I think I like MTB better than snow...

Was just thinking similar thoughts recently. I thrashed my knee before I really got started with the most recent ski season so started biking more as rehab, exercise etc.

My family moved from New England where there was decent skiing and better IMO mtn biking within 3-4 hours. We moved to PA. which has putrid and potentially non existent skiing but has a lot of pretty good mtn biking throughout the state and areas within 3-4 hours.

So now I’m eyeing up a decent dual suspension ride and planning some day or weekend trips depending on all the virus shit.

I suck at mtn biking and was a functional skier. I think I’m at a crux where most of the stupid shit I would risk while skiing is out of my system and now I’m biking and I suck and can easily see myself getting way more physically destructive.

I also find biking has always been a more solitary experience for me and I like that. Skiing is some like that when backcountry and some social at resorts.

Not sure what to make of all that, but I’m pretty excited to get more into biking and have a new hobby.

All the terms and costs and stuff with bikes is really overwhelming and sometimes I get really into it and sometimes I just want someone to point at a bike and say “buy this one”.

I’ve got a steel 1X9 hard tail that works fine for anything I’ll get myself into but, come on. What else should I spend money on? My kids education or something?


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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

During ski season skiing is the best. Sometime around May I am convinced that MTB is the best and that I should move to AZ and screw all this skiing business for good......until November.....then skiing is the best again.

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Nailed it.


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Couple of my thoughts—

- No avy danger! I feel like the terrain is exactly what it looks like at face value, maybe it’s my naivety as I suck and am a total MTBjong but not having to over analyze terrain is great!
- Zen — The ability to jump on a saddle and GO really is unparalleled. No transitions. No adjusting boots. No ski/walk mechanisms. No chair lifts. I find I can completely get lost IN the trail in a way I’ve never felt skiing, more similar to hiking/backpacking. But the down triggers the same neurons that skiing does.


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Average day MTB>average day skiing
Great powder day >> great day MTB
That is all

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Originally Posted by carlh

Average day MTB>average day skiing
Great powder day >> great day MTB
That is all

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I’ve had the ski vs. mtn bike conversation with a few friends and this is really the best conclusion.


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For me it's skiing no question at all. The speed is so much slower biking.. the g-forces you can pull are so much lower.. washing the fuck out due to changing trail conditions will never ceases to piss me off, and at least with snow there is a chance that a bail won't destroy you completely..

Now with that said biking is fun as shit and definitely by far the best thing to do when skiing isn't an option

It’s nice to change it up. After 6 months I’m happy to get on the bike. Another 6 and I’m happy to ski. It is nice to roll out the door onto my bike and get a good rip in 2 or 3 hrs rather than drive to go ski touring for 8hrs for a similar work out and amount of turns. Apres beer is a little more chill in the summer too but then I’d much rather tune my skis or f it and ski them without being tuned. I think I spend similar $ for each season, or close enough

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Originally Posted by carlh

Average day MTB>average day skiing
Great powder day >> great day MTB
That is all

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Yup, that's pretty much it.

Although I'd say skiing in shitty conditions happens far more frequently than biking in truly shitty conditions. Biking's more about gradual seasonal changes, whereas skiing can go from miserable refreeze to blower pow overnight.

Good shit here — thanks for bringing me back to reality haha!


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I find it rewarding to pick off scabs. Small scabs, like good old scrub oak exfoliating. In other reigns, wild raspberry or rosebush? Backcountry MTB is more challenging then Backcountry skiing.

I'm a much better biker than I am a skier. I like biking with my ski friends because it gives me a chance to show I'm not a year round gaper. That being said, nothing in biking compares to the feeling when it all comes together on a powder day and I'm able to link a bunch of good turns. Of course that's a rare event for me so it should feel better.

One great thing about skiing is that you can go anywhere you want, up a ridge, down a bowl, over here over there. Biking you're pretty much limited to a trail. That said, I'm all about biking right now.

