What do I need to know about snowboards?

A snowHead

My daughter is getting more into snowboarding (she has skied since she was 4), started learning last summer and come back to it this summer.

She is asking about getting a snowboard and although not rushing into it, I also know nothing about the equipment so I would like to start getting an understanding of the equipment and what I am looking at.

She almost got her first pair of boots yesterday- our local store (Snowtrax) had a pair of size 6 Burton Junior boots down to £72, but despite her feet measuring a 5 on the measures and wearing a 6 in the hire boots (again Burtons) she found them too small.

A snowHead

burton women boots usually runs 1 to 2 sizes small.

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yep - burton run at least a size small.
Rental boots would already have been packed out, which is why they would have been a better fit. Boots tend to pack out by 1 size after wearing for a number of hours.
Also dont go by size 5, 6, etc. Go by Mondo size. In theory, a UK size 5 to 6 could be 5 different mondo sizes depending on the manufacturer & how they match to the nearest size equivalent for a UK size.

There are lots of guides online about sizing for a boot & what to look for like toes grazing the toe box, etc.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Mr.Egg, that is interesting, in my idle looking I wasn’t seeing mondo sizes. I was seeing a lot of EU sizes however, so was wondering if they weren’t really used for snowboard boots

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Mondo is the standard but not always adhered to. Always good to measure your daughters feet include width and go by that on Mondo scale. Ultimately always best to try as many boots as possible.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

If they are young I wouldn't rush into buying stuff as they will grow out of it so quickly. I would stick to renting unless you are doing enough days where renting becomes more expensive than owning.

If you decide to buy there is really nothing quite like trying them on. For a child I would just focus on getting something they find comfortable and are happy to wear.

For board it's complicated, people have different views, and a lot comes down to personal tastes. I don't know about the kids boards, I suspect they are quite general do it all style boards so probably can't go too wrong. Important bit is getting right size - usually companies have recommendations based on height and weight.

After all it is free

Thanks @boarder2020, my daughter is 14 and 5’ 5”. I suspect she may grow a couple more inches at most. Her feet I don’t expect to grow much more but there is always a chance

Although she is reasonably tall now, she is very slender, 46.5kg.

We tend to go 2 weeks a year and onto dry slope regularly and Hemel for the Oktobertest.

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

The kind of board you want for a dry slope is going to be quite different to what you want for a real mountain. Even then, it's not necessarily straight forward.

Dry slope - short and playful. Extruded base will need less maintenance and is easier to repair when damaged (which I've heard is more common on dry slopes). Dry slope is going to trash the board pretty quick, I would probably just get something cheap second hand and not worry about it.

Mountain: something a little longer and stiffer to handle more speed and bigger turns. Sintered base for better performance than extruded. I would suggest regular camber shape to get into good habits, but others would suggest something more forgiving/playful. Anything described as "all-mountain" is probably "ok".

For boots just get something comfortable your daughter is happy to wear.

snow reports

I teach kids fairly regularly and it's successful just as often as teaching skiing is, but it does maybe take a little longer until they're cruising. A lot of kids will happily bomb around the mountain in the most ugly snowploughs, but hey, they're bombing around the mountain on day 2 or 3 and it's fun. On a snowboard, it can be frustrating until they've learnt to turn (go in one direction on one edge, begin to turn, change edge, continue happily on a new edge, repeat) which can mean a little longer on the beginner pistes than for skiers.

14 is a great age and prior experience of skiing is also great.

For boots - not so big that they're hindering control. Had a kid who just wasn't learning once, suspected the boots and sent him back to the hire shop at the end of the first evening. All good - but no dice and no progress. Come the end of day 5 we gave him a manual drag up the hill and his feet came out of his boots, which remained fixed in the bindings... Did anybody shell check those Burton boots? Have a look at the foot length compared to the little foam footbed? If not, try a better bootfitter.

For boards - not too short! I get sooooo many kids straight from the hire shop struggling to balance on tiny hire boards with the bindings so close together their feet are touching. A nice, big wide stance gives stability and makes things much easier and a proper kids board should be soft enough that it'll still flex tortionally and turn.

Board shape - not full rocker! This is becoming less of an issue now, but kids on full rocker boards can turn into helicopters spinning wildly down the slope and never riding the edge. Flat or light camber boards are great - even flat to rocker.

Instructor - not a skier who drew the short straw! Teaching snowboarding needs experience (just like teaching skiing). Get someone who's done it before and can keep it fun not frustrating, progressive but not dangerous.

Protection - helmet, wrist guards that go over the gloves (not under - way easier) and maybe padded shorts.

Feel free to stick video up here if you want more help - gonna be a very quiet autumn for me. Good luck!

@AdamNotts,

Padded shorts are a must!

You know it makes sense.

Thanks. @Mr.Egg, and @AdamNotts

My daughters skiing has no sign of a snow plough she out skis both of us!

She started snowboard lessons last summer did 4 the got a bit frustrated. This summer at Snowtrax Holiday club she got back both the board again and decided she wanted to go back to to. She has had a number more and has been now signed of to Level 6 at Snowtrax. She is just about mastering the turns but needs a lot more practice.

I tried to take a video earlier (not sure I can upload those?) and she got a lot better through the lesson.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Yep it didn’t seem to like the video - although it let me select the video, it says on “Preparing” for a long while and I gave up.

A snowHead

If the boots were BRTN grom/junior range I would imagine it was a good thing you didnt buy .

