It feels like being able to ski or snowboard is a right of passage to living in Vancouver. For the longest time, I avoided the mountains… I was embarrassed because I knew I’d fall on my face if I were to step into bindings.
In 2020, I decided it was time to take advantage of the beautiful city I live in, and learn to snowboard. I look up at these gorgeous towering mountains every day but I’m too scared to enjoy them!
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Choosing between skiing and snowboarding can be difficult as a beginner. A lot of people just had their parents pick for them. But as an adult, it can feel like a daunting task.
I’m sure you’ve heard people warn that snowboarding is harder to learn than skiing, but I think there’s more to it when choosing between the two winter sports.
“Skiing is easier to learn but harder to master, whereas snowboarding is harder to learn but easier to master.”
There are pros and cons to both, but there’s a lot of truth to the above quote.
Skiing is easier to pick up on the first few tries because the movement is more intuitive. You’ve got your legs separated as you do normally, so it’s easier to find control at lower speeds in the learning phase. You also are standing upright, facing straight-on in the direction you’re going, giving you great visibility. Having leg separation control and being able to see other skiers, boarders, and obstacles will make a beginner skier feel more comfortable than a beginner snowboarder.
Learning how to snowboard is a lot of trial and error. Since your feet are restricted and attached to the board, falling is inevitable. Figuring out how to take the falls and get back up again, is the most important part of learning. Snowboarding can feel very counter-intuitive. Your mind and body don’t want you to fall. Mastering your toe and heel edge is the hardest part of snowboarding. It’s not a natural feeling to lean forward onto your toes as you go downhill, but you have to teach your body to trust the process.
Snowboarding stances are side-to-side, so you’re also only seeing about 50% of what’s in front of you on the slopes. For a beginner, this is terrifying because the last thing you want to do is hit a person or a tree. It’s another case of trusting yourself and the process, and with practice, you get used to the limited vision, and constantly bending your knees.
The biggest obstacle to learning how to ski or snowboard in adulthood is the fear of failure. Once you can accept failure, the mountains can be a whole lot of fun. I can’t believe how many ski trips I missed out on through the years, because of my ego.
Whether you choose to ski or board, take advantage of beautiful British Columbia this winter and fall on your face before the snow melts!