i snowboard but when i ski for a few days in the summer ive been able to do backflips, switch backflips and flares fairly easily. call it claiming if you want, i really dont care.
The air awareness thing is a big part of it. the other part that ive noticed is when i ski i dont have very good control of my feet and it takes a lot of focus to keep my feet/skis together. when we snowboard our feet are held in place so when doing tricks in the air we dont have the chance to flail open.
basically what im saying is that when a skier goes to do tricks in the air they dont need to worry about body control since its all held together when they snowboard. but when a snowboarder is on skis the muscles that hold your legs/skis stable arent developed so shit goes all over place. also snowboarders arent used to having to control our legs independently from each other.