Skiing or snowboarding first? There is no single answer – it depends on your age, what sports you already do and what you want from your holiday. Children can start skiing from age 4 and snowboarding from 6. If you skate, surf or wakeboard, snowboarding usually comes faster; teenagers often want to try it anyway. And in a full-day private lesson, most of our beginners reach an easy blue piste on the first day – on skis or on a board. On the slopes people like to say skiing is easy to learn and hard to master, and snowboarding the other way round. There is no study behind that line – it is piste folklore. What does exist is course durations and age recommendations, and they are clearer than the saying. We have taught both in Davos and Klosters since 2003. This is how we help guests decide before they book.
What the training programmes reveal
In Davos, a structured adult beginner ski course typically runs three days of four hours, aiming to ski easy blue pistes in a snowplough by the end. A comprehensive beginner snowboard progression usually requires five days to reach a comparable level. A Swiss reference portal puts the ski timeline like this: two to three days for the basic technique, four to five days before you can get down an easy slope safely.
That is the most reliable comparison available – not blog wisdom, but what certified curricula establish.
What those numbers do not tell you, and you should know anyway: the first two days feel completely different. On skis you are standing after an hour and braking in a snowplough. On a board you spend day one getting up, side-slipping on heel and toe edge, and getting up again. If you give up after day one, you give up just before the point where it becomes fun.
| Skiing | Snowboarding | |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | stand, glide, snowplough brake, first practice lift, first turns and linking turns | get up, feel the edges, side-slip, “falling leaf”, first turn out of the side-slip |
| Day 2 | goal: easy blue piste in a snowplough | linking turns, goal: easy blue piste |
| Day 3 | starting parallel skiing | blue piste with confidence, first switch turns |
That is our table, not the federation’s – and the difference is deliberate. The Swiss Snowsports guidelines are the reference for how ski schools are run, but we do not teach in their steps, and their table does not describe what our instructors actually see on the snow.
In a private lesson, one to one and over a full day, most of our guests ski a blue piste that same day – on skis and on a snowboard alike. What takes days in a group course is a question of attention, not of the sport.
And about the “many falls” that appear in every snowboard table: at the start the instructor supports you physically, the whole time. You will still fall, but far less than the description suggests. As soon as you gain confidence you make the turns on your own – without the support.
Why skiing is easier at the start
Two independent legs, eyes forward, balance much like walking. An instructor from the American professional body PSIA-AASI puts it simply: humans run, walk and cycle looking straight ahead, while a board forces a sideways stance that feels alien at first. On top of that, the snowplough gives you a brake within an hour that always works.
Why snowboarding is easier later
There is one edge and, at heart, one movement. Once your body understands how weight and edge relate, the rest is repetition. On skis, years lie between the snowplough and a clean parallel turn – most occasional skiers never quite get there.
One exception flips the whole comparison: if you come from skateboarding, surfing or wakeboarding, the sideways stance and the feel for an edge are already in your body. Experienced instructors ask about this first. Tell us before the lesson.
A word on injuries – and one cheap precaution
Skiing hits the knee; snowboarding hits the wrist. A review across 18 seasons attributes 27.6 per cent of snowboard injuries to the wrist against 2.8 per cent for skiing; conversely, 17.2 per cent of ski injuries involve the cruciate ligament against 1.7 per cent for snowboarding. And the risk is highest on day one: a study of more than 2,500 snowboarders found the most injuries in the first half-day, mostly among beginners.
The cheap precaution is a wrist guard. A systematic review of six studies reports a relative risk of 0.23 with wrist guards, and the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) recommends them explicitly for snowboard beginners, naming the EN ISO 20320 standard. For the knee there is no equally simple fix: there, technique, speed and a correctly set binding do the work.
Which is better for children?
Skiing from three to four years old, snowboarding from five to six. That is not an internet rule of thumb but the recommendation of Swiss Snowsports: the head of its snowboard division explains the threshold by saying that fine motor control and balance are only sufficiently developed at that age. For playful first steps at four or five, the snowskate is suggested instead.
In Davos, snowboard group lessons in practice usually start at six. One criterion matters more than age: the child should be ready to leave the parents for a few hours.
At Ride and Smile the rule is: ski lessons from four years old, snowboard lessons from six. The same limits apply in the Snowgarden.
Which is better for adults over 40?
Two things argue for skiing, one against.
For: the entry is faster, and in a family holiday week that counts. The falls of the first snowboard days land on wrists, tailbone and knees.
Against: in skiing, cruciate ligament risk rises with age – a case-control study of more than 1,000 recreational skiers identifies age as an independent risk factor, and a low technical level multiplies the risk. Translated: the biggest safety lever after 40 is not the sport, it is instruction.
