Who's FASTER...skier or boarder???

[John Gilmour]

skiers.

[Rob Stevens]

You can't ride skis without bindings, so they must be inferior.

Faster and more stable, but inferior just the same.

[philw]

Skiers are faster on piste. I shot a few speed competitions, there's no competition between those groups. The weird thing is why people could get upset about it. Jet aeroplanes go faster than my car - what of it?

For general powder riding, boards are faster. Yes, of course I've seen reverse cambered skis and yes I know how they perform and boards are still faster. I could guess why, but the fact remains irrespective.

Try not to get too excited about old speed records. They took a deliberate decision to limit the speed at speed competitions so the reason those old records stand is because they're grading the courses down. Modern competition is about competition between people, not world records.

[Alaskan Rover]

You can't ride skis without bindings, so they must be inferior.

Faster and more stable, but inferior just the same.

Well...I'll stay away from the inferior aspect...but I do think boarding is more natural.

I know when long-boarding first started out in Hawaii....or at least "modern" long-boarding (as the Hawaiians have been apparently doing doing it for ages)...they stood on these huge boards just purely facing forward, as if they were standing on a deck with a drink in their hands or something. It wasn't until the boards got smaller that they really began to switch to 'regular' or 'goofy' stance. I think it was then that the world opened up to the potential of short-boarding...and the sport became so much more dynamic....and then came along guys like kelly Slater and the rest is history.

Same with skiing...and I was a skiier for years. But their is just a different feeling that is intrinsic to "riding" a board. Not just the angles, and gear difference...something else.

Okay...get in some socks, and in those stocking feet, slide down a varnished wooden floor...and take good notice of the angle that your feet end up in. You'll almost assuredly notice that your feet will either be at goofy or regular and at somewhere between a 15/5 stance and a 30/15 stance. That just seems to be the natural stance for sliding and not even something you have to think about. Try it. The Natural Stance. :)

Gravity IS Life.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I think snowboarding is a kind of silly, inefficient way of getting down a hill, and of course not practical at all for getting up a hill. We do it because it's fun.

As far as natural - it's natural for us to face forward and use our feet independently. We slide sideways on ice because it's unstable otherwise. Add some skis under our feet, voila - stability, comfort.

[b0ardski]

I think snowboarding is a kind of silly, inefficient way of getting down a hill, and of course not practical at all for getting up a hill. We do it because it's fun.

As far as natural - it's natural for us to face forward and use our feet independently. We slide sideways on ice because it's unstable otherwise. Add some skis under our feet, voila - stability, comfort.

+1

One board is more fun to play on but it takes independent feet on two sticks to get anywere in deep snow.

Speed downhill in deep snow comes down to float, a pair of 190 x 120 powskis and a 190 x 240 snow board should get to the bottom at the same time under competent feet.

[carvedog]

For general powder riding, boards are faster. Yes, of course I've seen reverse cambered skis and yes I know how they perform and boards are still faster. I could guess why, but the fact remains irrespective.

I can only speak to my experience and that I ride a 185 on most powder days, but in most untracked powder conditions my good skier buddies can not keep up. Once I am planed out on that board all bets are off.

Riding first chair on a pow morning with Scott and a friend of his (Scott is a great skier, masters champion, foreruns the downhill at Snowbasin -stuff like that). Approaching the unload his friend starts acting like he won't see me again " Nice to meet you, have a great day blah, blah"-implying they will leave me behind and there are no friends on a powder day. Scott starts laughing and says to me see you at Lookout chair. He knew. Smoked his buddy like a cheap joint.

On the next chair smoked buddy starts looking over my gear and asking lots of questions about the board, plates etc. "Never seen someone ride that fast in pow".

This may be due to the fact that I am fat, too lazy to turn too much sometimes and ride the right size board. YMMV.

[Alaskan Rover]

I think snowboarding is a kind of silly, inefficient way of getting down a hill, and of course not practical at all for getting up a hill. We do it because it's fun.

As far as natural - it's natural for us to face forward and use our feet independently. We slide sideways on ice because it's unstable otherwise. Add some skis under our feet, voila - stability, comfort.

Ahh....spoken like a true skier. It's AMAZING how many closet skiers on this board...LOL. I used to be a skier to, and sometimes I can't even BELIEVE I used to mess those silly poles.

But, alas, (except for my randonnee skiing and my cross-country touring...which I love)....I switched my allegiance to the grace of boarding years ago.

The stocking foot, wooden floor sliding test does NOT lie. Boarding is the more natural style. :AR15firinskiers. LOL.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I've been riding for 25 years, and haven't skied regularly for 20. My allegiance is pretty clear. But it's pretty obvious which is the most efficient, natural way to get down the hill.

[photodad2001]

I think snowboarding is a kind of silly, inefficient way of getting down a hill, and of course not practical at all for getting up a hill. We do it because it's fun.

