ANONIII

Hello, I’m a new user on this forum, but have been an on and off reader for some time, but now I decided to get an acc. to ask some questions.
I just finished a day snowboarding in Finland after a 10hours bus tour for Norway, and I’m getting really bored / annoyed of renting a board every time I ride, I feel it really limits my progression.

So here I will short some questions:

1. Most sets I have tried to date I have been having kind of a “heel slip” so I have tightened the bindings to max, (really hurts and takes time).
I feel I lose so much connection to the board because of this, is getting the right shoes the correct approach to fix this problem? (what kind of shoe brand is good for small heels?)

2. I have no local shop which have a good selection of snowboard equipment, how do you guys order stuff from the web knowing that the shoes/board might not fit you?

3. I read lots of stuff about carving being really important, and you will become a whole new rider mastering this skill, how come?

4. How much money should one divide into each item in the set? Ex. 50%board, 20%binding, 30%boots?

5. I’m mostly a park rider, my first board had a +15 +5 stance, have read about duck stance and tried out +18 -6 and it felt good, should I try to slowly getting into +15 –15?

6. When does the old season boards use to go on sale, I still can’t buy a board in over a month since I’m not home at the time, and if I can wait 2 more weeks to get something cheaper I can live with it.

7. I have only had one board, which I bought when I was 13yo, 10 years ago, which means I have always ridden short boards. So when renting I have always asked for a smaller board.
Should I try to buy a longer board this time? I guess my old board was around 140, have been renting around 145-150. I’m 173cm/5’6feet and 82kg/180lbs, I only like lower speed park riding.

8. When I try to ride flat based my backfoot is slowly turning forward, and I catch an edge all the time. (backfood going forward, where the toe is pointing). Why is this happening? makes riding flat based so scary.


I know some/all questions have been answered before, but I would like to ask new questions based on the answer I'm getting. So I feel a new thread is ok.

Thanks for any answers.
ANONIII

SimonB

1 - Heel lift is bad. Good fitting boots should not allow your heel to lift.

2 - Boots should be tried and bought in store. You can always buy online if the store as a good return policy, in case in does not fit. The rest can be bought online.

3 - Carving is not essential, but a nice skill to have. To me, it is much more enjoyable to be able to carve...

4 - Pay whatever you need to have good fitting boots. I tried over 15 models from 175 to 350$ and ended up getting those at 220$. It's a matter of getting the best boot for YOUR feet. Then get good bindings. I would worry last for the board since you will likely want to change it sooner or later.

5 - Whatever feels good to you. It's all about preference.

6 - They already started discounting certain brands...Typically in March most remaining hard good will be 40% off.

7 - I'd go somewhere between 150-153. A couple cm more if you want it to perform all mountain.

8 - Try keeping your shoulders parallel to the board. Also try keeping a little pressure on one edge. Not enough to carve but just enough so that the board does not wiggle.

Treegreen

If you have smaller, narrower, feet you may also want to consider going a half to full size smaller in your snowboard boots than your regular shoe size. The boots will eventually pack out so you are going to want them to be a little snug to start with or you'll end up with a lot of extra space ala those rental boots.

As for how much to spend, dedicate as much as you can into getting a boot that fits you. Then match a board and bindings to them.

ANONIII

Thanks for both of your answers. My feet is kinda strange, my heel is narrow, but the part right before my toes is really wide, and I'm ?Counter-Flatfooted?. So when finding running shoes and similar fotwear it takes years.
Also how tight does people usually tight their bindings?

SimonB

Bindings don't need to be crazy tight. Just enough so that the boot is secured. It's the boot's duty to hold your foot down