Snowboarding saved skiing

Q - What is the difference between a snowboard instructor and their group?

A - 4 days.

Some would say even less but is a joke that continues to highlight the gulf between snowboarders and their older relatives, skiers. The irony of the skiing / snowboarding debate is that those who benefited the most - those who had to endure straight, 2m+ skis are the generation who are most likely to blame snowboarders for just about every ill in the world. Benefitted, since without snowboarding there is every chance that we would be still riding skis the width of playing cards, the length of a car and with innovations as cutting-edge as removing a section of the ski tip! There is no doubt that snowboarders are an easy target. Skiers look on in envy as they party and shop into the evening in boots that appear closely related to slippers and in response skiers pole gleefully across the flats as snowboarders reach down to release their bindings in advance of a stroll on the snow.

I have to say that I think skiing is superior in every aspect. There is not a single instance where I would swap my 2 planks for 1. Second thoughts - snowboarding boots are better off the snow but in every other respect skiing beats snowboarding hands down and is now ironically cooler than snowboarding among younger riders. All that said I am eternally grateful that snowboarding came along and still thrives since it shook the complacency out of a sport that for too long assumed it had all the solutions for getting down a mountain. It simply didn't and it took a while for skiing to up its game to compete with the better designs, more innovative techniques and fresher approach that came with snowboarding. Would I snowboard if there was no sport of skiing? Without question I would. Marks out 10 for snowboarding - 9, but when skiing rolls in at 10/10 then the choice is clear. Overwhelmingly and genuinely grateful for snowboarding I am and if my boots are ever hurting I just recall the look on the faces of snowboarders queuing for a T-bar :)

The winter rumbles on in the Austrian Alps

23 Apr 2012 

Another cold front passed over the Austrian Alps this last weekend and conditions were sensational on the glaciers right across the region. Ski conditions were all the better since the heavy clouds and snow broke late on Friday and made way for sunny conditions with a temperature at 3000m of -7c on the Stubai Glacier. Around 30cm of powder snow offered plenty of off-piste action whilst the piste skiing was sumptuous. We have a new project underway - Piste View - mapping the mountains through HD film and you can see us in the great snow of Stubai Glacier on the weekend chasing down a Pisten Bully.

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