What’s Easier/Harder on the Knees? Snowboarding or Skiing?

A lot of people keep asking this question so I figured I’d pipe in with my opinion. I first started to ski when I was eight years old and kept at it season after season for 9 years before I switched to snowboarding, so I have the kind of experience that many people don’t. Having been on skies since I was a kid, I can say that skiing does require more knee work than snowboarding. More importantly, your knees are more at risk of injury from skiing than snowboarding. Why?

• Skiing requires more pivoting than snowboarding and all that pressure goes through your knees.
• In snowboarding your knees are locked into a more defined ‘space’ than in skiing (binded to one ‘stick’ versus to two separate ‘sticks’).
• Skiers tend to do more moguls than snowboarders and as probability would have it, skiers are more prone to mogul injuries than snowboarders.
• Feet/leg stance of a snowboarder is usually wider than that of a skier therefore snowboarders bend at the knees more often than skiers thus helping them absorb the pressure to the knee joint more effectively.

If you have any doubts about your fitness level or if you’re new to snowboarding, you might find my snowboarding workout guide useful.

There you have it! Clearly snowboarding is the superior sport