Snowboards

Snowboards have been around for a while now, but the variations available continue to increase on an almost daily basis and the quality of the boards on the market continues to improve.

Roughly speaking there are 3 main types of snowboard to choose from: freestyle snowboards, freeride snowboards and alpine snowboards. Each has different characteristics suited to different disciplines and riding styles.

Freestyle snowboards are all about agility and flexibility, offering the rider a great deal of control over the board and allowing them to make quicker movements. They are often the shortest type of board and often the widest as well. This makes them perfect for skate parks and jumps where the board can be controlled in the air or when grinding.

Freeride boards are the most common and what most people choose if they only have one board. Unlike freestyle boards, freeride boards are often directional in their shape, meaning they are intended to be ridden in one direction most of the time. This makes them less versatile, but at the same time they are better at gaining and maintaining speed, as well as making them easier to carve. These boards are stiffer than freestyle snowboards, giving them more stability at speed.

The third type of snowboard and the least common is the alpine snowboard. These boards are basically built for high speeds and long carves. They are considerably longer than freestyle and freeride boards, and have far less flexibility also. What they do have however is large edge-surface-areas that are deep also, providing maximum ability to dig into the snow whilst carving and maintain high speeds even in very powdery snow.