How To Size A Snowboard
There are several guidelines when it comes to sizing up a snowboard. However it all comes down to personal preference, but if you are seeking advice, we would love to help match up you with the recommended size and style snowboard.
Few things to consider when sizing a board:
- Your weight and body shape is the biggest factor when sizing a snowboard.
- What style of riding will you be doing?
- How experienced of a rider are you?
- Do you own multiple snowboards and want a very specific style snowboard?
What do we mean when we mention weight and body shape? Well, snowboards in general are designed to flex the board with your body weight, allowing the board edge to naturally turn the snowboard on an arc based on the sidecut and style the snowboard is engineered for. So when you factor that your weight, and how your body is shaped(center of gravity of your body) will depict if the snowboard will flex comfortably for you, or ride to short or feel too long(causing you to work harder).
So when you see a “weight range” for a snowboard, consider those factors, when thinking if you should go for a shorter or longer snowboard. This will allow you to experience a ride, truer to the snowboard design, and having an enjoyable experience while snowboarding.
What style of riding will you be doing? There are many different styles, and like most, everyone wants to be able to test several areas, thus the term all-mountain.
Freeriding can mean long carving runs, tree runs where you experience more powder, backbowl snowboarding with deeper powder and back-country snowboarding, which is only recommended for the experienced, expert riders(uncontrolled conditions).
Freestyle usually will describe a snowboarder who likes to mix in some jumps, spins and bonks off obsticles while snowboarding or in terrain parks and half-pipes. If you take open runs, but like to hit little jumps on the sides, or jump into the terrain parks once in a while, freestyle all-mountain is a good way to go. If you enjoy spending your time in the park all the time, and like to spin often, think about going a little shorter on your size range, but not too short, or you will lose control and stability when landing larger jumps.
Any given all-mountain snowboard, will ride differently and give a little bit style specific friendly experience, if you dial in your snowboard bindings, and this is a big part of advancing your skill with snowboarding, as snowboard bindings are a direct translation of energy from you to your snowboard, thus adjusting them on how you want to ride, will give a different reaction to your movements, loose, easier open movements for freestyle, or closer, for faster response.
Snowboard Experience will play only a small part in the size of the snowboard, as after a handful of days on the slopes, your learning curve will only be hampered by how many days you may or may not get up snowboarding each year.
If you only do groomed runs, and want to lay out some carving runs. go slightly longer in your size range, in order to hold and edge, and look towards a camber engineered snowboard for faster response and better edge grip.
If you enjoy powder runs in the trees and back-bowls and back-country, then a longer, wider snowboard will give you more float as well.
If you like to spin around and a playful feel, go with a reverse camber snowboard.
If you like to do both, look towards the hybrid rocker camber snowboards.
For more information on sizing snowboards, or finding the right snowboard for you, please email us!!
