Snowboarding Gear

[PZN]

Um, the best way to try stuff out is the demo center.

It also depends on what kind of boarding u do and the diff types of hills you are on and your style.

If your feet arent growing, get really good boots first and rent the board/bindings, or try em at the demo center (for free). Gradually, you will find your groove and then you can buy a board.

[Subjugation]

deleted. double posted somehow.

[Subjugation]

I can only speak on how much stuff costs out here in the Lake Tahoe California area. Full day passes for the upper end resorts like Squaw, Northstar, and Heavenly are gonna be around $60-$65 bucks for an adult. Snowboard rentals out here are like $40 at those resorts for boots, bindings, and board.

If you go to a local shop, it's gonna prolly be cheaper. There's a couple places in my city that rents board, boot, and binding for $30. So, you should rent the stuff locally, but keep in mind, they will want a credit card deposit for a few hundred dollars.

Lastly, you should just buy yourself some boots and rent the board and bindings. Rentals are even cheaper if you just rent the board. That's usually like $20-25 bucks.

Oh yea, and check for demo packages through the resorts. Sometimes they offer demo packages where you can get a coupon for 4 different brand demos for like $100. That way you can try different manufacturers, and get a discount at the same time.

Also, the packages through local ski clubs can't be beat. When I was in highschool, they had a ski club where you pay X amount of dollars for the season, and you got trips every other weekend. It covered the cost of the ticket, and transportation. That was pretty cool, and you got to go with a group of friends.

Riding with friends is probably the best way to advance your skill level the fastest. You get to learn by watching, and there's a certain level of competition within the collective that drives each other to push their boundaries. It's pretty fun too.

[Volcs]

I doubt he'll be heading out to any resorts as of now :P
If there are any mediocre hills around you (IE: not high end resorts with 60% double diamond runs) it'll probably cost you between $20-40 for a full day pass. It adds up, but it's worth it. With snowboarding, you either hate it or you love it. If you love it, be ready to dish out a good amount of cash.
I ended up going two or three times a week when I got into it, so having seasons passes saved me quite a bit of money over the past 6 years.
Some hills even have "night boarding season passes" that go for like $80. Basically, you pay $80 bucks to board as much as you want after 6pm. So if you ride at night, it might be a good investment.

As for learning with friends- prepare to be ditched.

[Jeansi]

If you just want to ride slopes, carving boards with hard bindings are awesome. You can't actually do carving turns with soft boots (well you can but it takes a year to turn...). And you can use your normal slalom boots so it's cheaper to buy.

IMO it's a bad idea though because just riding a nicely done pist gets boring once you master it. Some people seem to like snowboard slalom though so it's hard to tell

[bloodzombie]

As for learning with friends- prepare to be ditched.

In my opinion, you're better off that way. I'd rather spend some time by myself on the slopes than have people waiting for me all the time and all yelling instructions at me.

I never checked out those demo packages, that seems like a great deal.

[Creature]

I just recently came up with enough cash, so I invested it in a nice board. Right now, i'm shopping for some new equipment this year.

I already got a Burton Clash 05'. Got some decent Burton Synchro bindings and Ride boots. I tore apart some of my nice gloves (somehow), I was using Goretex's. Anybody got some nice gloves I should try? And additionally, since my parents are assholes over my safety, i'm thinking about getting a Giro Audio helmet, I heard those are good, anything about those?

Damn, I forgot to figure out which type of jacket I should get hmm...

[bloodzombie]

I need a helmet too. I never felt like i needed one, but I'm starting to do rails and bigger jumps, so I should probably get one.

[Dant-Zu]

About regular/goofy stance.

Does anyone else than me use regular at snowboard and goody at skateboard? Sounds weird huh? Well that's how it automatically goes for me. I can't ride snowboard with goofy stance very well and I can't ride skateboard with regular stance at all. I have my snowboard bindings at 0 degrees both so maybe I could try riding it with goofy stance. Well anyways, anyone else have this "bad" habit? :P

[warportal]

I rented for 4 years. This year I took the step of buying a board. I'm pretty excited with my gear. Going to France in februari to rip a hole in a few mountains.

I got a Burton Bullet 167. It's not that expensive, 300euro's. A nice all round board, though leans more towards freeriding. And now i can tell my gf to call me the bulletrider! or He who rides the bullet!
Flow binds. I bet some of u will hate me for this , but i like em alot. I have no problems with stability at all, and the quickness is important for me. Most of my friends ski, so if i wanna win some races, I can't be bothered to sit on my ass for too long.
And Burton boots, nothing special, black cause i like black.

Cause i got my own gear now I'll prolly go more than once a year. Snowboarding kicks ass


EDIT

i need new pants. Any brands u guyz recommend? Same goes for gloves and goggles.

[bloodzombie]

My old pants were awesome before I ruined them, I'm having trouble remembering the brand though.

fuck, I'm no help at all.

I have a Sessions jacket and Sessions gloves and Ilike them both very much. I'm not a big fan of my new pants, but I don't remember the brand anyway.

[Volcs]

After one too many concussions and an incident with a tree I started wearing a helmet last season..felt like a dork for the first little while, but it's really no big deal.

As for equipment -
Helmet (can't remember which kind, I'm thinking forum but i don't know if they even make helmets :\)
Volcom jacket
Burton pants
DC boots (FUCKIN WICKED)
Drop mittens
K2 Luna and Burton Balance boards (both with Burton Custom bindings)

Only thing from that list that I hate are my pants. My ass freezes, even with a couple of layers. Unfortunately my coat is brown and pink and until I find some pants that go with it I'm not going to spend money on new pants. I'm not usually someone that needs to match (obviously, i have a brown and pink coat with a red board, lol) but I think the jacket and pants should go together atleast a little bit.

Everyone's been saying get good boots, if you want AMAZING boots, check out the DC ones with boa lacing systems.. I swear they're godly. Check out the website www.dcshoeco.com (i think)

Creature - Get drop gloves, they're awesome. You seem to like burton, unfortunately the burton gloves I got sucked pretty badly so I'd say stay away from them.

[bloodzombie]

When that boa system came out, I was told to stay away from them because eventually that metal wire was cutting through the boots so theey didn't last long. That was a while ago though, so I'm guessing they've gotten better at making them?

Oh man.. the one nice thing I ever said about someone and volcs captures it for a sig.

[Volcs]

When that boa system came out, I was told to stay away from them because eventually that metal wire was cutting through the boots so theey didn't last long. That was a while ago though, so I'm guessing they've gotten better at making them?

Oh man.. the one nice thing I ever said about someone and volcs captures it for a sig.

I've only had the boots a month, so I don't know how long the wire will last, but even if it does break in a week it's worth it!!! I like my boots pretty tight around the ankle, but carving always loosens them pretty well so every 2 runs I'd have to tighten them on the lift (Not fun in the freezing cold). With the boa, not only do they rarely loosen, If i want to tighten them I can do it with MITTENS on, and it takes like half a second. :wub:

And BZ, in the past 4-5 years you've only ever said neutral or negative things in regards to me, so this is HUGE and definitely warrants a spot in my sig