 Poster: A snowHead
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Went to Three Valleys in Feb and spend just two and a half days on a snowboard for the very first time. A bruising experience but at the end I was linking turns all down greens without falling once and took just a couple of falls on blues. Because the learning process was pretty smooth I am now hooked and am ditching the skiis for a while.
I'm female and they put me on a 130cm board which is really really small. I'm 5ft3 and 48kg/105lbs/7.6 stone - so I'm not big but based on charts that seems really small.
I obviously wasn't at great speeds but I wasn't going particularly slowly either.
My fam gave me skiis and boots for my birthday which I haven't claimed yet so I'm going to get a board and snowboard boots instead. I'm now really confused as to what length to get because 130 was fun and easy! But would probably not be a wise choice.
Any insight would be seriously appreciated!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to snowHeads @abakke, 
Length isn't the only important thing - stiffness matters too.
A softer board will suit a learner better as it's more forgiving. A stiffer one will respond better once you know what you're doing.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Welcome to dark side.
Thats an alarmingly small board for anyone except a child. For someone in your weight/height range, I'd have said you should be on something in the mid 140's.
As @admin says, theres more to it than just length; think about what you'd like to get out of your riding and you'll get a better idea about how to move forwards. You may want to look into getting some more tuition, rather than getting a board straight away - although your own boots may be a good investment. Don't know where in London you are, but if you can get over to the Hemel snowdome, the shop Absolute Snow is about 5 minutes or so away from the site and they have a year round selection of current and older season kit, and their staff are pretty solid on recommending kit. They will offer recommendations etc over the interwebs too. That might be a good starting point for you.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The board you were given definitely sounds too short for you. Each manufacturer will have a guide for each board as far as weight goes and depending on what you plan to use it for will also play a part determining what length to go for if you are in the middle of weight ranges for 2 sizes the shorter the board the less stable at speed but it'll be more maneuverable (this is generally speaking). Boots is definitely the first thing you wana purchase get to a local shop and get them measured up properly as ill fitting boots will ruin a holiday then if you can get to you're local slope on a demo day and try as many boards as you can, riding in a dome won't tell you everything about how a board rides but it's a good start.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| admin wrote: |
Length isn't the only important thing - stiffness matters too. |
Giggity
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@abakke, As a reference point Mrs cad99 is 5ft3, 50kg and rides a Bataleon Violenza 149.
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Thanks so much for all the replies! Really helpful! Was thinking 130 was a bit ridiculous.
I look forward to spending hours trying on boots
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What they said.
Different boards are designed to be ridden at different lengths, so forget about working out your "correct" size, as it depends on the board design.
The first Burton Fish were all made the same length but with different stiffness for differing rider weights.
The difference in adjacent "lengths" isn't just the few cm in running length - if you look at a few in a shop you'll see that longer boards are built beefier too. Whilst beginners may not have the technique to notice the length of their board, for better riders it's critical. In powder a board which is too short is really hard work, where as a board which is too long makes it harder to control the board's speed. To me board size is the single biggest influence on how much fun riding is. I'd rather right any old junky board at the right size than the latest movie-star board in the wrong size.
The best way to pick a board is to ride a few and pick the one you like best.
Very small boards are popular with novices because they're easy for beginners to sideslip around on. If you're at all competent then you'd probably want to rent boards like that as you'll be beyond that stage within a few hours and would want something a bit more fun at speed. You do tend to get very small recommendations on some UK forums; perhaps some of those people don't ride much on real mountains. Depending on how you learn, lessons may be a better investment.
Boots are a good place to start.
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