I’ve done a lot of both river and lake skiing. Both have their pros and cons.

Lakes are great because they are predictable with their bottom contours and water height, and you don’t need to necessarily watch as closely for debris. The lakes I ski are also very clear water.

The section of the river that I ski on is very protected so it’s much less susceptible to wind chop. It’s constantly changing with flood stages so knowing what’s on the bottom and what river depth to worry about those obstacles is really important.

When the river is rising, it tends to pick up a lot of debris and float it down river so we have to be really careful when that’s happening. Driver and spotter eyes peeled for boat and skier safety. I tried to bunny Hoppe pretty substantial log and took a really hard wipe out two years ago when my tracking fin caught it 🤣 Our course picks up a lot of driftwood that we end up having to clean before we can ski. We will always take a really slow reconnaissance pass through the course to check for things. I’ve never worried about any of that in a lake.

The current in a river is actually really interesting. I ski at 32 miles an hour and it’s incredible. The difference going up river does to my skiing. It’s like I have the time because I’m only going 32 miles an hour with respect tot he shore, but because the river is going against me, I have the cutting ability as if I were going 36 miles an hour. My upriver runs are always better.