Rylie Lipke ‘27, Student Life Editor
The debate on whether snowboarding or skiing is more of an exciting activity to partake in is a huge controversal topic that resurfaces each winter. Even though skiing and snowboarding are pretty similar, there is a significant amount of hate towards skiing—mostly by snowboarders—which raises an immense amount of controversy.
Skiing and snowboarding are viewed as different slope activites/sports, but they in actuality share more similarities than some would care to admit. The most basic similarity is that they both involve gliding on snow and doing tricks on a downhill slope; however, it may be more difficult to execute on skis than a snowboard. There are two separate skis that are attached to a skier’s feet by a tight binding with sturdy and dependable boots. While wearing ski boots, it is incredibly difficult to move, and the only thing that can adjust is your knees. Without training, it is difficult to partake in different tricks, but with effort and practice, the tricks slowly become easier to carry out.
On the other hand, with snowboarding, there is one board that is strapped to both of your feet by two bindings with more of a loose fit to the boots. When a snowboarder is wearing snowboard boots, they will find that they are very flexible, and the motions come a lot more freely. Snowboarding boots need to be flexible in order for the boarder to have a wide range of movement to guide themselves down the hill ahead of them. Without the movement, the odds of crashing increase far more than snowboarders want. Only having one board strapped to a snowboarder’s feet makes them prone to falling, and allows a little less mobility regarding anything below their shins.
When it comes to doing tricks on a mountain, it may be easier on a snowboard. Snowboarders find it easier to guide themselves around different things and on top of rails when they only have one board to keep control of. However, skiers have to keep their body steady, and guide both skis to where they want to go. A downside of that is if a skier is not able to get control of one of their skis, they are less able to regain control and are at risk of severe injury.
When it comes to going downhill, skiing and snowboarding are very similar. For both sports, it is easy to guide yourself down a hill depending on the slope’s difficulty level. When you are skiing, it may be more fun because when a skier is going down a hill, you can do a couple of different things, like “cutting” the snow, which means that the edges of your board or skis will get aggressively pushed into the snow, and if a skier is spraying snow, it is much easier than if a snowboarder were to do the same.
When someone is skiing, it is easier to navigate themselves down the hill and easier to steady themselves to stop them from tipping over. It is also easier for them to go over bumps because they have two skis strapped on and keeping control of their bodies. The hardest part about going downhill while snowboarding is that snowboarders find it very hard to stop themselves from falling while going down the hill, since they have one board with both of their feet strapped to it which makes it hard to direct themselves and keep control over their bodies from falling.
In all, skiing and snowboarding are both similar and different in their own ways, and one may be easier than the other. There can be many discussions on why which sport is better than the other, but altogether, they are not that much different, and there should not be any hate on either of the sports.
Lyon Life 