When purchasing a new snowboard, choosing a model and then sizing can become a daunting and sometimes confusing task. The size of board that you choose will be a critical element in how your board performs in different conditions, terrain and even different speeds. What should you consider when choosing a board to best suit your riding style and ability? We’ve broken it down for you here.

“Your snowboard does NOT care how tall you are. . . it only cares about how much pressure and weight you can inflict upon it to get the results you need.” With that said, the most important aspect of choosing your board will be, How Much Do You Weigh?

Every snowboard varies in construction, which alters the flex and stiffness of each board. There are many different snowboards with varying flex patterns and shapes that were designed to accommodate multiple riding styles. When researching a particular snowboard model, it is important to check what the suggested manufactured weight ranges are. It is possible that your weight might fall into two or possibly even three different board size “weight ranges.” That’s OK. By having a broader weight range, snowboarders are able to manipulate the stiffness and flex of a particular board, depending on the size they choose. It’s important to remember, as a snowboard gets longer, the board also increases in stiffness, hence accommodating for more weight.

Riding Ability

Before getting into the different riding styles and what type of board would best suit you, it is important to first evaluate your riding ability. Though it might not be apparent, your snowboarding ability can help you determine whether you should be looking for a softer or stiffer board, as well as affecting which end of the suggested weight range you should consider.

As a beginning snowboarder, learning how to turn and maneuver the board is your first priority. Most beginners tend to try and learn while moving slowly with minimal momentum. Unfortunately, momentum is exactly what you need in order to easily flex the board and make it turn. With that said, having a “SOFTER” board will initially make it much easier for a beginner to progress and learn the ways of linking their turns.

As your ability level progresses and you find yourself riding much faster and on more technical terrain, you might come to find that the SOFT board you once learned on is no longer able to perform as desired. Some of the less desirable attributes you might notice are:

• Chatter/vibration in the nose/tail of your snowboard when riding fast
• Loss of edge control due to “over-flexing” board (too much weight)
• No pop and loss of responsiveness

Riding Style
Typically at this point, you will have a better understanding of what type of snowboarding you will spend the majority of your time enjoying. There are many different styles of snowboarding, but for this discussion we will narrow it down to three:

• Park Riders
• All-Mountain Riders
• Powder Riders

For each different style of riding, there are boards which have been specifically designed to enhance the performance of the snowboard in certain conditions. Here are a few guidelines to help you determine which size might be best for you, depending on your preferred style of riding:


Which kind of snowboarder are you?

Park Rider
Park riders are mostly interested in riding through the Terrain Parks to find anything and everything that they can possibly jump, jibb, bonk or wall ride on. Because of the different nature of this riding style and its huge increase in popularity, there are many snowboards that are specifically designed for this purpose. Typically “Park” snowboards are designed with a much SOFTER flex pattern to allow for added balance and maneuverability when riding in the park. More advanced park riders usually prefer to ride a board with a slightly stiffer tail for added pop and stability on landings, but this is still more of a personal preference factor.

When considering board length for a park board, there are a few elements to consider aside from just your weight. Which type of terrain features do you enjoy the most?

• For rails and boxes, you would most commonly ride the softest and shortest board that can support your weight. This will take away swing weight for spinning on and off of boxes and will also allow for added balance when flexing your board on rails.
• For the larger jumps and features, or Super Park, riders prefer boards that have a little more snap or pop to them and are typically a little stiffer in the tail region of the board.

All-Mountain Rider
All-Mountain Riders enjoy riding all of the terrain that the mountain has to offer. Because this person chooses to ride everywhere, it is beneficial to ride a board that is a little stiffer throughout, in order to provide more drive in and out of turns as well as more stability at faster speeds. When choosing an “All-Mountain” board, this is where you will have a little more freedom to choose which size would be the most beneficial, based on where you find yourself riding the most.

Because there is such a wide range of “All-Mountain” Snowboards, their construction and stiffness completely affects the way the board will ride. That is why it is so important to be aware of the stiffness of the particular board that you are interested in. The “Stiffer” the board is by design, the more weight/momentum you will need to manipulate the board. Therefore, if you are a more novice free rider, it will be more beneficial for you to stick to a shape that is not too stiff and for which you find your weight on the higher end of the suggested weight range.

If you often find yourself going after the good stashes of snow and staying off trail, you might want to consider adding a little length to your board to accommodate for a little more surface area, for added float, speed and edge stability. If you find yourself staying mostly on the groomed runs and “cruising,” the added stiffness and rigidity is not as necessary. Since this will make you exert more effort to manipulate the board, you might be able to size down or ride a softer board.

Powder Riders
You by no means NEED a “powder board” to excel at powder riding. Powder boards are typically designed with a “Tapered Shape.” This change in design allows riders who find themselves in white, deep, fluffy goodness to gain incredible amounts of float, stability and speed, more so than what they would experience from the average “All-Mountain” snowboard. Most powder-specific boards move the rider’s stance closer to the tail of the board, which in turn allows the rider to even up their weight distribution for a much more balanced center of gravity.

Even though this is great for riding in powder, this technology does not work as well in the hard-packed snow on the groomers, which is why a “powder-specific” shape might be a better decision to add as a second snowboard, or just stick to the amazing snow conditions.

Whatever your size, ability and style, please ask us for help in choosing a board. We have tons of experience and want to help you find the best board for you.