What board size to buy

[Redstar42-]

Wondering if someone can help. I need to know what board size to buy. I am about 5' 8'', 10 & 1/2 stone and i can handle most red runs without too much difficulty. I have rented for the last few years and been given boards from 150 to 158cm. I think the rental shops sometimes just hand out what they have in stock. I dont do the parks but like to go at the boardercross tracks for the fun. If someone can give me an idea about what the correct size board, that would be great.. Thanks in advance.

[paul]

Hi Redstar, welcome to the forum. From my experience I would say you should go for the mid to high level of that range. 150cm is very small for your height and weight. Also the boards are not as wide as longer boards, so if you have a size 10 shoe or bigger you may have problems with the bindings, or your shoes catching the snow on turns.

For freestyle : 152cm should do you. But if you are just doing normal pistes and a bit of boarder cross it should be longer and around 156cm and if you are going off slope more than on slope you can get them to add a few more cm's on to that, to bring it to around 163cm.

[Redstar42-]

Thanks Paul. Yes pistes and the tracks are all i will be going for. I take a 9 boot so i would imagine the 156cm range would be good. I had my eye on a board that had a little bit more room up front, i dont do switch, dont go off piste, much, and generally just stick to the pistes. I suppose that i can set up the binding so that my back foot is brought forward a bit to counter the longer front end for now and if it snows heavy and the pistes have some fresh snow then i can change back to the longer front end. Or should i just stick to a standard even set up board? Thanks for your help..

[paul]

I generally go for simplicity, basically because I am lazy and I like the fact that my angles for my bindings are always the same, and I know how they will react in certain conditions. So I adjust my aggressiveness and method on the slopes, rather than changing the binding. That way if conditions change during the day, I know I'll be fine and won't waste time adjusting and getting used to the new settings.

156cm would probably be the best for you, the bigger you go the less responsive it gets. I used a 162 once and it was like sailing on a boat

[caso]

I mainly ride the Burton Custom X 160 cm, and im the same weight as you and a little taller. I have tired a few different boards over the season , i don't really feel much of a difference between 158 or 160. But what i do feel a big difference in is the stiffness or flex of the board.

I always understood as a rule of thumb the lenght of your board should be nearly the same as the distance from your toes to your chin.

I always use Burton stuff because of there 48 warranty, they say if you break your board they will replace it within 48 hrs. I never had to replace my board yet, but i did rip a pair of burton pants this season and called into the burton store in Innsbruck and they replaced them on the spot.

Most of this years burton boards have the est binding system, which means you can move your bindings up and down the board depending on the conditions.

Burton also do most models in a wide board verison for people with big feet as well as standard, i wear size 9 or 10 boots and i have a standard width board and my bindings are set to around 15 degrees both front and back.

The odd time when i am on a steep black run and do short sharp turns my toes will hit the snow , making my edge loss contact with the snow. But i can easy live wit it and i think it encourges me to do less turns and go faster.

[paul]

I've just launched the snowboard length tool on snowboard.ie , and it spat out that you should aim for a 153cm sized board.

caso : have you tried with more forward positions ? It takes a bit of time to get used to, but you'll find that the board is more responsive.