Updated Jan. 15, 2025
Skiing isn’t just a sport people do, it’s one that many live for, especially in Montana – the culture, the lifestyle, the effort, the reward, that indescribable feeling of freedom. And more than most other sports, skiing compels writers, athletes, and others who are captivated by it to put pen to paper, giving us hundreds of inspirational quotes about skiing (funny ones, too).
Whether you’re anxiously awaiting the start of winter, looking for ski captions for your latest photos, or thinking about heading to your local hill for the first time ever, these quotes on skiing will inspire you, make you laugh, and help you appreciate the unique wonder of snow sports.
Table of Contents
Best Quotes about Skiing
The best quotes for skiing are the ones that make you feel something, bring back memories, or remind you of the magic of being alive. We’ll start with one of my personal favorite ski quotes, by writer and entrepreneur Seth Godin, who makes the sport a very poignant metaphor for life.
“Life is like skiing. Just like skiing, the goal is not to get to the bottom of the hill. It’s to have a bunch of good runs before the sun sets.” – Seth Godin
“A person should have wings to carry them where their dreams go, but sometimes a pair of skis makes a good substitute.” – Hans Gmoser, Austrian mountaineer
“On pristine parchment I draw with my skis calligraphic lines of joy, writing poems of movement.” – Patricia Robin Woodruff, author
“I think the most important thing in skiing is you have to be having fun. If you’re having fun, then everything else will come easy to you.” – Lindsey Vonn, Olympic downhill gold medalist
“It’s better to go skiing and think of God than go to church and think of sport.” – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer
“For me, skiing is a physical necessity. I have a need for risk.” – Jean-Marie Messier, businessman
“Powder snow skiing is not fun. It’s life, fully lived, life lived in a blaze of reality.” – Dolores LaChapelle, mountaineer & scholar
“Skis are not just pieces of wood, steel & fiberglass. They are tools for escape, a medium for personal expression, a way to challenge fears, push limits and share incredible experiences with your friends.” – Unknown
“Skiing is the best way in the world to waste time.” – Glen Plake, extreme skier
“Here in the deep powder snow, you don’t hear yourself ski. You don’t hear your long turns or your short turns. You float. The faster you go, the better. The less you struggle, the better. You move through the deep, light snow, through the deep snow with some crust on it, through the deep snow with some wind in it.” – Jacques Labrie, Canadian politician
“Skiing is a battle against yourself, always to the frontiers of the impossible. But most of all, it must give you pleasure. It is not an obligation, but a joy.” – Jean-Claude Killy, triple Olympic gold medalist
“Feel the mountain and let it show you how you’re going to ski it. Relax and cruise. This isn’t a fight, it’s a dance, and the mountain always leads.” – Jim Bowden, extreme skier
Some of the most famous ski quotes out there come from Warren Miller, the famed filmmaker who brought us dozens of the most iconic films about skiing – including Here, There, & Everywhere, featuring ski hills in western Montana.
Maybe he’s best known for saying, “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do,” which feels especially relevant for skiing, but is also true about everything else in life. Many other Warren Miller quotes are specific to skiing, including these:
“The best place in the world to ski is where you’re skiing that day.” – Warren Miller
“If I ask anybody who learned to ski after the age of five, they can remember their first day of skiing…I believe that’s because that first day on skis was the first day of total freedom in their life.” – Warren Miller
“The best thing about skiing backward is you can see where you’ve been.” – Warren Miller
“A pair of skis are the ultimate transportation to freedom.” – Warren Miller
Before we move on to some skiing jokes, here are a few prominent quotes from some people you may have heard of…
“Skiing is the next best thing to having wings.” – Oprah Winfrey
“I’ve had a deep love affair with skiing for many years.” – John Denver
“For me, personally, skiing holds everything. I used to race cars, but skiing is a step beyond that. It removes the machinery and puts you one step closer to the elements. And it’s a complete physical expression of freedom.” – Robert Redford
Skiing Jokes & Funny Skiing Quotes
While some quotes on skiing are meaningful or inspirational, others are just silly (and that’s not even counting ridiculous ski puns, like “’Tis the ski-son!”). If you’re looking for some funnier skiing sayings, look no further than these:
“Cross-country skiing is great if you live in a small country.” – Steven Wright, comedian
“When hell freezes over, I’ll ski there too.” – Unknown
“Yes, I do have a retirement plan. I plan on skiing.” – Unknown
A lot of funny skiing quotes are all about how dangerous and expensive the sport is – and I almost didn’t list them, because I don’t want to turn people off from trying skiing. But since many of them are actually entertaining, I included some here anyway. Just don’t take them too literally!
