Twin Directional Snowboard (Round, Blunt, Diamond Tipped style)
As the name suggests these twin directional snowboards come in different shapes and sizes, but all essentially allow the same riding style.
The round style has been around for many decades now and was the shape where the origins of snowboards began. The relatively new blunt nose, and diamond tipped style is gaining popularity, and shows the evolution of snowboarding equipment.
Both these types of boards allow the rider to be able to ride “switch”. This means snowboarding in the opposite direction to your normal dominant stance. If you usually ride “regular” this means you have your right leg forward of the left leg when going downhill. But riding switch would mean you transition to the left leg being forward down the mountain.
If you are what they term “goofy” this means your natural stance is to have your left leg forward, and to ride switch you would transition to having your right leg forward.
Once you master this technique you will be able to seamlessly transition between both legs often, and improve your skillset dramatically, allowing you to traverse trickier “goat trail” runs easier, and allowing higher ability on the groomers. Also being able to face your body up towards the mountain (“toeside”) or facing down the mountain (“heelside”) allows you more manoeuvrability and can reduce fatigue on your muscles.
Powderboards
If you have ever spent some time snowboarding and are competent with the groomers, and heading off the side of the marked runs, and now your passion is to go “off piste” to search for those untouched powder runs, then this is the board for you.
Being a one directional snowboard, it is very much like surfing, in that you are forced to stay in the same stance and face in the one direction continuously.
A swallowtail or fishtail shaped board allows the tail to sink into the snow, effectively causing the tip of the board to rise higher above the snow. This allows the boarder a more natural stance and reduces the need to shift their weight to the tail of the board to keep the nose up.
The fishtail end allows for less resistance, drag, and makes those ever more enjoyable turns in the powder that much more exciting.
It is a similar technique to surfing, with the majority of the weight loaded onto the back leg, and the front leg giving the directional input.
Carvingboards
A newer style of snowboard is the carving board, as the name suggests these boards are designed to allow the rider to ride at quite high speeds and make long banked carving turns on groomers, or even “off piste”. The style used for these boards is to use the edge when carving, allowing the rider to keep a lot of speed through the turns.
These boards are usually longer in length (sometimes as long as the rider is tall) due to speed being the primary objective.