I have grown up on snowboarding and have spent my life looking forward to my next trip to the snow.

I am in Japan at the moment, the snow is amazing and I have had some of the best powder runs of my life.

I'm just not feeling it as I used to since I have started kitesurfing.

Kitesurfing has the edge for me now for the following reasons:

1) It's warm (it's chuffin freezing in Japan -10deg)
2) It's free (apart from the initial outlay), this holiday has set me back several grand because of the exchange rate
3) You don't have travel half way round the world to get good conditions
4) You can't just nick out for a quick snowboard after work
5) You can near enough kite all year round
6) Lift que's - although generally not much of a problem in Japan
7) More likely to injure yourself snowboarding

The only plus side for me with snowboarding over kitesurfing is the social aspect. None of my friends are into kitesurfing (even though I spend every waking moment trying to show them the light) whereas all my friends have always been snowboarders so it's great to have a few weeks off with the lads and make a proper holiday out of it.

I presume there are quite a few others on here that have taken the same path as me? Any other thoughts or anything i've missed on the comparison?

Perfect subject
I'm a ski instructor and a professional snow boarded and for the last 2.5 years a kite surfer.

When you go for snowboarding you will spend the whole day having fun while on kite surfing your body hardly can handle more that 4 hours of jumping and boosting.

I'm kite surfing all year long (WA ) and I'm not good at it at all but I love it, how ever I'm trying it will not take the place snowboarding and skiing.
I don't think that we should compare them, we should enjoy both of them.
When I'm in the snow I miss the ocean, when I'm in the ocean I miss snow

It's much easier to pickup chicks in the ski resort cuz there are 100s snowboarder chick while there are not so many kite surfer chick and they all became kite surfers by their husbands or life partners.

BTW Lets gather a group of snowboarders and skiers from WA that we all go for one or two weeks of extreme.
What do you say?

Mate, please don't make me choose!

1) It's warm (it's chuffin freezing in Japan -10deg)

That's why Goretex is your friend, just like Neoprene is in the water.

2) It's free (apart from the initial outlay), this holiday has set me back several grand because of the exchange rate

True, but its not like you do it regularly either.

3) You don't have travel half way round the world to get good conditions

Yeah, but travelling rocks!

4) You can't just nick out for a quick snowboard after work

You can, if you live in Whistler!

5) You can near enough kite all year round

Its always snowing somewhere ;-)

6) Lift que's - although generally not much of a problem in Japan

Worst queues I have suffered were Mt Ruapehu in NZ and Whistler on a US public holiday, but if you go outside school holiday times, generally no probs, besides, if you have been going hard enough down the hill, you deserve the rest.

7) More likely to injure yourself snowboarding

Probably.

That said, the best rush I have ever got was ripping down untouched powder in Austria, with my friends above me on a chairlift cheering me on. You don't get the amazing silence on the water that you do on powder snow.

I love being on the water, but laying down perfect S curves on untouched powder and then going back up the chairlift admiring you signature is pretty awesome. Then, gettng back to the bars afterwards and singing crazy Austrian/German songs whilst drinking Lowenbrau in big glass steins, before falling into bed whenever (maybe wherever and with whoever) before getting up at 9 the next day, drinking a big cup of HTFU and getting the first chair back up the mountain.

Also you can snowboard on bad snow, but you can't kitesurf when there is no wind.

But really don't make me choose. I want to do it all (Maybe I should live in the South of France, snowboard in the morning and then drive back to the coast before the Mistral kicks in!)

Great topic, although my dispute is between surfing and kitesurfing :)

I have not taken my board out without a kite since the sezbreezes started. Here's my pros for kiting:

1) Crowds are common, and really inhibit the ability to surf
2) 95% of the time is spent waiting for waves rather than riding
3) 2 hours of full bore adrenalin rather than short 30 second bursts
4) The community is much better. Locals can be hard to deal with

Saying that, in my opinion there is no better feeling than getting hard core barreled, not even the best kite conditions I have ever had. The problem is those days are few and far between.

If I was guaranteed a cranking day out at D.Y point with no crowds, or Uluwatu, Lakey Peak, or any of the other killer spots in Indo with just my friends, I think kiting would take the back foot that surfing has, but who knows, it all rocks, so does snowboarding, do them all I say :) Next stop for me....paragliding :)

I have this problem all the time. I used to ski in Japan in jan and NZL in August and go climb a mountain in between. throw kiting and scuba diving into the mix and something has got to give (maybe work)!

And I completely agree with the social side....I did a week in aspen last year with a few friends and have an epic week in august in queenstown booked with 15 of us....but went to Vietnam on a kiting holiday on my own a few weeks ago. I can count on one amputated hand how many of my friends kite. Even my diving holidays I can rustle up a few dive buddies.

As for the cost....isnt that why you work? I could probably bludge on the dole for a few years and still eat and sleep but I needed that new suunto D6 and the new AT boots and maybe a 11m for my quiver.....*sigh* back to work.

So do both! Do everything. Do anything you possibly can. I am sure they compliment each other. And either live in the snow so kiting becomes a treat and skiing is transport or live by the beach so you can kite after work and make a real holiday out of the ski trip.

Life is far to short.

I lived in Whistler for a year and they get the best of both worlds...
A snow season which lasts from November through untill July (glacier park riding). One of the best, and biggest mountains period and an average of 10m of snow per year. You can go snow kiting on the lakes in winter and kite down at Squamish in summer. The wind whips down the valley and you get steady 20knot winds 4-5 days a week! Bring your 43 or 5/4 steamer though! (check out the snow on the mountains in the background) Shredding in the park one day, and hucking moves on your kite the next. Cant beat that.

tmiddled said...

Great topic, although my dispute is between surfing and kitesurfing :)

ah ah ah , I think everyone got side-tracked

If you live in OZ your gonna have more fun as a kiter cause our mountains are average. I used to spend every summer in the USA snowboarding and I would always take my kites with me and get some snowkiting done that way you ride in the morn and kite in the arvo. However it seems easier to find good kiting conditions when you are on the coast then in the mountains. It was very frustrating having to leave evry summer when the wind started to become consistent.
Gotta love not being cold

Snowboarding is AWSOME!!!!!!!! Went to Japan last new year for my first snowboarding attempt and it was the best holiday ever.....

Im in the opposite boat to you though Darryl- I didn't grow up snowboarding so the stoke for me is equal if not more than kiting at the moment.

And then there is surfing......with the right conditions....

sebbu said...

If I had to pick between 2 foot of powder and 25 knots in nice waves - I would pick the powder every day of the year.

If I had to choose one and never do the other again, probably choose kiting because it fits with a 'normal life' better.

But I'll always be a snow junkie at heart.

Why settle for only 2 foot?

righto hero...

Right - poke what I said originally. I had some of the best boarding I have ever done last night. My faith is well and truly restored in snow boarding. Late yesterday afternoon it started absolutely dumping it down like I have never seen snow before. We went to the pub and had a few cheeky liners to keep us warm and then hit the slopes for 3 hours. Absolutely unbelievable. There was so much snow out there, we were getting fresh lines all the time. And because it was night boarding there was hardly anyone out there. It was blowing an absolute hooley and dumping it down with snow like you wouldn't believe. After an hour or so we were soaked through so we stopped back into the pub for another couple to warm us up and give us some more courage to hit the storm again.

And there was me just about ready to hang up my boots....