Whats harder....true backcountry skiing or park skiing.

alaskakid

alaskakid

Active member
Yah blah blah blah searchbar but this is to settle an arguement...so please apply a tampon if needed.

Now I say that flipping and spinning of 50+foot cliffs midline is harder than park skiing (such as pulling 14's). My friend says the other. Which side do you guys take?
 
Depends. Park is more forgiving than BC, but that shouldn't water down someones kangaroo flip just because it was off a manicured 70'. Going large in the park is cool, but the BC adds an additional factor, so if we're talking switch 7's, BC wins most (if not all) of the time.
 
if by true bc you mean skining all day, to earn a few turns, then yes true bc. however if your just talking about lift access backcountry, then id have to go with park
 
big mountain is harder in my view,

park is very technical, but plenty of room for error

plus learning tricks upon water ramps makes things much easier.

big mountain.

you usually only get one attempt at a line,

and falling can mean serious injuries or death in some places,

you must ski well very first time, and be able to adapt to the unexpeected.

kinda like if almost over bc jump shot was first hit.

 
I might just be splitting hairs here...but saying that landing a 75 foot cliff doesn't involve air skills at all is retarded. You need some of the same skills as in the (air balance), you're in the air for longer in some cases, and your landing, more than likely, will suck. You basically need actual skiing ability, rather than gymnastic ability. You also need the balls. You also need the strength.

Essentially, big mountain skiing is 100000000x times more difficult and amazing to ski than park IMO.
 
the avalanche danger is pretty high in some terrain parks. make sure you dig a test pit near each feature to find that weak layer before you hit them just to be safe.
 
skiing is as hard as you make it, regardless of terrain, skiing is as hard as you push yourself.

i would say a switch 1260 octo grab is a lot harder then riding down some easy backcoutnry slopes with 3 feet of powder.
 
backcountry, parks are designed and shaped perfectly for that kind of skiing whereas backcountry had varying conditions and lots of unknown heights/ drops etc.
 
it depens, if your throwing a 3 in park, it is much easier than in back country... but you can do much harder tricks in park
 
ok here's my 2c. You can debate this till the end of time but fact is far more people die in the back country than in terrain parks. And I am willing to wager that far few people ski TRUE back country than in parks...therefore BC is far less forgiving. That being the case I would have to say that BC is harder than Park skiing.
 
for pure skiing, backcountry. for hard techy stuff, backcountry. going big, backcountry

backcountry wins hands down, it takes serious balls to do some of the things those guys do

i still like park more though
 
well i would say a 14 is harder then spinning/backflipping a 50 foot cliff. But in general the same trick is much much easyer in the park
 
ding ding.

right answer.

park skiing is MUCH more approachable, while big mountain/BC really requires alot more knowledge. most of us are gonna say BC is harder, cause most of us ride primarily park. however, go as someone in their 40s whose grown up in an area where BC is all there is, and im sure theyd be much more inclined to say switch 1440s to unnatty rail spins are more difficult. its all about who your asking, and how far the individual is pushing themselves.
 
backcountry, it's a lot more technical. look at the article some time back when they took a bunch of pro rollerbladers and put them on skis in the park and they were throwin down in no time. but take those same guys and put them at the top of a steep chute and I don't think the story would be the same. park definitely takes skill, but to slay backcountry isn't something anyone can pick up in a few days.
 
Your comparison doesent work. Those fruit booters skills sets were in park type stuff. So i of course they are gonna learn that way easier. And they really were not that great.They could spin and hit rails. I do agree that somebody with less skiing exsperience can generaly kill it in park way faster then in backcountry. However, since growing up i never skied park and always did bc type stuff bc was always easier and park has taken me a while to figure out.
 
your on crak buddy.. big mountain is way harder than park.. you kids have no idea and when i say big mountain i sint talkinga bout a powder run at your local mountain im talking verbier Chamonix, and alaska style shit.. Seb Michaud,Gurlain, seth hugo ect. park skiers can practise there shit over and over again , big mountain true big mountain you cant practise for.. you just gota do it
 
ehh.. thats also a little unbalanced argument, if your saying the backcountry that people like seth hit, then your comparing pro level stuff, compare to park, then yo have to have an equal comparison, so say tanner, or simon, etc. doing a hard trick on a 100+ foot jump in the park. Im sure its just as scary.

i really cant say which is harder, i guess it really depends on the person and what they like to do
 
2 great differant aspects of skiing but I dont really think its possible to compare them in turns of difficulty and less your talking a specific trick which is always harder in the bc but more forgiving
 
i have never been scared or had alot of adrenaline pumping while skiing park, but skiing backcountry has done that to me
 
if i tell you, i give you 100 buck if you land a switch 7 first try, will you do it on a backcountry jump or a park jump???

That's why i think BC is much harder
 
to me backcountry takes the cake. sure, i get an adrenaline rush, or a little scared hitting that 50 ft. jump in the park. but there is nothing comparable to hiking 4 hrs. and dropping in to some gnarly line and hitting that 40 ft. cliff when you are scared shitless. there is just so much more adrenaline pumping while skiing backcountry. plus for all you know there can be rocks under the snow, ice, soft spots and the list goes on in the backcountry. now in the park, there is no element of surprise and you know what is there and what to do. throwing a big spin like 1260 in the park still doesn't compare to throwing a 720 off of a cliff. the take off is much harder, and you are never going to land correctly. you only get one chance at a line in BC, if you don't stick it you are fucked. loss of gear, injuries occur easier etc.

although i must say, i never really get scared to ski BC or hit cliffs (reasonable size not 80 ft. ones) i'm not sure why, i think it is because i am more comfortable with my skiing than park abilities. but hitting a new jump and throwing a 5 or whatever off of it seems to be scarier, but not as much adrenaline.

so BC ftw.
 
backcountry is more hard for the leg and more thecnic but to have nice style in park .... you can spin but a 360 can big ugly and easy but do a bio 720 ..
 
if it were a strait BC line with no trickery id say park can be harder AT TIMES

but if u were throwing shit of natural stuff in ur line that is WAY harder
 
true backcountry skiing isnt hucking flips of 100ft cliffs...its hiking or skinning to the top of a mountain which is yes, more physically demanding then park skiing, but not as hard technically. Hucking off cliffs and shit is usually called big mountain, and is pretty different.
 
Of course backcountry skiing is harder. But who is doing it? Athletes at the top of the game. Backcountry skiing is more of a spectical than anything. Sure, there are some people who are out there doing it without big budgets and the sponsors, but probobly not quite to the extent that these athletes are doing. Park allows for fun at your local mountain. Its pretty accessible to everyone. Its a new, hip thing. It's a lot of fun to do, go hit some jumps, grab a beer, buy some expensive food, go do it again. Then there are people who are taking that to the next level, again, as a spectical. Both take a lot of skill, I'm not going to say one aspect has more skill than the other, but Backcountry has more consequences, and a whole other aspect to it which makes it so rad.
 
I'm talking about Seth style backflips, and the really crazy backcountry stuff. I thought we were talking about harder at the maximum level, not just what everyone is doing. If it is what the average joe is doing, I assume it just depends on the person. its not as black and white, "backcountry vs. park skiing" in my mind. It is whatever people want to do, you only make it as hard as you want to. Thats my point.

It's only as hard as you want it to be.
 
Sorry guys, change backcountry skiing to more big mountain skiing. Same difference though....everyone knew what I was talking about.

My friend is getting owned
 
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