When buying a snowboard

Although different riding styles have different snowboards to choose from, choosing the right snowboard is by looking at your ability, riding style, length, width and height.

1) Length

The board should be long enough to reach your chin yet not exceed your nose when it is placed on its tail.

2) Width

The width of the snowboard should be the length of your foot (from the heel to toe)

3) Weight

Your weight is important when choosing the correct board size. Heavy riders should use a stiffer flex whereas light riders should use a softer flex to ensure safe riding.

Snowboard Boots

Snowboard boots enhances your comfort and performance. Well-fitting boots allows you to carry out your movements smoothly, whereas badly-fitting boots can make your movements a flop. In order to feel at ease on the snow, your snowboard boots should be sufficiently rigid but should still allow some forward flex at the ankle. Your boot type and size are dependent on your foot and calf measurement as well as your boarding ability.

Snowboard Bindings

Bindings are designed to hold the boots and rider firmly onto the snowboard. They must be able to provide the correct amount of leverage and responsiveness so that your movements are effectively carried out into the board. Snowboard bindings provide a variety of functions that allow riders to choose which boots suits their trick most e.g. Strap bindings, step-in bindings.

Snowboard Wax

This is important to the maintenance of your snowboard by building up a strong base as you wax regularly. It will help make your glide smoother and does not make your board wear out easily. There are a variety of waxes that gives different type of maintenance e.g. hot wax irons, wax strips, liquid wax and base repair powders. A tip of reminder: Layering your snowboard with a thick coat of snowboard wax at the end of your boarding trip will prevent the base of your snowboard from drying out, making our snowboard last longer.

General tips

Besides these main equipments, it is always good to have some tuning and repair tools for your snowboard. This will allow you to ensure that your snowboard is always in tip-top condition. Also, you should get some comfortable and light weight clothing to ensure that your ride can be carried out smoothly, without the extra clothing restricting your movements.

To search for your gears online, you can visit the following websites that provides a good range of snowboarding equipments: http://www.burton.com/sh/gear/ http://www.salomonsports.com/ http://www.k2snowboards.com/products/products.asp

Disclaimer: We are not affiliated to these sites in any way.

Despite all these, it is good to note that there are snowboards and related equipments designed specially for woman. These snowboards are lighter and the boots are mounted in a slightly different position, to make turning easier. The boots are also cut lower, so as to avoid great pressure on the calf muscle, and are narrower to provide a better fit.