it not being any fun. this is the third season on them, and it started about halfway through the season. i have wide flat feet, and i have been told that this could cause premature wear on the boots. this is what is prompting my return to skiing, i need new boots, and have been interested in going back for a while. this weekend, i had no intention of going for the last weekend at big sky because of the boot situation, but now i may just rent some skis and see where im at. if it comes back quickly, there goes another bucket of cash
 

Method9455

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as a kid i grew up skiing. never really got all that good, but had fun. after a few years of doing nothing, my sister got me into snowboarding. i have been riding for the last 5 years and moved west because of my love for it. im a decent rider, better than a lot, but certainly there are many better than me. i can get down mogul runs, but its not pretty. tree runs, on and off map arent too much of a problem, aka i can make it down. it just seems like skiers look smoother. also when conditions arent great, skis seem to be the way to go. the definite thing is traverses. especially here, to get to some good runs requires some traversing. on a snowboard this is a real pain. my boots are up for a replacement and instead of dropping serious cash on a pair of new boots, im thinking about buying a pair of ski boots and maybe demoing some skis next year or buying a used set. anyone with similar experiences? i dont spend a second in the terrain park, and the more i find myself in off piste situations, steeps and chutes, i feel like i might want to go back to skis. any input?

I do both. Skied from 1992-2002, snowboarded 2002-2008. Skied & snowboarded 2008-present.

You are definitely right that skis are better in icy conditions. I like my snowboard better in powder, trees, soft bumps and on well groomed packed powder. On ice or crud I'd rather ski. I only hit jumps & rails on my snowboard, and I happen to race on a snowboard but I'll probably switch over to racing on skis soon.

I had picked up skiing again with the plan to do AT & ski backcountry, but once I realized that skiing in powder was 50% as fun as snowboarding in powder I gave up on that. And I moved back east. If I was still out west I'd rather just split board.

My concern is that you are saying a pair of snowboard boots is 'serious cash'. The most expensive snowboard boots are probably what, $300? And the average is more like $175. The average ski boot is $100-$200 more than that.

Not to mention skis are double what snowboards cost. I have a fairly simple setup - Line Prophets, Marker Dukes, and Nordica boots, and the MSRP of the setup was like $1300. I spent around $300 to get it since I worked in the shop at the time, but unless you have a hookup skis are a serious investment.

I also would be really careful cutting corners on buying ski boots. The wrong boots can just be horrible. My ski boots are actually as comfortable or better than my snowboard boots, but it took a lot of trying to find a pair that fit so well.

Demo'ing skis is a good idea. I ended up with fairly universal skis (90mm underfoot so a mid-fat today) and I like them a lot, but I've been on some stiffer more carving specific skis and I like those a bit better. If I had to do it again I'd probably get something more tuned for the east coast groomers than west coast crud.
 

BigJay

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I've skied from the age of 3 till 9.

Then i picked up snowboarding after braking my skis on Green Beret: My dad gave me a choice between one or 2 boards. I've been snowboarding from 24 years now. I skied on and off through those years but never found it to be a challenge and the lack of flotation in snow made it unappealing.

Then this season i picked up a pair of teles: Wow! What a fun thing. I've been contemplating teles for years but a bad knee had me in pain when i tried a few years back. Now, i'm hooked! I've been on teles almost every weekend since christmas... except for the ONE storm we had up here where i had to grab my board!

So yeah: Teles rock!
(and so does a board)
(and it's ok to ski also...)
 

jlboyell

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i dont plan on buying skis right away, just boots. i would def spend the money in boots, and demo skis for a while, making sure i found what i like. theres no cheap way, but i am definitely going to try skiing again. i hear a lot of people saying board is great for powder, but at a resort, on a powder day, untracked doesnt last for long, and you end up with a fun bumpy mess. thats the conditions i was looking towards using skis for, and icy hardpack if it came to it. and like i stated before, all the traverses and catwalks are geared toward skis.
 

RENO

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Aug 2, 2007
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I did both for a few years and now just snowboard for the last 7. I'll still take a snowboard in all conditions over skis. If it's that icy everywhere where I can't get a snowboard to dig in an edge then the conditions must be so horrible that I probably wouldn't be out there anyway! :lol: My new snowboard this season slices through everything. Better than any board I've ever owned. Also, I have custom footbeds in my ski boots and they are as comfortable as you can possibly get for ski boots, but there's no way a ski boot will ever be more comfortable than a snowboard boot!
 

Cannonball

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Skied exclusively for ~12 years.
Switched to boarding exclusively for ~12 years.
Insert ~20% tele into my boarding for a few years. Then dropped it completely
Past 4 years: 80% snowboard 20% Alpine

I like skiing because it's ALWAYS a challenge. There are constant subtle tweaks and adjustments to improve. But snowboarding is just freak'n FUN. I find boarding to be WAY easier physically and technically.
 
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