Salomon Pillow Talk Snowboard - Women's 2016

Powder snowboards love powder. Often associated with freeride snowboards, powder boards sometimes feature a wider nose and a tapered narrower tail. The binding inserts, which determine the rider's stance, are often set back on a powder snowboard to help the rider float the tip of the board through the deep stuff. Powder snowboards sometimes also feature rocker, a design element where the tip (and tail) rise starts farther back on the board, which also helps the rider maintain tip float through the pow.

Whether you charge the steepest lines, hit the biggest jumps in the park or carve with race-like precision, advanced to expert level skis, snowboards, boots and bindings are for the more aggressive rider. In skis and snowboards, you'll often find layers of metal, carbon or other stringers for rigidity and power, while advanced to expert level boots and bindings are usually on the stiffer side of the spectrum for rebound and precision steering.

Rocker/Flat/Rocker is another variation on the rocker theme that seeks to provide a little more hard snow edgehold and pop than full rocker while retaining ease of turning and float. Performance is between a fully rockered board and a flat board.

The amount a snowboard flexes varies significantly between boards. Snowboard flex ratings are not necessarily standardized across manufacturers, so the flex may vary from brand to brand. Many manufacturers will give a number rating ranging from 1-10, 1 being softest and 10 being stiffest. Here at evo we have standardized the manufacturers' number ratings to a feel rating ranging from soft to very stiff. Generally you will find flex ratings of 1-2 as soft, 3-5 as medium, 6-8 as stiff, and 9-10 as very stiff. Flex ratings and feel may ultimately vary from snowboard to snowboard.