There’s a yin and yang thing with skiing vs mtb for sure. You will find a place for both...

Mtb wins on time commitment, skiing wins on pow factor.

With 1 being this sucks I shouldn't have bothered and 5 being one of the best days of your life... skiing covers the full range from 1 to 5 while MTB (aside from very rare exceptions) generally stays in the 2 - 4 range with a 3 being extremely common. So definitely more consistent by far, but the highs are never as high as skiing powder.

A good powder day, a true spring corn period or big soft flowy bumps are awesome and the feeling you get from skiing them well is nearly unbeatable BUT rolling down a hero dirt strip through the trees or that time you pop out of the woods into a wildflower meadow when you're balanced just right and can absorb it all is so similar (for me) that it easily replaces what I'm not getting on skis anymore. When your physical self is dialed in and perfectly meshed with your ethereal self and you get that out of body experience it doesn't really matter what the vehicle is that's getting you there, does it?

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Originally Posted by rip

For me it's skiing no question at all. The speed is so much slower biking.. the g-forces you can pull are so much lower.. washing the fuck out due to changing trail conditions will never ceases to piss me off, and at least with snow there is a chance that a bail won't destroy you completely..

Now with that said biking is fun as shit and definitely by far the best thing to do when skiing isn't an option

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Except maybe surfing which blows mtb outta the water. I can’t surf right now due to shoulder injury, so I’ve been out on the trail. It is fun enough. Rocking the hardtail as I like the climb as much if not more than the down. And I fear taking the down to far on a better bike and putting my jaw into a hardwood.

Got on a full suspension e-bike yesterday. Now, if you are into making some distance in your rides, I can see the fun in that. We had just u see two hours, and climb nearly 2k and 18 miles. Could have hit more if we pushed it. That was a casual pace. What I thought was the coolest part was the assist on short technical climbs and steep hairpin turns. So fucking easy. But I don’t have $6500 plus to drop on a bike.

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

Skiing covers the full range from 1 to 5 while MTB (aside from very rare exceptions) generally stays in the 2 - 4 range with a 3 being extremely common. So definitely more consistent by far, but the highs are never as high as skiing powder.

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Mostly agreed. In my experience, I get two or three days of biking a summer that I'd count as a "5". The right trails, the right dirt, the right people. I get closer to 8-10 powder days like that in the winter.

But outside of that scale are a few other factors:

-I have no desire to compete with skis on my feet ever, but I enjoy some forms of bike racing.
-I love not wearing ski boots.
-I love building bike trails and jumps. Building ski booters just isn't the same.
-I love being able to go on all-day rides without having to ever evaluate avalanche terrain or worry that something wild and out of control will kill me or my partner.

I'm always ready for ski season every fall, and itching to ride the bike every spring.

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Originally Posted by cydwhit

-I love building bike trails and jumps. Building ski booters just isn't the same.

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Yeah. A really well built jump line that flows well with some nice berms that you can pit into approaches a pow day for me. Same type of floaty, flowy feeling.

^^^i don’t think I’ll ever feel that on a bike, except the occasional drifty turn. On a moderate pow day, nearly every turn feels this way and every landing is fluff.

But I suck on a bike and they scare me.

Meh. I bike because I don’t have skiing in the summer.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

During ski season skiing is the best. Sometime around May I am convinced that MTB is the best and that I should move to AZ and screw all this skiing business for good......until November.....then skiing is the best again.

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This is the cycle. Maximum high on a bike is rarer because the edge is sharper and the risk of lost time is greater. That's why I love sticky rock, with its higher challenge/risk ratio: try stuff you wouldn't otherwise and stay closer to the edge with less consequences. Every so often you get that moment where everything has to go perfect and does. Sweetness.

@Skilyft: now that we're all keeping quiet about our semi-ethical misadventures, there are a couple of really cool ride ideas in this area we should discuss as things melt out.