Are you interested in trying out a fun new skating skill and wondering which one of the many types is easier? Well, whether you are an absolute novice, a beginner in some form of skating or a pro looking for a change, in this article, I am going to specifically talk about which type of skating is easier – ice skating or roller skating.
Beginners find balancing and learning basics easier on roller skates than on ice skates as the four wheels of a roller skate make distribution of weight easier than an ice skate with a single blade. But ice skating pros find roller skating challenging as certain ice skating moves can’t be performed on roller skates because of structural limitations.
So to wrap it up for you, whether roller skating is easier or harder than ice skating depends on your overall skill level. In this article, I am going to fully compare the two to give you an exact idea of what to expect from the two types of skating.
Roller Skates vs Ice Skates: Fundamental Differences
Before we dive into the difficulty level of roller skates versus ice skates, it is absolutely important to understand the fundamentals of both.
The skill-based difficulty difference stems from the difference in fundamentals.
Skate Structure
Roller skates:
Roller skates or quad skates uses four wheels placed on a plate under a boot to glide on surfaces.
The four wheels are distributed – two side by side in the front and two side by side on the back.
The skates also have a toe-stop brake.
Ice skates
An ice skate uses a blade under a boot to glide on ice.
There are different key ice skate structures – hockey skates, figure skates and speed skates.
- hockey skate blades are narrow and slightly curved at the back
- figure skate blade extend beyond the boot at the back and have a serrated edge or a toe pick at the front
- speed skate blades are the longest and extend beyond the front and the back of the boot
Surfaces
Since the fundamental structure of the skates is different, their compatibility with surfaces is also completely different.
Roller skate surfaces
Roller skate surfaces are far more accessible than ice skate surfaces. Roller skates work perfectly well on most smooth, debris-free surfaces. So you can go roller skating in parks, roller rinks, streets, wood, cement or asphalt surfaces, parking lots, etc.
Ice skate surfaces
Ice skating as the name suggests, is limited to ice only. But ice skates only work on ice and do not work on snow or on slush. The surface must be icy and flat.
So the best surface for ice skating is a skating rink or a frozen pond or lake. (for recreational skating only)
Roller Skating vs Ice Skating: Comparing Skills
Alright, so now that we exactly understand the difference between roller skating and ice skating, it’s time to figure out which one is easier based on the comparison of basic skills.
Standing/Balancing
It is far easier to stand on roller skates, especially as an absolute beginner. This is because the skates have four evenly balanced wheels. Your body weight gets distributed evenly across the boot and standing on roller skates is hardly a challenge.
But because of the wheels, you won’t really be standing completely still on roller skates.
On the contrary, ice skates do not stand on their own as they employ a single sharp blade at the bottom. This also means that standing still on ice skates without support is much more challenging than standing on roller skates.
If it’s your first time on ice skates, you will have to take the support of the railing to stand wearing ice skates. To get comfortable standing on ice skates without support will involve a learning curve.
But once you learn to stand, you will feel far more in command because it’s easy to stand still wearing ice skates. Unlike wheeled roller skates, the skates don’t roll on their own.
Moving/Gliding
Once you learn how to stand on roller skates, the next step is to start moving. But to move with the right technique, it is important to master the posture.
Posture
Both ice skating and roller skating require you to bend slightly in your knees with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Walking and Gliding
From the standing position, to start moving, you need to first take baby steps-
- called the duck walk when roller skating and
- called the penguin walk when ice skating
In both forms, the idea is to take baby steps with your heels together and toes pointed out. Once you feel confident with the walk, you can extend the step to a smooth glide.
Challenges
The challenge with roller skating is that the wheels roll easily and it is difficult to execute a slow controlled duck walk.
The challenge with ice skating is that the blade is too thin and it is very easy to lose balance and fall. Falling the wrong way on ice hurts much more than falling on roller skating surfaces. Plus to prevent injury from some other ice skater running over your hands, you need to master falling properly and getting up without using your hands too.
