Introduction
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Whattup Shredder?
I remember when I was first in a snowboarding shop looking for my very first own board.
I was tired of using my friends boards and decided it was time. I looked up and down long hallways full of boards of all different sizes.
I couldn't decide what to choose.
I had no freaking clue dude.
Now, after years of experience, winning competitions, and training newbies I know what kind of board you will need based on a number of different factors which we are going to go over in this video.
If you want to learn ALL the pre-requisites, this week we've got 50% Off Shred School: https://www.edshreds.com/school
Choosing Your First Snowboard

Christian: (00:00)
What up shredder,
if you're just getting started in snowboarding, you might be wondering what is the right size snowboard. And you're trying to take your skills to the next level. You should probably be wondering the same thing because size does matter. That's what I'm talking about in today's video.
You're going to make sure you never miss a video. Go ahead and subscribe to the channel hit notifications right now. Let's get into it. Does size matter the question. I'm going to answer it for us.
Ben: (00:30)
Yeah. So as you're going out there to buy as maybe your first snowboard, or you need a refresher course on what is the right size board for you, and we're going to kind of run you through all those pointers right now, you might've heard from, you know, your mom or somebody that has heard about snowboarding. That's a board should come right to here. That rule is kind of been thrown out the window due to the materials that we're putting into these boards.
And really just all the tech that goes into it. The extended surface area, longer running effective edge or a, you know, the most important factor is what is your style riding? You know, if you're a beginner, I always say downsizing is just fine.
You know, less for, to, to have to manage and control is going to be a little bit easier for getting started. And as you progress your writing and develop your particular style a little bit more, uh, then you'll kind of dictate what size board you're jumping on from there. If you're defining your writing style, if you prefer to write trees and moguls and you like a quicker terms, a shorter board is going to be just fine. You know, a board that's shorter, it's going to manipulate twists and get you through mobiles a lot easier than big long cord built for speed.
Christian: (01:33)
Yeah. So if we're just getting started, we're looking at what we're looking at between here and here. So it's not to between the chest and the chin.
That's something I see a lot is like maybe somebody borrows their older brother's snowboard and they get out there and they get to the Hill and it's coming up here past their forehead. And I just look at them like that's going to be very difficult for that person to learn how to snowboard the shorter, the snowboard when you're getting started, the easier it's going to be to maneuver that snowboards.
Ben: (01:56)
And that's where some trade offs come in. As you develop your writing style, as you get more confident at higher speeds, you'll notice a shorter board is going to be more prone to some shapes and not be as stable for you. So that's where increasing your afforded length will help.
Snowboard Buying Guide
Christian: (02:10)
If you're only riding rails, you can ride a lot shorter. So word, cause you don't really need that stability at high speeds and you don't need to be able to stop an 80 foot kicker. So it's really gonna depend on what you're riding. So let's get away from rails now. Now what are we looking at?
Ben: (02:23)
Yeah. So let's say you are a park rider, but you're not only riding rail. So you want a little bit more of a stable, bigger board for jumps. Um, really just more landing gear to put down as you're coming around to off of the jumper, off of a spin, having that, uh, more surface area to put down and land that's going to help you with your stability and your ability to ride away.
Christian: (02:43)
Yeah. I know the rippers. I know who hit big jumps, almost exclusively. They're going to ride a Canberra board as pretty stiff. It was a little bit longer. Same with pipe riders.
They're always going to add a little bit of stiffness and Lake fill up board so that they're stomping tricks when they're coming down at 10. But what about for everyday rider? He's out there leaving. They're free riding the mountain. They hit the park every once in a while, but they really just want to get the most out of,
Ben: (03:08)
Yeah. Once you kind of know that you're, Hey, I'm not a park rider. I'm not being in the park every day, but I want a board that if
I do end up cruising through baby park or dad park or any of that, I'm going to have a cord that'll work just fine for me. And that's where you're kind of reaching the middle of the road or for somebody like myself or a young Christian. I we're looking at like a one 54 to a one 58 right now.
Christian: (03:26)
Yeah. And I mean I'm 6 1 and you're,
Ben: (03:29)
I'm like six, two, no, I'm like, I'm like five, eight. Yeah.
Christian: (03:34)
Well, we'll ride the same size boards. Lot of times I'll borrow that or, and I can ride it just fine and he can ride, my board was fine.
It was quite a big range that you could work with there. But if we are getting into like power boards or big mountain, I'm probably going to ride a bigger board meeting.
Ben: (03:47)
Right? Yep. Yep. So, uh, again, uh, to, to Christian's note there about our height differences, uh, height does not factor in like a snowboard does not care how tall you are. It cares more about your weight, your shoe size.
And then I kind of break this last column down into two categories of your riding style or your riding experience level. So like we said, was that beginner, a shorter board with a more defined writing style. You can kind of go shorter for trees, mobiles, uh, rails, uh, and also maybe softer flexing.
And then once you get into half-life jumps and bigger speeds, you're extending the length of that board. So again, snowboard doesn't care how much you, how tall you are. It cares about how much you weigh your boot size and then your writings.
Christian: (04:30)
Good to know. So let's break down a couple benchmarks. We go just similar as around here. So let's grab like a girlfriend's board real quick.
