Why don't more surfers snowboard from here?

[Buzzworthy]

Seems like a very natural progression.

Supu, Tuffy, Alka and many more. They ski and ski well.

I have surfed a bit and it seems like the feeling is very similar. Surfing the snow.

Just wondered.

Discuss.

[Helicrackjnky]

For me I just do not enjoy snowboarding the way i do surfing,while skiing has & always will give me the buzz I desire. I like to move my feet around,not possible on a snowboard.

[tuffy109]

cause in comparison, snowboarding is hella boring.

[Superstar Punani]

Long Answer:
In general most surfers prefer snowboarding, not that there's anything wrong with it.


There's a minority of surfer/skiers, and a proud one at that, to be able to master two relatively difficult sports.

Snowboarding has the two-day learning curve. Fuck- I was straightlining black runs on my 2nd hour as a snowboarder, but that's another story. Skiing, with the relatively prolonged gaper plateau, takes a longer time to break through the extremo level. A lot of surfers do not want to go through the prolonged gaper plateau. Instead, they look for a quick easy fix- namely snowboarding. Their excuses will be "...but snowboarding looks like surfing!", or "...but Laird Hamilton/Gerry Lopez/<insert bro-brah big name surfer here> snowboards!"

Snowboarding is like bodyboarding. Any chump can go on a board and sideslip steep chutes, just like any chump can paddle out on their first day and get barrelled on a bodyboard. The appeal of skiing is that it was more difficult and more of a challenge get to the extremo level.


Short Answer:
Because snowboarding is gay.

[rightcoast]

I agree with what SuPu said. I have skied since 4th grade, skateboarded since 6th, and have been surfing for about 9 yrs now. In the early 90's i snowboarded (about 2 saesons 90% on a board) because it was the new hip thing to do, then realized it was easy compared to skiing. i still try to get on a board a couple of times a year, because it is fun...but i just dont get the same feeling as i do on skis.

[emetic]

Long Answer:
In general most surfers prefer snowboarding, not that there's anything wrong with it.


There's a minority of surfer/skiers, and a proud one at that, to be able to master two relatively difficult sports.

Snowboarding has the two-day learning curve. Fuck- I was straightlining black runs on my 2nd hour as a snowboarder, but that's another story. Skiing, with the relatively prolonged gaper plateau, takes a longer time to break through the extremo level. A lot of surfers do not want to go through the prolonged gaper plateau. Instead, they look for a quick easy fix- namely snowboarding. Their excuses will be "...but snowboarding looks like surfing!", or "...but Laird Hamilton/Gerry Lopez/<insert bro-brah big name surfer here> snowboards!"

Snowboarding is like bodyboarding. Any chump can go on a board and sideslip steep chutes, just like any chump can paddle out on their first day and get barrelled on a bodyboard. The appeal of skiing is that it was more difficult and more of a challenge get to the extremo level.


Short Answer:
Because snowboarding is gay.

i have snowboarded for about 10 years, starting from a surfing background. I started because it looked like fun, and being a surfer looked like a natural progression. Anyway last year i tried skiing for the first time ever and within two runs i was linking parralel turns at decent speed, without a lesson ... i don't think it's that snowboarding is so much easier than skiing, i think that once you have gotten good at one it'seasy to apply the principles to the other and pick it up faster... like if you bodyboarded then changed to surfing you would at least have the understanding of catching waves and the basics.

now i think skiing is similar to surfing in the idea of sliding and angling down some kind of fall line whilst standing up. Even though skiiers have a front on stance, the principle of falling down the direct slope and angling across it by holding an edge is universal to both skiing and surfing.

It doesn't really matter how you get the stoke, as long as it's there. For me i have been snowboarding for a bit and still have a long way to go, so i will continue at it untill i don;t think i am improving anymore, or notgetting the stoke out of it, then i might try skiing properly.

[Speedfreak]

Anyway last year i tried skiing for the first time ever and within two runs i was linking parralel turns at decent speed, without a lesson .

So have lots of my friends (and my GF) - any knob can link parallel turns within the 1st 2 days on skis. That doesn't mean that he's anywhere close to "good" or anywhere near leaving gaperdom behind.

[stayalert]

how do you spell the sound of snoring?

[BigDaddy]

how do you spell the sound of snoring?

ummm, duh.... "zzzzzZZZZZ"!

[BigDaddy]

Short Answer:
Because snowboarding is gay.

You mean to tell me?! I'm GAY?! Well, at least I go both ways...

I'm not a surfer, but I've been windsurfing a long time and love the waves. Snowboarding is more like surfing than sking... (duh, to me)

I love em both and have to say, on an open western snowfield, full of light fluffy stuff, there is not much better than ripping and riding a snowboard. I don't care what any other maggot says, it's totally different than skiing. Once things are tracked, though, I'll take the skies.

