Choosing your first snowboard can be as overwhelming as it is exciting! There are a ton of different snowboards available on the market today, each with marketing campaigns designed to entice you. This guide will serve to help you navigate the market and help you, the beginner snowboarder, to choose the right board.
Within snowboarding there is a long held debate as to what is more important to consider when selecting a snowboard; height or weight. In my 30+ years of snowboarding I’ve come to believe that height is the most important consideration, unless you’re on the heavier end of the spectrum. Keep reading as I add my thoughts to the height vs weight debate.
Snowboard stiffness is one of the key specs to consider when choosing a snowboard and this article will dive into how to choose the right flex for your level.
A snowboard profile is the way the snowboard is designed to bend from the contact points, i.e., the places where the board touches the snow when laid flat and without a rider strapped in and pushing down on it.
As a career snowboard instructor, I know how to gauge someone’s proficiency level just after seeing a few turns or even after asking a few questions. To help you gauge your own proficiency level, in this article I’ll run through some of the types of terrain and different maneuvers that snowboarders at each proficiency level can typically do.
Knowing your own ability level is the first step in choosing the best equipment to maximize your progression. Board shape, flex, and profile along with size and width are the key specs to understand when choosing a board.
Simply put, directional snowboards work best with the nose of the snowboard going downhill first and twin snowboards work equally as well with either the nose or the tail pointing downhill first, that is natural or switch.
You might have noticed that not all snowboard boots have the same lacing system. There are three main systems for snowboard boot lacing: traditional, speed lacing, and BOA.
You might be thinking that lessons are too expensive, or that you’re naturally good at skateboarding, surfing, or some other sport and that snowboarding will be easy to learn on your own. While these things might be true to varying extents, taking lessons will save you time, money, and some bumps and bruises along the path to learning your first turns.
Sharp edges grip better and well-waxed bases slide better, meaning that a well-tuned snowboard will actually help you perform better on the mountain.
You’ve invested time and money into selecting and purchasing your snowboard gear. The easiest way to protect that investment is to do some basic snowboard maintenance.
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