Is learning to snowboard easier if I am already pretty good at roller blades?

Answer 1

Roller blading will help to learn skiing more - two independant feet with using pressure on one or the other for balance.

Skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding and windsurfing require balance over a single board keeping your center of balance over the board. These will help more when learning to snowboard.

But regardless, a good sense of balance will help. And snowboarding isn't that hard to learn the basics. I was going down intermediate runs on my third day. Getting REALLY good is a whole different matter!

Good Luck

Answer 2

Sorry but no. Pretty much a completely different type of movement. You'll have some extra balance training but other than that it's not going to make a difference. People think that skateboarding will help but even that is not going to make a big difference because you don't have a "base" and "edge" on a skateboard.

Don't worry though, you'll fall a lot the first couple of times but soon you'll get the hang of it and the first time you link a few turns down the hill you'll realize how much fun it can be.

Answer 3

The only similarity is balance. Thats about it! Snowboarding is nothing like rollerblading. First of all, you feet are locked in a snowboard, its all about turning on your edges of the board, not two feet on some wheels!!

Answer 4

Maybe a little. For the balance and center-of-gravity issues. And your familiarity with falling down.
Other than that, not so much, because you're going to use an EDGED board to carve your turns, etc. Skiing or surfing kinda teaches that aspect a lot better than rollerblading.

Good luck!

Answer 5

in short, no. you will still suck at first, but its not too hard to master easy hills after a few days.