"The Snowboarder’s Guide to Riding Galaxy”by snowjunkie.com.au

It can get very confusing trying to sift through a lot of information in regards to board shapes and sizes.Positive camber, reverse camber,3-stage rocker, jib, alpine, park - all these terms only make sense when you have ridden a bunch of different snowboards and experimented with different lengths, widths and shapes. So, to make it easier for you, I am providing you with a short and concise guide to buying your first or your best snowboard out there. Directional boards are the most popular category around.Their stance is slightly set back making it easier to ride in deeper snow, they pop,turn,and hold edge in difficult terrain.They will ride anything in front of them from alpine descents, deep powder to halpipes,park and corduroy groomers.Good example of a directional snowboard is the famousBurton Custom or the Lib Tech Jamie Lynn Phoenix snowboard,K2 Turbo Dream.

Twin boards are best suited to someone who comes from a skate, wake, surf background and likes a softer, more flexible, poppy snowride. They ride equally well normal and switch, are easy to press and take off on jumps and in halpipe. These are the boards ridden in most Australian and New Zeland ski resorts. They are fun to ride and very forgiving.Check out some of twin shaped snowboards like the Ride DH, Burton Love,Lib Tech Skate Banana,Capita Indoor Survival,K2 Parkstar.

Tapered snowboards are boards where the nose is wider than tail making it easier to ride in high alpine areas where powder snow is plentiful. These boards are stable at high speeds in deeper snow, they turn easily and the nose is lifted up, so that rear leg burn is not a problem at all.Most of the Tapered snowboards are set back in stance, and are ridden in lengths from 156 up to even 185cm!They are similar to riding a Fish or a Quad surfboard in that they are very forgiving and playful. These boards are ideal for an older rider who is looking for a stable ride. Not good for Park, Rails or Halfpipe.Some famous tapered boards - Lib Tech Snow Mullet, Burton Fish, Burton Cheetah,some of Jones Snowboards.

High Performance Boards-supersonic speeds,flat landings,first descents,innovative tricks,steep transitions,flapping jackets,sharp turns,amplitude,style. If you are after any of those above,make sure you have a look at High-performance snowboards like the Burton Vapor,Burton Custom and Custom X or Lib Tech TRice. These boards can and will slay anything in their path.They feature stiffer cores for more pop, more edge to edge response and only the best sintered bases for supersonic speeds. Anything is possible on these boards and they are ridden by the best pro athletes in the worldlike Travis Rice or Kevin Pearce. Check out these High-performance snowboards - Burton Vapor, Lib Tech Travis Rice, Ride Highlife UL, Ride Berzerker Jake Blauvelt.

1

Last but not least, Urban and Street boards form a new category on the market in 2012.They have super soft cores and wider shapes, ideal for jumping down sets of stairs or gapping from a concrete ledge to a kinked rail in the city centre. Designed for those of us who live in cities, where there is snow on the ground, they are a bit cheaper and not as technical as others. These boards bend and twist easily and are typically Twin shapes for same feeling when ridden in switch. Examples include: Salomon Salomonder, Capita Stair Master, K2 Fastplant, Ride Kink, Burton Whammy Bar and pretty much anything from Technine Snowboards.

Hopefully this concise Guide helps you make the right decision for your Winter.Don’t be afraid to experiment and test your friends’ boards, too. Try out boards through your local Snowboard Store and go to Demo Day up your local Mountain. After all, it is all snowboarding and it is all fun. Go out and enjoy it!

2