Let’s start with the last article on the blog “Masters’ tip: Boards for beginners/intermediates” and in particular with the summary.
The important things to observe are:
- GENDER DIVERSITY
- SHOE SIZE, WEIGHT and HEIGHT.
Even for you who are an expert, the basics do not change.
Then you should choose between boards: all mountain, park, freestyle, freeride, powder, splitboard.
In this article, we will talk about all mountain, park and freestyle boards.
The freeride, powder and splitboard sector deserves further study and a part of its own. We will talk about it in the next “masters’ tip”.
We remind you of the meaning of the terms:
ALL MOUNTAIN: a snowboard suitable for a little bit of everything.
PARK: board purely recommended for those who want to stay in the snowpark
FREESTYLE: both snowpark and jumps and games on the slopes.
ATTENTION:
All mountain boards are suitable for everything, but in this category you will also find those oriented to the piste and off-piste with little tendency to the rest and those more oriented to freestyle and consequently little of the rest.
Freestyle/park does not mean that they are not good for making turns or a bit of off-piste, on the contrary you can also use them on these terrains and have great satisfaction.
So after choosing the category, you will have to delve deeper and learn more about the boards.
What?
TERRAIN PERFORMANCE: snowboard manufacturers always give indicators of the ratio of boards and type of “terrain” of use. Very important to know in order to make the right choice without having to study/interpret/curse all the data in the data sheets that some are useful but others are numerous and not easy to understand!
FLEX: it is the personality of the board that can go from soft defined as “playful” (PLAYFUL) to
medium/balanced and so on until you get to precise/aggressive. This is also very important to know! It is the result of those who built the board and the riders who tried it! A very important help, much more than taking the board in hand and trying to flex or twist it or know everything about the layers that compose it and the fibers present!
SHAPE: it is the shape of the board seen from above. What you will need to know are the most popular shapes.
TWIN: Same tip and tail of the board. It is indicated, with appropriate references, to mount the central attachments so that they have the same distance one from the tip and the other from the tail.
DIRECTIONAL: they have a tip different from the tail and it is indicated to mount the bindings in order to have the gait one furthest from the tip and the other closer to the tail.
DIRECTIONAL TWIN: Same tip and tail but bindings should be mounted as on the directional.
All the shapes allow you to go in both gaits, to go on the slopes, park, freeride! Then if you have marked preferences, we recommend the twin shape for park, the directional twin for freestyle/piste, the directional shape for piste/freeride.
BEND/PROFILE: is the shape of the board seen from the side. To simplify things, the three macro categories are: CAMBER, ROCKER, FLAT. Then these can be crossed to give life to: HYBRID, ROCKER CAMBER ROCKER, ROCKER FLAT ROCKER, POWDER ROCKER, FLAT ROCKER FLAT, FLAT CAMBER FLAT.
To make it more interesting, snowboard manufacturers call them: PUREPOCAMBER, FLYING V, CATCH FREE TUNE, etc…
CAMBER: the most classic profile and used since the birth of snowboarding. When viewed from the board in profile, you will notice a bridge that rests on a flat surface only at two points towards the ends (near the tip and tail). It has the advantage of having more grip on the track and making more powerful ollies and jumps.
ROCKER: an opposite camber both in shape and also in performance. Little grip on the track and thrust in jumps. Lots of ease and maneuverability for rotations. There are few rocker-only boards, it is used in small doses and in combination with camber and flat achieving excellent results in the all mountain and freeride category.
FLAT: completely flat profile and all in contact with the snow. A good middle ground between camber and rocker that in the freestyle and all mountain category offers boards with a decent grip on the slopes, ease in tricks / park and a fair boost in jumps. The flat has also been used in combination with camber to give boards with more grip on the piste and rocker to have more buoyancy in powder.
At this point, in our opinion, the technical in-depth analysis is more than enough.
We have left three elements for last but they are very important.
Budget, money. It’s personal, everyone will have their own, but it’s advisable to fix it from the beginning to make the choice easier. Many sites give the option in the filter.
Material testing. At the beginning of the season, many snowboard brands and shops organize events on the snow to let you try the material. It is very important to know what we have written above, but if you also have the opportunity to try it would be the top!
Know, try but also be advised / helped!There are shops with specialized staff or we will organize zoom evenings with us instructors to talk about piste equipment, freestyle, freeride / splitboard!
If you want you can fill out the form and let us know your snowboard preferences (one/two or all) so you will receive information about your passions by email!
For more advice contact us or you could participate in our snowboard camps or lessons.
Master 6point9
Matteo Mentasti