Snowboarding Tech this Season

With the season quickly approaching, it’s time to check out the latest and greatest in snowboarding tech. In the last few years snowboard technology has improved, making it more conducive for beginners to learn and for more advanced riders to shred up the mountain and terrain parks.

Here are a couple things to look out for in snowboarding technology:

Snowboard Edges
Edge tech has improved over the years, changing where the board is going to grab and dig in. Changes in edge technology have been one of the greatest factors in making it easier for beginners to learn how to turn, changing where the edge grabs the snow in beginner boards, making it easier to turn and less likely for a beginner to catch an edge and fall hard.

Snowboard Shapes
Kyle Petri, Breck Sports manager, said one of the trends this year was changing board shapes. Instead of most snowboards being the symmetrical, twin-tip shape, companies are making more asymmetrical and directional boards. Snowboard shapes that are made to be more specific to snowboarding in powder, carving groomers, or getting tricky in the park. Powder boards tend to be a tapered shape, wider in the nose than in the tail. Snowboards for carving deep turns on groomers are a directional shape. Snowboards meant for the park are true twin tip shape, meaning that it performs the same when riding switch. Of course all-mountain boards are a nice compromise of all these shapes.

Snowboard Camber/Rocker
Camber and rocker refer to the contact points on the base of the board. In the last few years companies have been making a variety of different camber, rocker, and combinations. The camber of the board affects its overall stability as well as its ability to float on powder and pop for jumps.

Backcountry Snowboarding
The backcountry is not just for skiers anymore! Many snowboard companies are starting to produce splitboards. A splitboard is a snowboard that can be separated down the middle into something resembling telemark skis, allowing the snowboarder to easily climb and traverse, and the two halves can be reconnected for the descent.

Greener Snowboards
Many companies are making an effort to use recycled materials and source them locally as well as manufacture locally.

Let’s hear it in the comments – are you planning on trying any new snowboard tech this season?

– Carol Saade