I spent hundreds of hours as a park rat on a tiny hill in Wisconsin when I was a teenager. Sometimes I regret not using that time to be more productive and work on my future. On the other hand, it makes me happy to strap into a snowboard for the first time in over 2 years and still be in the 95th percentile on the slope after a few warm up runs.
All that being said, I’d learn to ski instead. Snowboarding is a ton of fun in the park if you have the time and money to invest into it, but you can’t be hucking 30 footers into your 40s in good conscience when people depend on you to be healthy. I concussed myself so many times when I was 17 on hard falls, just completely out of it sitting on the hill. It’s a very dangerous sport. Probably as dangerous as football in terms of TBI risk.
If you’re only going to be able to get out a few weekends a year, skiing has better returns.
All that being said, I’d learn to ski instead. Snowboarding is a ton of fun in the park if you have the time and money to invest into it, but you can’t be hucking 30 footers into your 40s in good conscience when people depend on you to be healthy. I concussed myself so many times when I was 17 on hard falls, just completely out of it sitting on the hill. It’s a very dangerous sport. Probably as dangerous as football in terms of TBI risk.
If you’re only going to be able to get out a few weekends a year, skiing has better returns.