wintertime ocean or mountains?

Yeah man... nice thing about snowboarding is that you can do it whenever you have some time off, as long as there's some snow on the mountains. (which all my local resorts make sure there is throughout the prime months)

During the winter I pretty much head up to the mountains every day I can - however for me that equates to 2ish hour - 3ish hour drive, so I have to dedicate a full day to it. Nice thing about surfing is my local break is about 20 minutes away, so I can still do other things during the day.

It all depends on the conditions though. If I see an awesome swell coming in and it hasn't snowed in a while, I'd take a surf day over a mountain day. Like you said though, it's gotta be pretty good though for me to paddle out in 38 degree water. (I live in NY)

 

if i lived someplace w/ real snow like you do, cresto, i'd prob. spend more time up in the mountains. as it is, living where i do, i definitely spend more time in the ocean. i've had a few days where i surfed one day then snowboarded the next; my ultimate winter goal is to do both in one day...not an easy feat when the nearest mountain is 2-3 hours away.

 

I haven't surfed much in winter since I discovered snowboarding 6 years ago (got a nice little resort, 2 hours away, gets tons of powder). However, that first year, I had several weeks in which I both surfed and snowboarded. Pretty good cross-training, actually.

If I lived in alaska, there's no way I'd surf in winter...snowboarding in powder is almost as good, imo.

 

Pow pow <3

 

I used to snowboard a handful of time per winter, its about 3 hours to the mountains. I haven't gone since beginning winter surfing though, and there's surf about 35 mins from where I live. I love surfing the winter... With the correct gear it's a trip being toasty warm and surfing great conditions with about 4 others people out. Also, $50 of fuel and outrageous lift ticket prices make the snowboarding less enticing.

 

I get anxiety when hills start and i know im
far from the ocean. haha

 

I'm with you RT to PR for $250 show me the swell!!

 

Both as much as possible. No other priorities.

 

^good point. That's another thing I love about resort snowboarding: no "paddling" back up the mtn

however, I do think hiking (especially in powder), is more a lot tiring than paddling. You gotta hike up, with low oxygen, quite a long way to get a long/satisfying ride down...repeat. With surfing, even if I get a 5 second ride with two skashes and/or a barrel, I'm stoked.

 

speaking of which, it's dumping at my local mtn right now. Supposed to get over a foot within the next 2 days. Sure would be nice to have one of those (rare) kick-ass deep early seasons

 

The never ending wave. It's how Gerry Lopez get's his fix these days.

 

since i work m-f/9-5 i'd rather surf clean winter waves, even log if its small, then drive 2 hours on a weekened to fight crowds on a small PA mountain. after i went out to visit a friend who moved to utah twice, and was a 10 min walk from the canyons, i think i retired from snowboarding PA/NJ (i am sure i will unretire in a few years).

 

true. I read somewhere Gerry lives in Bend, Oregon these days...wonder if he still even surfs (laird doesn't)

never snowboarded on the east coast, but, from what I've seen on YouTube, I wouldn't even bother there. Mostly small mtns and resorts, low vertical, crowded, too icy, trees too tight (if not roped off entirely), not enough deep powder days...yeah, I'd just surf

 

Strictly surf............

 

Mountains hands down for now,I don't have to worry about glowing in the dark after a session.

 

Hate snow, so I stick to surfing. They are also two completely different animals. Anyone can snowboard after very short time on the slope. Not everyone can catch a wave their first day out.