Snowboard or ski for your first time? KAKU's five answers

“It’s my first ski trip to Hokkaido. Should I pick snowboarding or skiing?” KAKU says a lot of riders have been asking this lately.

This post is for you if:

• this is your first time skiing or snowboarding and you haven’t decided which to learn
• you’ve heard that “it’s better to learn skiing first” and want to know whether that’s true
• you’re worried about getting hurt and want to know first where each one tends to cause injuries

KAKU answered this on Threads as five questions, and this post follows those five questions. Everything here is KAKU’s teaching experience and opinion, not an official JSBA position.

1. Do you have to learn skiing before you can snowboard?

KAKU’s answer is “no”. They are different sports, like basketball and football, and neither has to come first.

2. Which is harder?

KAKU’s answer is “both are hard, but at different stages”:

• Skis: you can slide as soon as you stand up, but not being able to stop is the big problem.
• Snowboard: just standing steady is hard, but once you’ve learned it you have good control.

A snowboard won't go; skis won't stop.

KAKU

The difference starts with how you stand. On a snowboard both feet are fixed to the same board and your body is side-on to the direction of travel; on skis each foot stands on its own ski and your body faces forward.

3. Which is more dangerous?

KAKU’s answer is “both are dangerous if you haven’t learned properly”:

• Skis: it is easy to go too fast, and after a fall you keep sliding downhill.
• Snowboard: you fall more often, but usually at lower speed.

The point KAKU stresses: always learn the safety basics first.

4. Is it easy to get hurt?

KAKU says that if your technique is wrong, you can get hurt. The body parts KAKU most often sees hurt while teaching:

• Skis: knees and wrists, which tend to get sprained.
• Snowboard: wrists, ankles and the backside, which tend to get injured by impact.

This is teaching experience, not medical statistics. KAKU’s way to avoid injury comes down to three things: wear your protective gear properly, learn the safety basics first, and get an instructor. The most common fall for snowboard beginners is backwards; for how to fall more safely, see How to fall safely on a snowboard.

5. What is each one good at?

• Snowboard: the boots are softer and far more comfortable to wear.
• Skis: lifts are easier to ride, and skiing is friendly to beginners.

KAKU’s summary:

If you love stylish moves, pick snowboarding; if you want an easy start, pick skiing! Whichever you choose, safety comes first.

KAKU

What if I snowboard first and switch to skis later?

This isn’t one of the five questions above; it is KAKU’s answer in a separate post:

Yes, but you can only take with you as much as you have on the snowboard.

KAKU

Beginners almost start over; intermediate riders find the feel faster; at expert level, the bad habits carry over too. As KAKU puts it: “Sometimes the truly hard part isn’t learning to ski. It’s letting go of the reflexes that once saved you on a snowboard.”

Once you’ve chosen

SnowWind’s Beginner Lesson comes in both snowboard and ski, with different level boundaries:

• Snowboard: complete beginners, or people who have ridden a few times but can’t yet link turns steadily.
• Ski: anyone not yet making parallel turns, including those who can already make snowplough turns.

Once you’ve got there, snowboarders move on to the Snowboard Progression Lesson and skiers to the Ski Progression Lesson. For how the five courses differ, see Which ski or snowboard lesson should I book? If you’ve picked snowboarding and want to know first which stages lie between zero and linked turns, see How long does it take to learn to snowboard?

Durations, prices and bookable dates are on the courses page.