SNOWBOARDING AND SKIING

Snowboarding vs skiing

By Ally Thompson

It is a contant battle of the winter sports. Which is better? Easier to learn? With Brian Head so close and winter sports season in session, here is a list of the pros and cons of both to help you decide which is better.

Pros of skiing

• Easier to pick up the basics. • Beginners spend more time on their feet. • Straight-on stance feels more natural. • More visibility of the mountain facing downhill. • Easier to get on and off lifts. • Balance learned from other sports transfers more easily. • Stay off the snow – no need to sit down to remove or put on skis. • You have poles that can help you get up from a fall

Pros of snowboarding

• Once you have the basics, it’s easier to progress. • Easier to go off-piste / backcountry on a beginner board. • No ski poles to hold. • Snowboard boots are easier to walk in. • Just one board to carry around. • Less likely to suffer leg injuries. • Easier to stop as a beginner, by falling backward. • You don’t have the possibility of accidentally doing the splits.

Cons of skiing

• New skiers easily trip over their skis • Mastering the technical aspects of skiing takes many seasons. • You have to learn how to carry two poles and two skis without knocking someone out. • More to drop when you’re on the lift. • You can’t really go off-piste effectively into powder with beginner piste skis. • More difficult to stop for beginners.

Leaning back doesn’t help, you have to turn to the side and angle your skis.

Cons of snowboarding

• It takes longer to learn. • You spend lots of time on your butt when you’re learning to board. • You’re always strapping in or out of your boots to get on and off ski lifts. • It’s harder to move on flat ground without poles. You have to unbind one foot and use it to propel you. • Upper body and tailbone injuries are more common. • It’s harder to make sharp turns as a beginner until you learn to carve.

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winter landscaping

By Nick Bolton

as the weather is changing you might notice some of the grass in the area starting to look brown and somewhat sick. This most likely isn’t the case. What you are likely seeing is the grass going dormant from the cooler temps that are beginning to set in. Different types of grass will react differently with different temperature swings. Some will go brown and struggle in the winter. One of these types of grass is Bermuda grass.

Bermuda grass is a perennial warm-season grass. In frost-free climates, where the colder temps don’t set in, Bermudagrass will be green all winter long. However, here in our neck of the woods, Bermuda grass typically goes dormant, turns brown and stops growing during Fall and Winter seasons. This will generally begin early fall and last till spring. It will come back every year and grow most actively from late spring through the hot summer months.

Bermuda grass flourishes and grows the most in areas with full sun and good drainage. It does extremely well in high heat, as well as areas that have high humidity, it is also very drought tolerant, which makes it great for our area here in Saint George. Though most of Bermuda’s roots stay within 6 inches of the top of the surface, their roots can grow up to 6 feet or more in length into the ground.

Bermuda grass has the fastest growth rate of any of the warm-season grasses. It spreads by both above-ground stems known as stolons and belowground stems called rhizomes.

sto·lon

creeping horizontal plant stem or runner that takes root at points along its length to form new plants.

rhi·zome

a continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.

Although its fast growth rate can make Bermuda grass difficult to keep under control, it helps the grass to endure heavy use. It recovers from damage much quicker than most grasses, and is the preferred grass for fields and golf course areas and fairways throughout southern regions, such as our area. On a residential home or yard, most homeowners generally are not fond of Bermuda and getting rid of this grass can be a chore, but it can be eliminated. With the cooler temps upon us, watering your grass and plants isn’t as much of a must as it is in the summer heat so dial back those irrigation times and look for ways to conserve the water. You’ll also notice some of your other landscaping, just like some of the grass, going dormant for the year. Some of these for example are Crepe Myrtles, Mexican Petunias, and Lantanas. Although they may look dead soon, this is completely normal and if they have been getting all the proper care during the growing season, they should have enough health to pop back out in the spring along with your grass and other plants.