Never Summer Pandora Rocker Snowboard - Women's 2011

Freestyle

Freestyle or park snowboards tend to be a bit shorter in length and love terrain parks, rails, jibs, trash cans, tree trunks, riding switch (non-dominant foot forward), wall rides and more. Freestyle boards often feature a true twin shape, and are typically selected by those looking to ride the terrain park. A more versatile variant of a freestyle board is the all-mountain freestyle, which combines the versatility of an all mountain snowboard with the playfulness of a freestyle snowboard.

Freeride

Freeride snowboards are designed for the rider that spends most of the day off groomed runs and in backcountry terrain. They typically have a stiffer flex and are ridden in longer sizes than freestyle snowboards. Freeride snowboards often feature a directional shape that is designed to perform optimally in one direction.

Whether you’re new to the sport or working on linking smooth turns, you fall into this ability level. Typical beginner skis and snowboards are usually built with softer materials, narrower widths, and feature cap construction for an easy to turn, forgiving ride. Beginner-intermediate boots and bindings are also built for ease of use and progression, featuring softer flexes and in the case of ski bindings, quick and safe release from the ski in case of a fall.

A rocker board side profile is the opposite of a camber board, with a smooth downward curvature to it and less edge contact length when the board is weighted. Rocker boards float well in powder and pivot more easily underfoot. They also tend to be less “hooky” at both tip and tail and better for landing spin maneuvers when you don’t quite have enough rotation.