For those of you who are long-time readers of this blog, you might remember that I do an annual ski and snowboard trip with a group of close friends from both Canada and the US. This year should technically be the 14th annual, but we took two years off during the pandemic (though some of us did meet up to ski), and so we’re referring to this as the official 12th annual. The last one was in February 2020 in Fernie, BC, and this weekend we’re off to Park City, Utah.
This annual trip is something that I look forward to all year. And it has really cemented my love of snowboarding and the mountains. For me, it’s this wonderful combination of outdoor activity, beautiful landscapes, unplugging, and catching up with friends that I have known, in many cases, for over 20 years. In fact, I know that this trip is the reason that a few of us decided to get together to build Parkview Mountain House (our upcoming “creative mountain retreat” in Park City).
A big part of what we want to do with the house (when it’s hopefully ready next winter) is share our love of the mountains with others. We want others to experience what we experience when we go on these trips. At the same time, we felt like there was a huge gap in the market. Park City is a world-renowned ski and snowboard destination, and yet it still feels hard to find modern and design-focused places to stay. So we decided to create our own.
There is, however, one small problem: my right knee. It has been bothering me for the last few years whenever I snowboard, and usually only when I snowboard, to the point where I have to get off the mountain. This obviously pisses me off. So I decided to spend the last 2 months training my tender knees with Noah Mandel. We’ll see if that did anything this weekend. But I’m so committed to the mountains that, if it helps, I’m even prepared to switch to skiing!
BRANDON DONNELLY 
Have skied for years and only snowboarded once. From a structural or othopaedic standpoint, I think having both legs secured to a board going in the same direction is less traumatic than each leg on independently moving skis. However, staying with my skis.
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That’s what I would have thought. But my physiotherapist thinks it could be my IT band, and that skiing might not work it in the same way. In any case, knee has been fine! Something is working.
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Brandon, I have ( had) a “ frayed “ meniscus which gradually got better over the fall but my knee was still sensitive. l found the stationary bike helped a lot but was concerned I wouldn’t be able to ski this year. I was very pleased and surprised to find that skiing actually helped my knee and it feels great after a day on the slopes. It’s like doing lots of deep knee bends or squats but more enjoyable.
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This is great news! Glad you’re back to skiing. Thanks for sharing, Roger.
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The universe giving you a sign to become a skier
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All good on my board this week!
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Brandon,
Love your blog!
Been battling numerous knee issues my whole life. Switched from skiing to snowboarding in 1992.
It’s personal to each of our situations and the nature of our own knee injuries, but my knees are far better snowboarding than skiing. Knees are fixed in place, less opportunity for radical rotational torque, easier to weight with a 50/50 split in body weight (even most of the best skiers I know still weight their downhill leg more). The last point has been critical for me – they say something like a one pound loss of bodyweight equals six pounds less of knee pressure – keeping weight evenly distributed whether I’m snowboarding or skiing (or doing any other sport) has been a game changer for me.
Happy riding!
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I just returned from a ski/snowboard trip to the French Alps, can’t recommend it enough, cheap lift tickets of 20-50 euros for a full day, amazing food and no line-ups for the lifts!
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