italianoSnowboarding choose > How to choose your Snowboard
Winter is just around the corner, so here you are some basic advices to choose
the board that will always follow you. At Christmas time on the snow, in the
New Year’s Day or for a skiing holiday week ... and if you are a real passionate
snowboarding enthusiast you will bring your snowboard board with you every
single weekend!
You need to check just your style of surfing on the slopes and then you will
be ready to decide about snowboard length, waist width, sidecut, flex scoop and
materials
used for the construction of your board (all terms are explained later).
Before buying your own snowboard equipment, we suggest you to go and try different
types of board on those demo tours that the best-known manufacturers of riding
equipment
frequently arrange on the slopes of known and unknown resorts, so there you will
able to get your first impression.
What kind of rider are you?
Before all you have to decide what kind of snowboarder you want to be:
- Freerider: the most popular and flexible choice for the most part of snowboarder. Freeriding represents origins and soul of this sport on the snow.
- Freestyler: tricks, air, street, pipes, snow parks and their related fields… this is freesytle! It’s the ideal chioce if you want to spend as much time as possible in the air dabbling impossible manoeuvres.
- Alpiner: If you like speed, challenge and turning your board over the limit till your body touch the snow…alpine is the style of riding made for you.
You have to bear in mind also what kind of terrain do you want to surf with your board. Do you prefer steep slopes, ice snow or powder? Do you prefer the resort atmospheres or a backcountry ride through unpolluted mountain landscapes? Do you want to try more than one style of snowboarding? Do you prefer an high performance specialistic board or an all-mountain one?
Man or Woman, grown-up or kid
Snowboard explodes more and more in popularity so the market offers specific snowboards for every single person. Nowadays it’s possible to create snowboards according to the gender and the rider’s style. Generally female and kid snowboarders have short legs and small feet and they’re littler than males, so they have to look for a soft and light board, shorter and narrower than a male’s one.
What about your level …
Are you a raw, an intermediate or an advanced snowboarder? Are you aggressive or not? There are different types of boards for every single level too, but there are some basic rules to keep in mind about the board:
- If you’re a beginner and you have chosen to try with a specialist school, choose a basic equipment: it’s cheaper and it allows you to try different styles of riding.
- If you’re a intermediate rider, you’ll probably already know the fundamentals of snowboarding and you’re looking for a board to try your first tricks or to go downhill on more difficult slopes.
- If you’re an advanced snowboarder, all-mountain rider and you are able to ride on every type of snow you need an hig performance specific snowboard.
Snowboard features
In this section you will find a full explanation about snowboarding terms and a glossary about your board. We suggest you to read it, so when you will go to a shop to buy your own equipment, you will be able to understand what the sales staff is talking about and to recognize differences among the wide variety of boards that the market offers.
Snowboard Length
You must choose your board according to your height and your body weight, but also according to the snow and the terrain that you would like to surf. Genereally, a short snowboard is more manageable than long ones. These last require strength but are faster and firmer. Hereafter you can find some things that you must consider:
- Rider Height: if you stand up the board in front of you and its nose come up between your chin and your nose the length is correct.
- Snowboarder Weight: it’s the most important thing that you must check. You have to be able to flex it in order to do tricks and turns. If you’re heavier than the standard you must choose a longer snowboard in order to have a much better responsiveness on the slopes and a much better buoyancy when you’re snowboarding off piste. If you’re lighter than the standard choose a shorter board in order to have more control and less effort.
- Snow and terrain: are you fond of knee-deep powder? If your answer is YES then choose a longer board: the best for great buoyancy. On the other hand, if you like snowboarding just on technical and hard terrains or you’re a snow-park-loving, choose a shorter board that allows you more responsiveness. Do you prefer mountain backcountry? We suggest you to look for a long board which supports also the extra weight of your backpack and equipment.
Snowboard Waist width
An other key factor to bear in mind when you want to buy your own equipment is your shoe size. If a snowboarder is using a standard snowboard and his shoe size is 11 or larger, his toes probably will drag in the snow. Your toes will drag in the snow only when the snowboard waist width is narrower than your feet.
To avoid this problem you can increase the stance angles in order to reduce your projection or you can also increase your stance in order to use the larger part of your board. If these solutions don’t work you can use special bindings pads to lift your boots from the snowboard or, at least, buy a new larger board (generally called wide or extra-wide). A wide board gives you more firmness and buoyancy but it makes lose your edge-to-edge ability becoming slower and less reactive.
Snowboard Flex
If you’re a raw it’s better for you to choose a board with a softer flex. A softer flex board offers lower speed when turning and thighter turning radius. If you’re at an advanced level and you’re an all-terrain-snowboarder, the right board for you is a more rigid flex board which can give you great responsiveness. Keep in mind that if the board is too rigid you won’t be able to flex it and you will make great effort.
To understand this, we suggest you to standing the board on its end in front of you and press it energically in the middle. Freeride doesn’t involve a quickly reply but it needs a smooth method that’s why specific boards have a wider flex.
Sidecut Depth or Turning Radius
It’s the turning radius measurement. Your turns on the snow will be narrower if the turning radius is thight. If your board has a wide turning radius, your turns will be larger.
The edge of the snowboard
The edge is the part of your snowboard which actually touches the snow. Your board will be firmer at high speed if you’ve got a big edge and it will be easier for you to cut into the snow in turning. On the contrary, if you’ve got short edges it will be easier for you turning and doing tricks.
Snowboard's materials and construction styles
It’s important to know something about the different styles of construction of a board also if, actually, we cannot list here every single kind of material, features, name, patent, method or technology used.
Boards can be made using three different construction styles: Sidewall construction, Cap construction and Hybrid (half cap) construction. Boards made with a cap or a sidewall construction are the most common boards.
- Cap:the topsheet of the board comes down to the edge and curves to it. This style gives no interruption between the topsheet of the board and its side. Thanks to this style of construction, the board is more flexible and its weight is lower than the others. Boards made with cap construction style are more responsiveness.
- Sidewall: In this case the board has more than one strip and a visible and distinguished part of its side. These boards are more durable and easier to repair but they are more expensive.
Snowboard Core: it’s the basilar element on which the board bases its own construction. The core is made of foam or wood. Cores made of wood are the most common because of its firmness, durability and responsiveness. The core can be made of many different valuable types of wood.
Snowboard Base: The base is made of sintered or extruded polyurethane. Boards with sintered bases are made by heating polymer dust which joins the board. Sintered bases are faster, more durable and they hold wax very well. Extruded bases are made by a direct extrusion method on the board. They’re easier to repair and cheaper than the sintered ones.