The Swiss accident insurer Suva records that the share of 40- to 64-year-olds among snow-sport casualties rose from 39 per cent in 2003 to 56 per cent in 2022, with an average of 22 days off. Warm up before the first run, match your speed to your fitness, take breaks.
Equipment, Lift Access, and Planning Your Start
Lessons receive the exact same dedicated private coaching for both skiing and snowboarding. Check full options and book directly through our Private Ski Lessons and Snowboarding Lessons – always without surcharge for families or companions joining the private session.
On rental, the difference is negligible: In local Davos rental shops, complete rental packages for skis or snowboards sit at virtually identical levels; skiing simply includes poles. If you have heard that snowboarding gear is markedly cheaper to rent, do not assume that applies in Davos.
Lifts and beginner zones: For your very first turns on snow, you rarely need an extensive regional lift ticket right away. A valuable local tip: the magic carpets at Bolgen and Bünda are free daily during core hours. For that first half-day finding your balance, you only need your rented gear before progressing up to chairlifts and mountain stations.
For an all-inclusive, hassle-free start, consider an integrated arrangement: our Beginner Ski Weekend bundles multi-day tailored tuition, complete rental equipment, and necessary beginner lift passes into one seamless booking, with technical skiwear options also available on request.
One number that surprises people
In the Swiss population, the Sport Schweiz 2020 study found 34.9 per cent ski and 5.3 per cent snowboard – roughly seven to one. But snowboarding is not in decline: between 2014 and 2020 it edged up while skiing edged down. The real difference is elsewhere: snowboarders average 31 years old, skiers 44.
What we recommend
If you are unsure: a private lesson in each. Two half-days and you will know. Switching from a ski lesson to a board or the other way round is nothing unusual with us.
How often it happens depends on age. With children, the wish to try a snowboard usually arrives around the teenage years. With adults we have never seen the switch happen inside the same week – inside the same season, yes. If you come from a board sport, skateboarding or wakeboarding, a snowboard will certainly come easier. If you do not, that is often exactly why people switch: to find out for themselves which one suits their own abilities.
“With the right technique from the very first day, and an instructor who sees your strengths and lifts your confidence, learning a new sport gets easier still – whichever one you choose.”
— the Ride and Smile team
Frequently asked questions
Is skiing or snowboarding easier? Skiing, at the start. Beginner courses in Davos take three days for adults to ski an easy blue piste in a snowplough; the comparable snowboard level is scheduled over five days. After that it reverses: snowboarding has one edge and one basic movement, while a clean parallel turn on skis takes years.
How long does it take to learn to ski? Two to three days for the basic technique and four to five days before you can get down an easy slope safely. A typical beginner course in Davos runs three days of four hours.
Can you learn to snowboard in a day? Side-slipping on both edges, yes; linked turns, no – that takes day two and three. Beginner courses are built as five days to the blue piste.
Which is better for kids – skiing or snowboarding? Swiss Snowsports recommends skiing from three to four years old and snowboarding from five to six, because balance and fine motor control are only sufficiently developed by then. In Davos, snowboard group lessons usually start at six.
Is snowboarding more dangerous than skiing? Not more dangerous, but different. Snowboarding is dominated by wrist injuries, skiing by knee injuries. The wrist risk drops sharply with a protector meeting EN ISO 20320, which the Swiss bfu explicitly recommends for beginners.
Which is cheaper to start – skiing or snowboarding? Coaching and rental expenses run at virtually identical levels. For skiing, rental sets simply add poles. Check our current coaching options and packages directly on our Ski Lessons and Snowboarding product pages.
Get started – on skis or on a board
Private ski lessons in Davos Klosters · Snowboard lessons in Davos Klosters · Beginner Ski Weekend
For a longer read on why adult beginners underestimate themselves, see Beginner skiing: easier and safer than it sounds.
In English or German, with no surcharge for families. +41 81 543 10 87 · info@ride-and-smile.ch
Sources: POWDER interview with Chris Rogers, PSIA-AASI National Team (learning curve and board-sport background), Swiss Snowsports (guidelines and progression milestones, ski and snowboard), myswissalps.com (ski learning time), Kim et al., Am J Sports Med 2012 (wrist and cruciate distribution), Chauffard et al. 2025 (upper-limb meta-analysis), Machold et al., J Trauma 2000 (first-day risk), Russell et al., Clin J Sport Med 2007 (wrist guards), bfu (Swiss injury figures, EN ISO 20320), Suva (age distribution), Swiss Snowsports via Beobachter (age recommendation), Ruedl et al. 2023 (cruciate risk and skill level), Sport Schweiz 2020 (participation), Davos Klosters Bergbahnen (lift pass frameworks), local Davos sports shops (rental frameworks). As of 10/09/2026.