I'm glad Superstar is so talented... I'm still nowhere near an expert, but maybe he'll do the Highway Star thing and give a clinic, too? (Highway Star and Super Star.... what a bill!)

[Yeti]

I'm with SuPu. Plus in surfing, unless you're lairding it up with tow-ins, your feet are free to move about the board. Contrast snowboarding, where you are stuck to the board like the tail to a manatee.

Plus every wave is fresh tracks, whereas snowboarding yellow hardpack ice isn't fun unless you're name is Sinecure.

[tuffy109]

Once things are tracked, though, I'll take the skies.

you can fly too? how does that compare to surfing?

[Tuckerman]

You mean to tell me?! I'm GAY?!

Only if you push back.

[AsheanMT]

I think this is what surfers do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUn_NKvKQHo

[AsheanMT]

bump for cool video

[irul&ublo]

I'm glad Superstar is so talented... I'm still nowhere near an expert, but maybe he'll do the Highway Star thing and give a clinic, too? (Highway Star and Super Star.... what a bill!)

Now that was kinda funny......

[danhikeski]

I don't agree that snowboarding is easier then skiing. I snowboarded for a few seasons and never quite got the hang of it, where as skiing, I picked up easier and could/did ski the whole mountain alot sooner. As far as surfing, I caught a wave and stood up after a couple attempts. Not to say I was good, or have done it in years, but still tons of fun.

[cj001f]

As far as surfing, I caught a wave and stood up after a couple attempts. Not to say I was good, or have done it in years, but still tons of fun.

That's the equivalent of standing up on skis and making it to the bottom of the bunnyhill without falling. Kudos, sir.

I can ski, why would I change? I'd probably stop skiing altogether if I could surf better.

[danhikeski]

just stating my experience surfing.

[Brocktoon]

I found both snowboarding and skiing to be very easy to establish a baseline level of competence on - much easier than surfing. I'm sure I'd struggle as much to improve beyond that level on a snowboard as I have on skis.

I chose skiing over snowboarding because skis just seemed like a better design for the objective (especially with the advent of fat skis). Skis seemed more adaptable too. As mentioned above, you can make all sorts of adjustment on a surfboard because you're not attached to the board (that has some obvious disadvantages too - you can't appreciate how hard airs are on a surfboard until you try one). If you want to go really fast to make a barrel, scoot up 10 inches and pump. If you want a really whippy effect, move your front foot back 5 inches.

Whenever I snowboarded it felt like surf masturbation. For me, skiing presented its own brand of stoke.

DISCLAIMER:
Do not interpret any portion of this post to reflect a negative disposition toward masturbation on the part of the author.

[tarkman1]

I skied long before I surfed. I surfed long before I ever jumped on a snowboard.

a) My first impression of snowboarding was that on firmer snow that the snowboard does not turn at all like a surfboard.
b) Traversing on a snowboard? I'd rather not get stuck. I am staunch that the skis are the superior vehicle for getting around the entire mountain.
c) I know people who ski and have snowboarded at both high levels who say the snowboarding is immensely more easier to learn and become proficient.

[Long duc dong]

I skied first. Even before fat skis, I learned to love deep snow on skis. When the snow started to get packed down or bumped out, most of my snowboarder friends got out of the steep terrain and went off to go jump. That really seemed pointless to me, the whole "if it's not powder I don't want to go down anything steep attitude" many(though definitely not all) snowboarders seem to have. Then when we got fat skis....I have plenty of friends who snowboard, but I have no interest in it myself. Skis are just better for steep terrain, and the whole "but powder is so great on a snowboard" argument went out when we got fat skis.

[emetic]

So have lots of my friends (and my GF) - any knob can link parallel turns within the 1st 2 days on skis. That doesn't mean that he's anywhere close to "good" or anywhere near leaving gaperdom behind.

i said first two runs, not two days, but anyway i have no disillusions that i was shredding or anything, but that ( 2 runs) is probably faster than i was able to link turns on a snowboard when i started 10 years ago.

if you say any knob can grasp the basic principle (parallel turns) of skiing in under two days then it proves it can't be that much harder than boarding.

surfing is way harder than both skiing and riding.

[Brocktoon]

i said first two runs, not two days, but anyway i have no disillusions that i was shredding or anything, but that ( 2 runs) is probably faster than i was able to link turns on a snowboard when i started 10 years ago.

Your years of boarding put you farther ahead of the bell curve on skis than you were on a board 10 years ago. Knowing how the edge works, being comfortable flying down a hill at those speeds, and other skills cross over pretty well.

[emetic]

Your years of boarding put you farther ahead of the bell curve on skis than you were on a board 10 years ago. Knowing how the edge works, being comfortable flying down a hill at those speeds, and other skills cross over pretty well.

yeah definately i agree, and that is probably a big factor when skiiers say that snowboarding is easier as well, because lots of people have been skiing for years, and then cross over to boarding. I alludded to that in an earlier post.