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What makes good powder snowboards? What is a powder snowboard, in the first place?
There are a number of key features that define what a powder snowboard is. However before going into that subject in detail its important to point out that many of the best snowboards these days can be ridden through powder with a great performance. These include both all mountain and freestyle snowboards.
Both of these types of boards have features that are designed specifaclly to handle lots of different types and styles of snowboarding and are quite often the best all round choices for snowboarders of any level to buy.
Some of the powder snowboards attributes that you want for a good ride in different powder conditions are…
A long board – Powder snow is soft, so a longer board will give greater surface area allowing you to float over the top nice and easy.
A unidirectional board – Not many snowboarders are capable of riding switch and regular through powder – it takes quiet some skill, and more often it is far more fun to ride just the one direction. However you don’t need a specifically designed unidirectional board – a true twin will do perfectly fine as long as you set up your stance correctly.
This is done by moving you bindings slightly further back towards the tail, positioning more weight behind the center of the board. Much like you would ride a surfboard.
Reverse Camber – Also commonly known as rocker boards (due to their see-saw like shape) reverse camber board can greatly improve the ride in soft conditions. The curvature of the board makes it easier to keep the nose up and cruising over the powder snow, rather than having it bury beneath it. These boards are also excellent at jibbing and traditionaly have a softer flex.
Flex – Riding in powder can be very taxing on the body, and uses alot of energy in the core and legs to ride. A softer board increases this considerably and also makes for a less stable ride. A snowboard should ideally have a flex of 6 or higher for powder riding.
A few points to keep in mind when choosing powder snowboards – 5cm is different to 20cm of powder. You can get away with anything you would right on the groomed runs or even a park snowboard runs in 5cm, but in 20cm this is definatley not the case. Its not with going out to change your set up or even buy a different board if the most powder you get is a few cm’s.
Other Snowboard Types – The Best Park Snowboards, The Best All Mountain Snowboards
Check out the awesome deals on The Best Powder Snowboards of 2012/2013 (On Amazon)
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