Buying the right Snowboard. for you requires a few important questions to be answered, but you'll be amazed to know that you already have the answers. Your weight, height, foot size and riding style are the main factors that will define the appropriate stiffness, height, width and shape of the board you'll buy. However you will need to know:
Your riding ability? Beginner- first time, newbie, taking a lesson, snowboarded 1-3 times.
Intermediate- board 3-5 times a year, ride fakie, catch some air, turns no problem.
Advanced- you know who you are !
What type of riding style do you enjoy most? The riding style you prefer will help determine the type of board you should buy.There are many different opinions on how many riding styles there are but we are going to break them down in to three main categories of riding styles. The three most common riding styles are: All Mountain / Freeride , Freestyle or Technical riding and Carve/Alpine style.
This week we are going to look at All mountain/ Free ride boards:
All Mountain Freeride snowboards are the most popular choice because, this is the go-anywhere, do-anything board that bridges the gap between freestyle riding and alpine carving. You can use All Mountain snowboards for snowboarding on the piste (groomed slopes), in the powder, in the snowboard park or in the half-pipe. You can enjoy carving smooth turns as well as grabbing some air time and doing a few tricks. They go pretty fast too.
At first glance, the shape of an All Mountain Boards appears to be identical to a freestyle board but there are some subtle differences not visible to the untrained eye. The arc or curve of the sidecut (or waist) is slightly directional i.e. the front and back of the board are not identical. The nose of the board may be slightly wider than the tail and the bindings will usually be set back from the centre point by about an inch or 25mm. These boards perform best going forwards. All Mountain boards are fine for riding ‘fakie’ (backwards) too, only they are not dedicated to the task. The tail rocker (or curvature) may also be a fraction less than that of the nose of the board. The lay-up of the board – i.e. the construction of the wood core with a variety of epoxy, carbon fibre or kevlar laminates – is stiffer than a freestyle board, which promotes greater speed. The tail areas are stiffer than the nose sections so they can both float through powder and carve tight turns on compacted snow, although for dedicated powder or on-piste carving, you would be better off with a specialist board. All Mountain Freeride boards make up 50% of the UK market.
Next week we will look at Freestyle or Technical (jib) boards .................
Thomas
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