from How To Inline Skate on 10 Feb 2021
Skiing and skating – what are the differences?First, let’s quickly look at the similarities.Ski boots, you buckle them on. The same for inline skates.With skis you make slalom turns to control speed. With inline skates you can do the same.And both are outdoor activities, high speeds, great fun!*BEGINNERS*From the perspective of a beginner, the story is different.If it’s your first time on skis you should go on a very flat slope, aka a children’s slope. Most ski resorts have instructors who teach you how to control speed. That’s the key; control speed. With skis, the easiest way to control speed is the plow. It’s not effective at steeper hills though. You need to learn the slalom turn. Once you get a hang on it, you’ve reached the threshold for skiing. It’s all fun from here on!Skating, for a beginner, is more difficult. To have a good time skating I think you need at least three basic skills. One, balance, as in being confident you won’t fall backwards or forwards. Well, I can tell you; staying low, using your arms and scissor your legs prevent you from falling. Two, you need to be able to shift balance from one leg to the other. This to keep your strides going longer. Most beginners tend to keep their weight in the middle, therefore very short strides and very low speed. Three, once you do obtain some speed you need to control it. The easiest way is the heel brake.So you see, skiing and skating for beginners are very different.*HILLS*Both skis and skates will accelerate fast on a small gradient. But skates have much lower friction than skis, thus even the slightest pitch and your speed may run out of control. Therefore a beginner should find an absolutely flat area to practice. Experienced skaters can control speed downhill by doing slalom turns. In this sense skiing and skating are very similar. But if you do fall, inline skating is of course a lot scarier.So a skater should for his own safety know several ways of controlling speed. The mentioned slalom turns only work if the pavement is wide enough. Sometimes it makes sense to use the heel brake, or do a plow, drag a skate behind you, or if you’re out of luck; roll onto the grass. *INTERMEDIATE*Skiing, at least in my view as a recreational skier, is fun for two reasons; speed and G-forces. […]Now the cool thing with skating … almost everything I said about skiing is also true for skating. Those slalom turns can be made on skates. The technique is very similar. The differences is a bit more ankle involved in skating. Push you heels out and you have an excellent slalom stop. Try and push a bit onto the toes and you can accelerate through the turns, almost like the power curves on skis.Ah, one more word about slalom stop. You can do it with ice skates too but it destroys the ice, so only do it on a frozen lake away from the hockey court.*HEALTH*Skiing is healthy for sure but it’s not as intense as skating. That’s the beauty of ski lifts! […]10/10 in terms of health both for skiing and skating!*EQUIPMENT*The ski boot is super stiff. There is some room for forward-backward movement but nothing side to side. The skate gives much more flexibility. I actually prefer a hockey skate as it gives the most freedom of movement.[…]*MISSING EDGE*Well, that you need edges is not totally true. Here I am trying on my childhood skis. […]Speaking of it … skate wheels are made of polyurethane which uses friction to simulate edges. Be aware that wet tiles or ice provide no friction …*NOT ALL SKIS ARE THE SAME*Children’s skis are just one example. There are many kinds of skis. Here I’m on snow blades. I like that they are so short and have tips both on the front and the back. It makes it possible to make transitions and ski backwards. Transitions by the way are similar to skates. It’s even easier on snow.More traditional alpine skis are longer. This makes them faster. With those skis you typically need poles, which I don’t use since I’m on snow blades. In my home country, Norway, Telemark is a more esthetic kind of skiing, often done back-country in loose snow off the track. Freestyle. Ski jumping. (You’ll never see me do that.)And don’t forget cross country skiing. It has two styles. The classic style where the skis are kept parallel. And the faster skating style. It looks similar to skating, thus the name. But aside from pushing your legs to the side as in skating, I don’t see much similarity to inline skating here.Now a fun side-note is roller skiing. In Norway it’s very popular. In fact last time in Norway, I did not see any inline skaters at all. Everyone’s out on roller skis. National TV even show professional cross country skiers competing on roller skis during the summer months.