Stopping
Roller skates have a brake. So you can stop using a toe-brake or even use other techniques such as the slalom stop, t-stop, plow stop etc.
In fact, the t-stop and plow stop are also some of the most commonly used techniques of stopping in ice skating.
But because of the nature of the surfaces, the techniques work a bit differently.
On roller skates
- stopping is based on regulating your body weight
On ice skates
- stopping is based on regulating your body weight in addition to using the blade to scrape through ice.
Since the scratchy ice assists with stopping, stopping on ice skates is quicker and more controlled.
On the other hand, to stop quickly and efficiently on roller skates takes some practice.
Advanced Skills
The advanced skills that you need to learn depend on the type of skating sport you are into.
For e.g- artistic skating or figure skating requires you to perform jumps, spins and tricks.
Ice hockey or roller derby on the other hand need rapid movements, endurance and sport-specific skills.
Learning these advanced skills requires a committed effort.
For someone who has learnt ice skating, performing advanced roller skating skills would feel far more challenging.
- Roller skates require more power and energy as you are controlling four wheels instead of a single blade. Thus the same move when performed on ice skates will require much lesser power.
- Roller skates use four wheels placed on a single plate. To control the wheels you need to control the inside and outside edges of each wheel. This puts more strain on your thigh and ankle muscles than that in ice skating where you only need to control the inside and outside edge of the blade.
For someone who hasn’t tried ice skating, learning advanced roller skating skills would be less challenging as it would not involve unlearning. But for someone who is an expert ice skater, learning advanced skills would feel like an uphill challenge.
Is Roller Skating Easier than Ice Skating: Comparison Chart
In the table below, I am going to summarise the comparison above. Each skill is given a difficulty rating on a scale of 5 (with 1 being easy and 5 being extremely difficult)
For absolute beginners
| Skill | Roller Skating | Ice Skating |
| Standing/Balancing | 2 | 4 |
| Moving/Gliding | 4 | 3 |
| Performing Advanced Skills | 3 | 3 |
| Overall (Total Difficulty) | 9 | 10 |
Thus, from the table above you will see that for absolute beginners ice skating is only a bit more harder than roller skating – and that too, until they learn basic balancing skills. You can read more about that in the post – is ice skating hard for beginners here.
For those with prior skating experience
| Skill | Roller Skating (For those with ice skating experience) | Ice Skating (For those with roller skating experience) |
| Standing/Balancing | 2 | 3 |
| Moving/Gliding | 3 | 3 |
| Performing Advanced Skills | 4 | 3 |
| Overall (Total Difficulty) | 9 | 9 |
Thus, from the table above you can see that, broadly speaking for those looking to switch from one form of skating to another, both the forms of skating have an equal difficulty level.
- The initial phase of ice skating feels more challenging to roller skaters
- Advanced skills of roller skating feel more challenging to ice skaters.
But, since the basics of roller skating are not too challenging for ice skaters, many ice skaters use roller skating as off-ice practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does roller skating help with ice skating?
Since roller skating and ice skating share common principles, roller skating helps with ice skating, especially in the early learning stages. Balancing on ice, learning to glide and stop becomes much easier for someone with a roller skating background.
Which type of skating is the easiest?
Roller skating or quad skating is the easiest to learn as beginners. Evenly distributing body weight on the four wheels of a roller skate is much simpler than learning to stay upright on a narrow ice skating blade. But after learning to balance, both roller skating and ice skating have a similar level of difficulty.
Wrapping up
While it is impossible to conclusively ascertain that roller skating is easier than ice skating, it will be safe to say that many find the initial learning stage of roller skating much easier. But for those who are used to ice skating, the four wheel structure of a roller skate feels limiting and far more tiring out than the flexibility offered by a single blade.
Related posts
- Can you learn ice skating on your own
- Is ice skating hard for beginners
- Are adjustable ice skates good for beginners
