It depends.
Yep, that’s really the best flat-out answer we can give you to whether or not you should listen to music while skiing or snowboarding. The truth is that plenty of people listen to music on the slopes with no problems and the right song can make an already fantastic run sublime.
That doesn’t mean that everyone should listen to music on the slopes. You must be experienced, aware of other people and your surroundings, and conscious of the fact that you’re losing one of your senses when skiing or snowboarding with music playing in your ears. No matter how low the volume is, music cuts down on what you hear and can lead to serious accidents on the mountain.
Only you can decide if you’re all of those things. If you decide that you are then these tips will help you and everyone around you stay safe and on-beat while on the mountain!
Watch the Volume
The number one rule when skiing or snowboarding while listening to music is to make sure you can still hear around you. That may sound counterproductive for someone who wants to listen to music, but you can still hear a song clearly without completely blocking out the sounds and people around you.
Keep the volume on your device as low as possible so that even though you’re losing an important sense while doing a potentially dangerous sport you’re still minimizing the risk.
Protect Your Ears
Watching the volume on your device doesn’t just protect you from accidents, it can also protect your hearing.
You may not realize it but skiing and snowboarding are loud sports. Whether it’s the air rushing by your ears, a blast of wind, or the roar of carving through snow and ice, there is plenty of noise on the mountain. You may be tempted to turn up the volume in your earbuds as a result, but you have to fight it. Just because you’re blocking out one sound with another doesn’t mean your ears aren’t still hearing everything. In fact, you’re just adding to the roar by listening to music which can result in hearing damage over time. Keep the volume low and protect your hearing.
Balance Price and Performance
Sound quality is important but skiing and snowboarding are outdoors sports that still involve water even if it’s temporarily frozen. The best methods to listen to music on the mountain are ones that are easy to control with gloves on, are unlikely to get blow out of your ears by high winds, and can survive being shoved into your pocket as well as a fall into snow.
If you’re going to buy snowboarding or skiing gear, you might as well do some researching to make your time and money worth it. If you’re looking for the right product to balance price and performance, give ASO Mammoth a call or stop by the shop.
Think About Usability
In an ideal world, everyone looking to buy ski and snowboard gear in Mammoth would stop by the ASO shop, talk to us, and try out the gear before making a purchase.
Since that’s not always possible though, we recommend that you make usability the top priority for however you listen to music on the mountain when shopping alone or online. When considering a product, think about if you can easily control it so that you can skip a song, adjust the volume, or pause a song so you can hear your buddy on the lift without removing your gloves or opening a pocket.