As far as natural - it's natural for us to face forward and use our feet independently. We slide sideways on ice because it's unstable otherwise. Add some skis under our feet, voila - stability, comfort.

Nothing more natural or "far from silly" than watching a skier explode on the slope. Snowboarding is a simplified, more fluid way of sliding down the hill verses the cumbersome, gear overloaded, and awkward 2 plank version. Nothing more visually disturbing than watching a skier wedge a straight line down the hill with arms out.

[Corey]

Nothing more visually disturbing than watching a skier wedge a straight line down the hill with arms out.

I think a snowboarder that's playing heelside bulldozer while dragging both arms behind them (loking like a disabled crab) on a run that's WAY too steep for their ability level tops that. Beginners on either equipment look silly, pros make either look effortless and graceful.

I will be skiing with my daughter in 2012 but still snowboarding when not with her.

[photodad2001]

These guys have stances even the baggiest panted boarder would envy. And unless you are severly pigeon toed this is way unnatural.

[MUD]

Through powder in tight trees I have yet to meet a skier (and I know some REALLY good skiers) that can keep up.

When the slopes open up or get really steep, skiers kill us.

[Alaskan Rover]

I've been riding for 25 years, and haven't skied regularly for 20. My allegiance is pretty clear. But it's pretty obvious which is the most efficient, natural way to get down the hill.

Skiing (really skating) is a more natural and efficient way to get UP a mountain or across long flats...but it is not necessarily more natural NOR more efficient than going down a mountain. To be sure, these new wide, "shaped"skis DEFINITELY have the in the backcountry when you need to do lots of traversing and is why I use randonnee equipment in the backcountry...but for strictly getting DOWN a slope, I think boarding is FAR more natural, graceful and beautiful than skiing. Sure skiing might be more efficient because you can "PUMP" those skis in co-junction with each other, and have one more "working" edge...but sheer effeciency is NOT what it's about.

But from a bio-mechanical, human interface point of view...I think the natural stance you take while sliding on a floor in socks IS the natural stance...and is the snowboarding stance. What can be more natural than that. Now for heading down a slippery fall-line, in contrast, then "feet-forward" seems to become the 'natural' stance...such as in glissading or even a kid sliding down a snow-pile in boots. I think it's just a genesis kinda thing: Skiing downhill stems from glissading...and boarding stems from a surfing/skateboarding goofy/regular stance. Some of the first snowboards had ski-bindings facing totally forwards (Mono-Skis)...and THAT sure didn't turn out too well...LOL. ;)

Gravity IS Life.

[wingnuts514]

This may be due to the fact that I am fat, too lazy to turn too much sometimes and ride the right size board. YMMV.

:lol::lol::lol: I thought I was the only one in these parts...

[wingnuts514]

The stocking foot, wooden floor sliding test does NOT lie. Boarding is the more natural style. :AR15firinskiers. LOL.

...exactly, everyone in the world slides across the floor the same way.

[b0ardski]

Never heard a monoski called a snowboard, even when I rode one but my twintip snowboard was called a monoski by a snowboarding lifty yesterday:smashfrea

Monoskis had metal edges & ptex when snowboards were bent plywood with metal fins and a rope in the nose.

[photodad2001]

...exactly, everyone in the world slides across the floor the same way.

No, some slide right foot forward and others left foot forward. Let the Goofy vs. Regular battle begin!!!

[wingnuts514]

No, some slide right foot forward and others left foot forward. Let the Goofy vs. Regular battle begin!!!

another simple one, they call it "goofy" because it's wrong. ha j/k I am full on left-handed, I do everything left but I ride regular. Do most lefty's ride goofy or am I the weirdo?

[SteveInOregon]

another simple one, they call it "goofy" because it's wrong. ha j/k I am full on left-handed, I do everything left but I ride regular. Do most lefty's ride goofy or am I the weirdo?

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I am almost ambidextrous , mostly left / goofy.

I ride SB goofy, eat with my left, shoot rifle & shotgun with my left, **shoot pistol with both hand ( **thank God I do cause It saved me in a shooting) pick my nose with my right, drink with my right, kick a football or soccer ball with my right, fight south paw, bat with my right, write with my left, and pet my dog with my both hands ( my Pit bull dog silly get your mind out of the gutter silly, lol ;))

[Snowriter]

I smoke most of my skier friends in powder and they destroy me on hardpack. Is the way it is ...

But, overall, yeah, two skis are faster than one board ... just look at waterskiers.

As for fast descents, don't forget Johann O classic run in TB 5 ... for the impatient, it's at about the 3 minute mark :)

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[Alaskan Rover]

WOW!!! That's CRAZY!!! I've done some fast descents in the Chugach, but not THAT fast!!! That guy looks like he has a rocket strapped to his back and pointed DOWNHILL!!!! He's flying.