The Neilson guide to choosing a snowboard

There are a few types of snowboard out there, each designed to suit a specific environment or style of riding:

• All-mountain: as the name suggests, these are versatile all-rounders that suit most types of terrain. Ideal for beginner and intermediate riders who want to have fun trying out everything from pistes to pipes.

• Freestyle: these lightweight, flexible boards are made for playing. A great choice if you love hitting the parks to practice your tricks and spins.

• Freeride or alpine: if your idea of snowboarding heaven is carving up the slopes at top speed, you’ll love the stable, narrow design of these directional boards.

• Big Mountain or powder: for off-piste adventures, a stiff powder board will help you cut through deep snow. They’re not made for the piste and can be hard to handle if you’re new to the sport.

• Women-specific: you’ll find a growing number of boards designed specifically to suit women. Particularly important if you are petite or have small feet.

One of the most important things to think about in your search for the right board is length. If you have ever hired a snowboard, you’ll know that boards are allocated roughly according to your height, but we also recommend taking your weight into account.

Once you've chosen the type of snowboard you want to buy, a quick internet search for the relevant size chart will allow you to input your weight and height to calculate your ideal board length.

Generally speaking, longer boards will go faster but are more difficult to manoeuvre, while shorter boards are easier to turn but won’t reach the same speeds. A simple rule of thumb for beginners is to choose a board that comes to about chin-height.

Most snowboards are given a flex rating between one and ten. This usually refers to the flexibility of the board from nose to tip, although you might also be given a ‘torsional flex’ rating which tells you how much the board bends from edge to edge.

• 1-2: soft flex
• 3-4: medium-to-soft flex
• 5-6: medium flex
• 7-8: medium-to-stiff flex
• 9-10: stiff flex

If you are just learning to snowboard, steer clear of the stiffer boards. While faster, they tend to be harder to control and more likely to flip an edge. A more flexible – or ‘mellow’ – board will be way more fun while you’re finding your feet.

Choosing the right width of snowboard will depend on the size of your feet. You want to avoid having a board that is too wide, making it hard to turn, or too narrow, meaning your boots catch in the snow as you ride.

Big-footed boarders with a shoe size of UK10 or over should be looking for a snowboard of at least 25cm in width. Riders with smaller feet should find a board somewhere between 21-25cm.

Snowboards come in a range of different shapes, some quite subtly so.

Novice riders usually stick to a symmetrical twin-tip board, meaning it can be ridden both forwards and backwards (switch) for the best manoeuvrability. They can be ridden on all kinds of mountain terrain and are a forgiving choice when it comes to trying out the freestyle parks.

A directional board is designed to only be ridden forwards and are best suited to fast, carving turns. Off-piste fans can choose a tapered directional board with a narrower tail to help the nose of their board cruise through powder with ease. And for extreme powder riding? A directional swallowtail is your best bet.

We’re really getting down to the nitty gritty now! The camber of a snowboard is basically the shape of its contours when you look at it sideways on. You’ll have noticed the nose and tails of boards usually curve upwards, but there are other variations in camber that can affect your riding.

Unless you are getting into fairly specialist riding, a snowboard with a traditional positive camber will do just fine for everything from cruising the slopes to freestyle riding. Complete novices might opt for a flat camber board for a more stable ride, but you might quickly find yourself looking for a snowboard that can be a little more dynamic. You’ll find some hybrid camber boards that aim to bring you the best of both worlds.

Reverse, rocker or banana camber boards are popular with freestyle riders who spend a lot of time on rails, jibs and kickers.

There’s no need to go nuts when buying your first snowboard. The pricier models are not necessarily the best, especially if you’re simply looking for a versatile board to have some fun on.

Sure, if you end up falling head over heels with the snowboarding lifestyle, you might want to splash out on a world-class carbon board for those epic powder days, but until then save your pennies for snowboarding holidays – and that all-important après-ski fund!