“Skiing: the art of catching a cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk.” – Henry Beard and Roy McKie, Skiing Pocket Dictionary
“If you’re looking for a vacation concept that combines the elements of outdoor fun with the element of potentially knocking down a tree with your face, you can’t do better than skiing.” – Dave Barry, author & humorist
“Skiing is expensive, but it’s cheaper than therapy.” – Unknown
“Who was the first person to decide it would be fun to rocket shakily down an icy mountain on two pieces of metal with wind attacking your face and snow spraying into your eyes and people whipping all around, waving spiky poles like gladiators closing in for a kill?” – Sarah Pekkanen, Catching Air
“The sport of skiing consists of wearing three thousand dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk.” – P.J. O’Rourke, journalist & satirist
Best Snowboarding Quotes
There aren’t nearly as many famous quotes about snowboarding as there are skiing quotes, as far as I can tell. And I’m sure die-hard skiers could come up with plenty of explanations for that (“Snowboarding isn’t inspiring!” “Snowboarders don’t know how to write!” and so on).
But there are plenty of snowboarding quotes out there – some funny, some practical, some inspiring – and these are the best ones I’ve found.
“I know a lot of people who used to ski, but I don’t know anyone who used to snowboard.” – Unknown
“There are no rules in snowboarding.” – Amy Purdy, Paralympic snowboard cross silver medalist
“The attraction of snowboarding is the freedom it gives you. With a snowboard on your feet, the sky is the limit. You can do anything and go anywhere. This is not just for pro riders. It is for everyone. The other amazing thing with snowboarding is how easy it is to get away from people and enjoy the solitude of the mountains.” – Jeremy Jones, professional snowboarder
“Snowboarding is an activity that is very popular with people who do not feel that regular skiing is lethal enough.” – Dave Barry, author
“There’s no blueprint to snowboarding, you know? You can really make your own mark.” – Sage Kostenburg, Olympic slopestyle gold medalist
No surprise, some of the best quotes about snowboarding come from Shaun White, the three-time Olympic halfpipe gold medalist who’s probably the world’s most recognizable snowboarder.
“When you think about it, we’re strapping strange planks of wood to our feet and launching off of giant snow walls. It’s pretty intense.” – Shaun White
“Some people attach snowboards to their feet, very few attach them to their souls.” – Shaun White
More Ski Sayings & Captions
I try to credit the original authors whenever I can, but there are a bunch of ski one liners that don’t seem to have a known source.
These are ski sayings you often see on T-shirts, coffee mugs, or wall hangings, and of course, they make great captions for Instagram.
“When life gets hard, I go skiing.” (Or snowboarding!)
“Everything looks clearer from the top of the mountain.”
“Skiing is more than a sport; it’s a way of life.”
“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a lift ticket, and that’s kind of the same thing.”
“Sometimes you shred the gnar; sometimes the gnar shreds you.”
“What happens on the slopes stays on the slopes.”
“There’s no such thing as bad snow, just bad skiers.”
“A bad day on the slopes beats a good day at work.”
“Life is better on the slopes.”
And finally, a very well-known ski saying that’s probably only partly stereotype:
“Norwegians are born with skis on their feet.”
My Own Quotes on Skiing
I may not be a professional skier or a prolific author, but I wanted to give you something a little different in this post. So after reflecting on my experiences of skiing in Montana (and sometimes elsewhere), I came up with a few original quotes about skiing. If you’re inclined to use one in your Instagram skiing captions, tag us at @montanadiscovered!
“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend – double black ones.”
“There are two kinds of people: those who ski, and those who wish they skied.”
“To ski or not to ski: that is not a question.”
“The mountain is life. As long as it’s not too cold or too icy or too rocky or too steep or not steep enough or…”
“Skiing: the only sport that needs a French word to describe what you do afterwards.”
“The only thing worse than getting hurt skiing is not skiing at all.”
And there you have it! These are the best ski quotes I could find, useful for scrapbooking projects, DIY home décor, greeting cards, skiing captions for Instagram, and more. And if you happen to be planning (or just dreaming about) a ski trip to Montana, check out our favorite Montana quotes for more inspiration!
Do you have other favorite skiing quotes (or snowboarding quotes)? Drop them in the comments!
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