A retrospective survey of 1,445 snowboarders and 10,152 skiers was undertaken to determine the incidence, pattern and severity of both snowboarding and skiing injuries. The incidence of snowboarding injury (0.33%) was higher than that of skiing injury (0.11%, P < 0. 01). Also, in showboarding there was frequent involvement of the arms (51.3%) when compared with skiing (25.9%, P < 0.001). In the arms, fracture (45.7%) was frequently observed in snowboarding, vs 31.3% in skiing. The wrist was the most affected site (18.7%, P < 0. 01) in snowboarding (skiing 2.3%), and the fracture rate was significantly high (71.6%, P < 0.001). The rate of dislocation of the elbow (27.7%) was also higher in snowboarding than in skiing (13. 5%, P < 0.001). Regarding arm injuries, 57.9% of injured snowboarders were beginners whose experience was shorter than 1 year, and 91.5% was caused by falling down. These results indicate that a snowboarding injury involving the upper limb region is a severe accident, with a frequent risk of fracture in the wrist and dislocation of the elbow. The severity of arm injuries in snowboarding seems to be caused by direct force on the wrist and elbow, which receive the full impact of a fall. These data suggest that beginners should have appropriate lessons of basic skills including safe falling. The development of a safety system also appears sensible to prevent such severe injuries in snowboarding.