A snowHead

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You need to get her feet measured up in mm/cm so you use the same metric units on her feet that you read in the boots .ie.mm/cm/mondo
Forget uk school/fashion shoe sizing this isnt it

Also they often need help to make certain the foot is not forward in the boot hence the male herd stating BRTN womans are sized small .

Many including adults are not in the heel pocket .
This means that many cannot put a alpine boot on properly even 40 yrs later

https://www.burton.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Burton_EUR-Site/en_GB/Help-Sizecharts

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Tirol 164, I was suspecting that was what was going on - it felt very narrow at the heal at the back. He did size the in sole against her foot which looked pretty good fitting wise. The chap fetch a pair which were technically a size smaller and these she felt LESS cramped in, but still a bit too small (not surprising).

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Boots are the foundation, the risk of ill fitting is very very high hence boarder2020 stated get what shes happy in ...its real good advice but..
You can help with technical measurement and trial fitting which is alot of time/effort as bootfit is very complex no matter what others say .
You dont want to be in the revolving door of sales and wasted training time .

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@boarder2020, thanks to you as well. I had been assuming that the same would be suitable for both in resort and on the dry ski slope

After all it is free

B2020 is right buy a used setup for dry slope you could use the purchase as a sizing tester for the 3 hardgoods learning curve ie.used brd boot binders
Dome use generally requires a shorter stick than say a all mountain brd used in a big resort

What you also need to know about snowboarding is that everytime you get on to a small piece of flat terrain this will happen
http://youtube.com/v/4w7sVSMbjyM

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@irbis,

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Learning on a dry slope must be very frustrating, it's bad enough on hard snow, though I think some of our Olympians actually learnt on dryslopes. I'd consider myself an advanced piste carver but went to a dryslope last year and gave up after 1 run, couldn't do a thing on it.
So don't let her get too frustrated before going on the real stuff.

snow reports

@NickyJ, There were boards on offer at Oktobertest last year - Ride IIRC. They were all adult sizes but there were mens and womens boards. If OKT20-HH happens this year we are planning on being there, I can bring down some of the larger junior kit I have if she'd like to have a play.

Another one for the dark side! The force is strong in these young masters...

You know it makes sense.

@Richard_Sideways, ah missed them. Thanks that would be great

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@NickyJ, me and the wife have never boarded. But our two children (currently 13 and 15) have intermittently boarded. I've just taken punts on second hand stuff - ebay, Snowheads, FB Marketplace and seem to have managed OK. We've had 3 sets of boots and boards thus far. Smallest now sold on, others still in use. The longest board was pretty big at the time but seemed a good deal so risked it. Bit of the backdrop to that purchase:

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3160235&highlight=endeavor#3160235
https://www.snowmagazine.com/ski-gear/954-snowboards/endeavor-board-of-directors-2017-18

As you can see it's very much an all rounder - which is what I've always looked for given I don't know my stuff in regard of boards and given the kids will ride anything - piste, park, powder.

Here's a pic with showing the size compared with laddo when he first had it.

Boots, I've not done any try on's before purchase. Kids grow so quick anyway it's pretty hard to get something just right and the way I figure it hire boots aren't necessarily going to be the best boots/fit either. So I just hit and hope - usually based on shoe size. My daughter takes the cast off's from her older sibling.

I service the boards myself.

Neither have had lessons - they've just learnt as they've gone on with a few tips from other boarders/youtube.

We don't use dry slopes/fridges.

Laddo has really got into it at times. When we were in Les Menuires Spring 2019 he did a lot including some decent off piste. I think my daughter is more of a natural but had a bad day in Les Menuires and so didn't do much after. And at Christmas it was really snowy and at times heavy going so neither did much on their boards. But I think they'll continue to do both and I may well need to go back into the market next season.

I guess in short - I wouldn't overthink it too much with the caveat I may just have forgiving kids and/or may have just got lucky with what I bought.

A snowHead

A snowHead

When it comes to servicing boards, I am assuming there is nothing fundamentally different to servicing skis? Aside it being really really wide?

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The right boots are really important, and from personal experience a total nightmare to sort for teenagers with rapidly growing feet. Best to suck it up and spend what it takes rather than chasing down a bargain.

I taught both my kids to snowboard from the age of 3, doing 30 to 40 days a season, so they were both solid riders by the time they were teens, but usually ended up with Burton setups just because they are easy to get in the right sizes, do what they say on the tin, and easy to sell. Burton boots are a bit of a weird fit though, definitely worth trying lots of different brands to get it right,

One of my kids is an instructor now, and works part time in a snowboard shop, mainly teaching teens and younger. She spends most of her time at work adjusting badly fitting boots.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@NickyJ, just a few screws to move bindings. Easy to do. Servicing the same as skis.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Servicing is the same - yes they are wider but it won't particularly matter if you don't have a full width scraper, although you can get them. They do take longer to warm up as they are bigger so soak up more heat than skis, so you have to take a bit more time with the iron.

After all it is free

I find that short scrapers work ok so long as they are plastic.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I would stay away from step on bindings for now. More expensive and very limiting in terms of boot options. Regular strap bindings are perfectly adequate, barely any slower to get in, and once you get past the beginner stage getting stuck on flats should be quite a rare occurrence.

IME snowboard boots are far less complicated than some in this thread suggest. All the snowboarders I know do perfectly fine buying regular boots straight off the shelf without ever needing any fitting/adjustments. It's nothing like ski boots in that regard. You are just looking for comfort, making sure there is no heel lift, and suitable stiffness (which depends on riding style and personal preference - you can't go too wrong with a mid flex for now).

Help!!

What do I need to know about snowboards?

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