B10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 20, 1999 + POWDER LINES. GARY MALTIN The comparison ould it be the new eternal question? Qnce pedple discover that-I’ve-a‘split-. personally (ski and board) the ques- tion is virtually always asked of-me - ‘‘which do you prefer ?’’Answering that question accomplishes two things; I get to extol the virtues of cach sport and prevent this question of being asked of me again. Now on the great debate, T should probably prefer snowboarding. I was infatuated with skateboarding from about age-8 to 18 and I always wanted to be a surfer. My first ime on a snowboard was in 1984. ‘Twas a wooden, no-edged, tail-finned Burton Outback. The boots —- Sorels. Fortress Mountain was the spot (at the time the only hill in the Rackies to allow them — how times have changed). Be- - cause the board possessed no edges, carving or even riding on hardpack was an exercise in futility, I soon figured out it was powder this board was meant for and if I didn’t want my body looking like it had been run through a me- chanical meat tenderizer, I had better find some soft fluffy stuff. The rest of the day was spent hiking from the top of the chair to the third and fourth chutes of the Canadian, having a ball rip- Score Board Terrace Minor Hockey Atom division games Sunday, Jan. 10 Lazelle Mini Storage 7 Centennial Lions 2 Saturday, Jan. 9 Lazelle Mini Storage 4* Centennial Lions 3 Copperside Foods 2 All West Trading 2 *Lazelle Mini Storage scored with just 32 seconds left in the game. Peewee Rep. games Friday, Jan. 9 Terrace Reps Kitimat Saturday, Jan. 10 Terrace Reps Kitimat Novice division tournaments Hazelton Invitational R-40 Construction #5 ; Terrace elks #8 Northern Savings Iny. Final: Ikon Office Harbour Air Semi-finals: Smithers Long’s Logging Recreational league Tuesday, Jan, 12 White Spot Chapter One Aeros All Seasons Lightning Precision Builders Sunday, Jan. 10 Skeena Cable Back Eddy Butlies Saturday, Jan. 9 Chapter One Aeros All Seasons Lightning Thursday, Jan. 7 Chapter One Aeros Back Eddy Bullies Tuesday, Jan. 5 White Spot All Seasons Lightning Skeena Cable Precision Builders Olatimer’s league Sunday, Jan, 10 Northern Okies Timbermen Saturday, Jan. 9 Subway SRD Blues Wednesday, Jan. 6 Northern Okies SRD Blues Subway Timbermen ping up the pow. Bul I digress, back to the ques- lion, snowboarding vs. skiing. First up: Snow- boarding virtues. | The learning curve, There cau be ao argument — starting ‘from: scratch, you wi] become a decent boarder in fewer days than a skier start- ing from. zero. The first couple of days on a board, however, are tough’ on the body. Per- severe. My memorics-of-learning to board in- clude days where I improved an entire level (novice to intermediate for example). Ani added - bonus is a plethora of ‘best days ever’? on the board: —a side effect of learning a new sport. The board is an excellent tool for certain snow conditions. ‘Tracked-up. powder, ‘certain crusty conditions and heavy wet snow come to mind. Friendliness ‘on my. decrepid ‘aging body. Boarding seems to be easier on my knees, ° which have both seen the knife due to ski in- Juries. Pm also convinced ‘it is easier cardio- Wise. Since. losing. some. wide-réeceiver speed and finding a. few offensive lineman pounds, huffing and puffing is minimized on the single stick in powder. oo This point could be argued as it’s a personal thing. As mentioned earlier, I always wanted to be a surfer. While riding powder on a mioder- ately steep, wide-open run (like Kermode), [ am a California surf boy floating on‘a white ocean. Hang loose dude, it’s rad. Speed in powder, If skis kick butt on the hard- pack or groomed, then boards rule the powder for speed. Sure there are skiers out there who rock in the powder, but unless you’re Rob Boyd, 1 can find hard-boot buddies and have seen soft booters who will blow your doars off in the powder. The cool quotient. Here I may tick off some hard-core skiers and I sincerely apologize (my fingers are crossed). It’s great fun (o participate in a sport where 90 per cent of the population is much younger than you, For you traditionalists owt there, I haven’t - forgotten the skiing virtues, With skis on in powder you get into the snow further, face shots of fluff are easier and the feeling of snow massage upon your lower (and al times upper) body is hard to beat. For touring or mountaineering - skis are far superior, The skis distribute the load across the silow much amore than snow shoes, - allowing faster ascents and traverses. Backcountry skiers carry less weight than their boarding counter- parts because skiers wear their skis and skins on ascent, while boarders must carry their board. Specd on groomed or hard-packed conditions, While [’m no Steve Podborsky, with a pair of -225 centimetre DH. boards on there are few hard boot riders and no soft boot riders that could keep up (in control). Stability and safety for kids under 10 years old (the age is varlable as are kids), Skis are safer for toddlers and small. children because they’ve two planks, they are more stable and the fect aren’t welded to the board as wilh a snow- -board. I-have seen and: experienced too many edge-catching, head-whipping, neck-crunching, face-whacks to allow my child to statl boarding before he’s strong enough to take a nasty fall. Convenience. With regard to case getting in and out of your equipment, skis win. Although the new clicker bindings seem decent and bard plates are casy to get into, you can’t get around laking one foot off the board every lift ride, An- other convenience is traversiug flats, or small uphills. It’s easier on skis by skating or using ’ poles. So which one is better? Which do I enjoy more? The answer — BOTH. I would implore skiers to take up boarding to add another weapon to the arsenal. Boarders, if you want to go real fast or get into winter mountaineering — take up skiing. As far as altitudes — there are bone heads on skis and twerps on boards. My opinion of the “skier vs, boarder’? question is that since we who ride or ski in the mountains. all share a common love of fresh air, beautiful scenery, and defying gravity — lets just do it and leave the ’tude at home. LET'S GO SKIING/SNOWBOARDING Not sure about the weather. Call our Sno-phone 635-8754 oa ey BBQ on the deck Sat. 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