Yeah. This is a boy that want to work. They're all friends might ride and we're looking at what a one 44 for a five, two, five, three girl. Yup.
Ben: (04:45)
Again, the height isn't factoring as much as your weight and shoe size and riding style or ability, sorry to drive that one home. But again, this board is, has no way of knowing how tall you are, but as a, again, as a general rule of thumb for a beginner, you're wanting to start below that chin range just so you can manage that.
Christian: (05:03)
Yeah. So let's take another one.
How to Buy a Snowboard
Ben: (05:06)
Well, we've got a lot here, Christian. Yeah. So let's go to maybe get more specialized writing style in the simple pleasures here. So this forward is a, it's a stable camera board with some rocker in the nose. Uh, it's effective edge is extended. Uh, its actual length is a 151 centimeters.
Uh, this gets into a gray area with volume shift stories. Uh, typically you can downsize a little bit about three to six centimeters and on, towards like this, we go into that thing that knows appeals.
So you've got a, you can see it's a much wider, uh, uh, or to work with. And then also your effective edge running back down the side of the board. It doesn't start that late uptake or curve until later in the board. So this word even know it's coming down to my chin is going to write really, really solid for me.
Christian: (05:53)
It's gonna be more stable than something with a regular profile. Absolutely. So let's look at the normal board. Let's look at like the whole map of charger,
Ben: (06:00)
Right? So this is a burden custom on 54 20th edition. Uh, not that that matters, but the customer was really, it was, it was designed as essentially Dave Downing's pro model without putting Dave County Sam on it.
So this was a board that he personally developed for that all mountain rider. The rider that isn't, uh, pigeonholed into one style, a board like the customer is really designed to give you an all mountain field that doesn't feel out of place in the park. And what size is this? It's a one 54.
Christian: (06:30)
So let's see. So this is kind of a bullet of my chin. This is how I'm going to ride for like a small park rails, stuff like that. If I run really big jumps, I'm definitely going to at least stepping up to one 56. So you can see even probably my big cardboard is going to be below my chin if I'm doing a lot of spinning and rails.
Ben: (06:47)
Yep. So that's our custom again, a really well-rounded board, a perfect through your everyday rider, uh, with a little bit more experience to himself or herself. And until we get this boy over here. Okay. So what we have there is our K two, one 58 per rodder, one 59. Okay. Little off rusty it's summer. And on the longer end the boards. Yeah.
Christian: (07:15)
Unless you're super cold or
Ben: (07:18)
You have the desire for higher speeds. You're not so enthralled with getting into the trees. Cause a board this big for somebody like myself, it's a lot to manage when you are in trees or tighter turns. So a board like this, obviously it's a split word. So it's designed more so for wide open turns and for a dollar.
Yeah. And so you, you are at an airport, right? Yes. The one 59. So again, a pretty big, but for splitboarding you, a bigger board is going to help you get more elevation gain and also feel a lot more stable and you know, some terrain that you're potentially not really used to. Yeah. So that's a big one.
How to Size Your Snowboard
Christian: (07:58)
If you're one of those jobs out there, like our friend Danny is I think he's six, four. Yes. And he rips it. You will hit super big jumps. He's always throwing his body around. And so he rides sometimes at one 72.
Ben: (08:10)
Yeah. The last court I got for Danny, I believe was a one 69 wise.
Christian: (08:14)
Yeah. We convinced them to finally step it down into the one 60. He said he has found a very big board there for awhile, but that's probably the, about the top of the range that you're going to go is up there. It's tough with the one sixties.
So we're looking at anywhere from, I know my first board when I was a kid and I was probably about four, eight and a hundred pounds was a bird chopper, one 22 pleasing snowboard, stepped it up to the one 46 after that. And then when I finally grew up, now I ride about a one 56. What's your question?
Ben: (08:42)
Yeah. Uh, I'm a one 56, pretty much daily driver. Sometimes I'll take out my party platter, which again has a little bit of that volume shift story. And I prefer that at a one 52. Awesome.
Christian: (08:52)
To sum it up, if you're a beginner ride a little bit, if you're not as experienced and know charge is hard, you don't need that longer board length.
And then if you really rip them out, the Harding ride by the longer snowboard you're going to want, but you're gonna want to cap out at some point so that you have that maneuverability and you can ride to the trees and the jobs and the rail and everything else, any parting words for something is out there. And they're trying to decide like what's the best snowboard size from the road.
Ben: (09:16)
Yeah. So again, think about what your writing ability is at that current point. And where do you want to progress to? A lot of these boards will have, um, kind of beginner features built in that allow you to progress your writing naturally.
So if you're, if you're a beginner, go in there and say, Hey, I'm okay, downsizing a little bit. Um, you know, a softer flex is going to be preferred for beginner. Cause you can really get the twist and manipulation out of the board that you can't get with a stiffer board.
Christian: (09:44)
So go out there and give it a shot. Keep it in this general range, pick your, pick your poison and let us know what goes in the comments we'd love to hear. That's all really don't forget to like this video for the algorithm.
Christian: (09:56)
Peace out Shredder.
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