I grew up 15 minutes from 2 ski resorts, and skiing/snowboarding was an almost every day event from November-April. Most of us grew up skiing, and switched over to boarding when it got popular. I think each has it's place, a nice powder day, nothing beats a board. All mountain, definitely skis. Park/Pipe, it's a toss up. Since moving to SC, my biggest problem with either is how much they want for lift tickets down here. I can get an all day lift ticket in Vermont for what they are asking at our little shit-show 2 hill local ski area. I just can't justify dropping $200 for my wife and I to go skiing/boarding for a day on 2 tiny hills with crappy machine snow.

I think a lot of it has to do with pain and ease of learning. Skiing is no doubt easier to be good at and much less painful than boarding is. And now that you can do and go anywhere boards can go (free skiing), a lot of people opt for the skis. Same with wakeboarding vs surfing. I really enjoy wakeboarding, but it takes a long time and a lot of damn hard crashes to get to a decent level. However, one summer of surfing and you can pretty much out ride the wave/boat and look like a pro.