skiing/snow boarding questions

[Wynton]

Two questions about skiing and snow boarding. The relevant background for both questions is that I'm a lousy skier, comfortable only on blue or intermediate slopes. But every Christmas, I go to Colorado because my wife is from there. Usually, that is our only ski trip of the year. Last year, I skipped our annual trip for work. Two years ago, I only skied a week.

(1) Do I need to get my skis "tuned up" this year? My wife does this religiously every year, but she cares about the performance. I only care about them being safe. Also, I don't think there has been any significant change in my weight since two years ago.

(2) The answer to this question might make the first question academic. Because I've made no progress in improving my skiing for years (either because I only ski one week a year, because I didn't start until I was 30, or because I just suck), I've often debated whether to give snowboarding a shot. A million years ago, I was somewhat competent at skateboarding. Should I give this a shot this year? How many days do I have to try it to make it worthwhile? (Oops, guess this question was a multi-part one.)

[Sigurd]

The first couple of days on snowboard isn't every exiting (basically you spend much of the time sitting on the hill wondering why you fall so much). When you get past that you will progress faster towards getting "good" than you will at ski for a while. This of course doesn't last forever [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
If you don't mind paying for an couple of lessons and falling a lot in the beginning, I think that you would enjoy giving snowboarding a try. You will however have to spend a little bit on protective gear so you don't end up with a broken wrist (boxers with padding is also nice, but not mandatory).

[TheBlueMonster]

I've never been skiing and I've been snowboarding once. I have good balance so after a few tries I was able to stay up and manuever myself pretty well. Speed and balance were no trouble for me (I even looked like I'd done it before), but stopping was a big problem (ever seen someone do a full cartwheel on a snowboard? I'm pretty sure I did [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] )
I think with even a limited background in skateboarding you should take to snowboarding pretty quickly.

Just be prepared for some bruises.

[Perplexity]

This thread might interest you:

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/52995

[gilper]

You should definitely get your skis tuned. Poorly maintained skis greatly affect the performance and could be why you "suck".

I do most of the work myself but I still get a stone grind every year, maybe every other year if I haven’t put that many days on my skis. The stone grind will make your skis perfectly flat on the bottom so they will track better.

I check my edges and clean up any nicks after every day out. Depending on my edges or snow conditions I will do a full sharpening. Sharp edges will allow you hold an edge and turn on the hard pack and ice.

The most important is wax. I wax before every day out. You want to have the right wax for the current snow conditions or your skis will stick to the snow. Wax does two things. It protects your ski base and it allows your skis to glide.

[dcasper70]

How old are your skis?

I only go skiing on the once a year Killington trip with the guys, so I'm kinda in the same boat as you.

I haven't owned my own equipment in over 10 years and prefer to rent at a local ski shop. Usually their stuff is current or previous season, and tuned regularly.

For the extra $30-$50/year (depending on length of trip), I find this to be a very good alternative. If your skis are on the older side, you may want to consider this since the new stuff out there can really make a difference.

[ItalianFX]

I picked up skiing relatively quickly. I have only skiied maybe 4-5 times. Skiing is fun if you are good at it and like to get going pretty fast down the slopes.

Snowboarding is tougher to learn because of the balance and shifting your weight slightly to turn the board. I like snowboarding much more than skiing, but have only snowboarded 2 times at most.

The biggest problem I had with snowboarding is that since I felt more uncomfortable at first, I would slide down the hill horizontally and it takes a toll on your legs after awhile.

[Tron]

[ QUOTE ]
This thread might interest you:

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/52995

[/ QUOTE ]

This thread is filled with pretty good information (as many Ask Metafilter topics tend to be), except for the person who recommends ski blades.

[JackCase]

[ QUOTE ]

(1) Do I need to get my skis "tuned up" this year? My wife does this religiously every year, but she cares about the performance. I only care about them being safe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Untuned skis are not safe. They are harder to turn and to stop.

[ QUOTE ]
Because I've made no progress in improving my skiing for years (either because I only ski one week a year, because I didn't start until I was 30, or because I just suck), I've often debated whether to give snowboarding a shot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not give ski lessons a shot? When I lived in Colorado, I would take a lesson just about every year, including an occasional 2-day clinic. You can't make any major progress without lessons.

Sign up for lessons with your wife. They take a big group, break you up into small groups according to ability, and spend a couple of hours teaching. The big resorts have ski schools that are great, and usually have standard lesson times, like 10am-noon. Then you can get back with your wife and ski the rest of the day.

[Wynton]

In response to a couple of posts:

My skis are about 4 years old, I think.

Also, I have had ski lessons, but definitely feel I have hit a bit of a plateau. I'm sure it's largely due to the fact that I ski one week a year, usually. Perhaps the same infrequency will make it hard for me to pick up snowboarding. But I just have the sense that my ceiling for improvement with skiing is very limited, and I'm hoping that I'll have a different impression with snowboarding.

One other factor: for better or worse, the rest of the family (including my kids now) are much better at skiing, but none of them snowboard. I suspect that they might be a little more patient with me if I commit to learning snowboarding, than they are with my slowing everyone down on skiis. But I could be totally wrong about that.