When it comes to visiting the snow-covered slopes for a vacation, it’s important to take advantage of all the fun and thrilling recreational opportunities. While both skiing and snowboarding sound equally tempting, it’s important to remember that they aren’t the same because of a few crucial differences.
Skiing
Learning to ski is generally thought to be easier to pick up on right away because it employs the innate mechanism of walking that comes to us naturally. Skiers also face forward as opposed to the sideways stance of snowboarders. At most, it will take a short time for beginners to learn how to perform the snowplow turn, after which you can strike out on your own with minimal help from an instructor. If the hill isn’t too steep, the snowplow turn will allow you to stop in almost any scenario! It is up to you to experiment and try out the slopes to learn on the go. Some additional practice is enough to master parallel and stem turns.
Snowboarding
Learning how to snowboard is typically viewed as more challenging at first but easy to master after the learning curve. Since most people take up skiing at first, switching to snowboard is different since it involves strapping both feet to a single board. It can feel unnatural to beginners. Unlike skiing, there are two turns to master right off the bat: the backside (edging with your heels) and frontside (edging with your toes).
Learning to snowboard is something that many skiers decide to take on to switch up their usual routine. Once mastered, snowboarders can go off-piste for a different kind of ride down the mountain in fresh powder. Snowboarding also allows for tricks and airtime at the terrain park for an added challenge.
Why Not Both?
Skiing and snowboarding both provide important benefits to the body. Skiing works the leg muscles, including the calves, thighs, hips, and hamstrings. You’ll also work your abdominal muscles and improve control and strength of your arm muscles as well as you work on balance.
These power sports will increase your flexibility, balance, agility and will overall enhance the core muscles of your body. Also, it doesn’t put much stress on the back muscles, unlike water skiing. Snowboarding strengthens the calf muscles and the quadriceps which are used in guiding the board in the right direction. The cardiovascular benefits of snow sports are vast, as it helps burn excess calories.
So, next time you’re out on the slopes and looking for a challenge, why not switch up the routine and try something different or new? You might find your new favorite activity!
