How to choose your snowboard?

Legend has it that your snowboard should sit just below your chin and never higher than eye level, otherwise it might cover your eyes and cause you to crash.

Never mind, we are in 2024 and things have come a long way. The snowboard must be chosen taking into account the rider's weight and the type of snowboarding that will be practiced.

One of the ways in which factories can test boards is by subjecting them to different stresses. Bending and torsion tests are carried out on the different axes. Different forces are applied to study the reactions they cause and, in the end, a force is nothing more than that, a weight plus the force of gravity.

With the results obtained in the different tests, the brands establish a scale that serves as a reference for choosing the size of your board.

Once you have found the board that suits your weight, you can play with the size depending on the type of snowboarding you are going to do. Looking for your weight in the “guide” above, you will probably find yourself between three sizes. Let’s assume that you weigh 60kg, according to the “guide”, you can use 152, 154 and 156. We will try to describe in broad terms and without taking into account the hardness of the board what will happen when selecting each of the above sizes.

152cm, the guide tells us that the board is designed to support a rider of up to 68kg. Great, we are more or less between the maximum and the minimum, in principle this would be the most recommended board. Being the shortest of the three, it could be a good option for freestyle (jibbing) or for someone who is just starting out, a smaller board, easier to move.

154cm, intermediate, the most versatile of the three sizes. It would be the perfect option for someone looking for a board for everything, someone at an intermediate level.

156cm is the largest of the three and probably also the heaviest. I would choose this size for someone with a good level of skill. The bigger the board, the more stable it is and the harder it is to move. This board will withstand speed better and will also be more stable on landings.

All of the above will be useless if we do not take into account the waist or width of the board. Without being wide (wider than normal boards built for riders with large feet) this model of board increases its width each time it goes up in size. It could be that your board is a 52 but your foot asks for a 56.

As I said before, depending on the type of snowboard you practice, you can increase or decrease the size of your board. If you spend your time destroying all the rails you find in the snowpark or you are one of those who always carries a shovel with you in case it snows and you can hit that street spot you dream of, the ideal is to lower the size obtained through weight a little. Why? Well, because you have to move quickly. If, for example, you want to enter a rail rotating, you cannot carry a “gate” on your feet, that stops the rotation. You need a “ skate ” that is light and easy to move.

If you are a free spirit looking to make your mark, a good freerider , then you need a boat, something that floats on the surface, something with a wide blade that allows you to make your way through fresh snow. If this is your type of snowboard, the ideal would be to choose a larger board, with a larger surface to float better. If we distribute the weight of the body over a larger surface (bigger board) less load reaches each point of the board, making it easier to stay afloat.

For speed freaks looking to reach the speed of light and knock the stickers off all the “palis”, then you need a somewhat long “arrow” that will allow you to gain stability while you smash the clock.

If you want something for everything, you should keep in mind that the perfect board doesn't exist. If it's great on one terrain, it won't be as good on another. To get that Swiss Army knife, we'll rely on the brand's recommendations and look for versatile " shapes " that can provide improvements where the measurements are lacking.

The shape is the shape of the board, how it is built. Depending on the shape, we can find directional boards, designed to go in one direction , where we will almost always have more nose than tail when setting the bindings. Twin boards, designed to go in both directions, allow us to configure the bindings in a twin way, so the nose and tail can be the same. Finally, directional twins, a bit of everything…

Camber is the shape of the arc created between the nose and tail of the board. This shape can make your board more reactive, more docile or have greater buoyancy. We can find an endless number of cambers and a large number of hybrid boards that mix them to achieve the benefits that each of them provides. Below we explain what each of the main cambers provides:

Positive/Traditional camber: Easy to recognize, it forms an upward arc when the board is on a flat surface. The contact points with the ground are close to the nose and tail and the center of the board rises. These are stable, precise boards with a lot of pop and power. They are good boards for carving. They hold well at high speed and are suitable for expert riders. However, the classic camber makes the board more reactive and therefore more prone to counter-edging. This type of board is not the most suitable for beginner riders.

Reverse camber, also known as banana, is the opposite of traditional camber. Instead of the center part rising, the nose and tail rise. The lowest point is in the center of the board, while the nose and tail rise and do not touch the snow. Unlike traditional camber, the rider's weight is distributed over a larger surface area, thus reducing the chances of suffering a counter-edge, which is why they are good boards for beginners. Due to their curved shape, it is easier to initiate turns and since the nose and tail have a "spoon" shape, they provide buoyancy in deep snow. Banana boards tend to be more unstable at high speeds, less precise and less reactive since they do not deform much and therefore do not generate much energy when returning to their original shape.

The zero/flat camber , the balance between the inverted and the classic camber. The board is completely flat from nose to tail. It retains the best properties of both cambers, offering better grip than the inverted camber but worse than the traditional one, it is more reactive than a banana and more manageable than a positive camber. Flat boards are ideal if you want a snowboard for everything, if you are one of those who goes to the park at the last minute after riding all over the place, this type of camber is for you.

Hybrid/mixed camber, this is a combination of the above and seeks to get the best out of each. This camber provides great reactivity and increases the pop of the board since, having such an aggressive shape, it deforms at many points and when returning to its original shape it generates more energy. The rocker in the nose and tail provides buoyancy and facilitates entry into turns, avoiding counter-edges to a greater or lesser extent.

Every day it is possible to find weirder cambers and crazier constructions, technology advances a lot. You have to look at these new boards with an open mind, get informed to take advantage of what is really useful and discard what is not useful.

In short, find a board that is suitable for your weight, analyse your snowboard and buy one that is larger or smaller depending on your snowboard. Now that you have a slight idea of ​​the performance of each camber, choose the one that best suits you.

If after reading this article you are still not sure, book a snowboard assessment with our specialist advisors on our website. For one hour you will have the exclusive attention of one of our sports technicians.