Snowboard and Skiing

What Snowboard Equipment Is And Isn’t Essential ?

November 2nd, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

For people that are interested in winter sports, it is often very exciting getting all the gear that is needed. This is especially so of snowboarding. There is plenty of equipment and accessories that are needed with snowboarding from a safety point of view and also to look good and fashionable. I would suggest you concern yourself with the safety side of things to begin with. This is the essential snowboard equipment that you need. The rest is nice to have but not essential. You won’t get hurt if you have helmet on but you might if you only concentrate on a fashionable snow jacket.

Another thing to consider is renting your board to begin with. If you haven’t snowboarded before this makes a lot of sense. A snowboard and binding can cost anything from $300 - $1000 so you want to make sure that you like the sport before you pay this type of money. Renting might cost you $100 for a week and by this time you will know if snowboarding is for you. It will also give you the added experience to make an informed decision when you do come to buy your board. If you do decide to buy a board, set yourself a budget and stick to it. Many boards that have great or original designs will be more expensive than standard boards. They may look great but do you really need one. I would suggest the answer is no. If you are still quite new to snowboarding then you need a cheap or moderately priced, general purpose, all mountain, all terrain type board. You should get good use out of a board like this. As you get more experienced you may opt for a more specific board.

Helmet And Goggles

Another important piece of safety equipment is a helmet. Many snowboarders don’t bother with a helmet because it may feel uncomfortable or heavy. It really depends what you are going to be doing. If you plan to spend most of your time perfecting jumps in the half pipe then you should wear a helmet. You might also consider knee, arm and hand protectors too. If you are just interested in freeriding and staying within the piste then this type of equipment is not really essential. If you plan to go off piste or open terrain then you may encounter rocks and trees so a helmet is a good precaution. If you are not planning to wear a helmet then some form of head wear is advisable as most of the heat in our body’s leaves via the head.

Goggles and really good but you can get away with using sunglasses to begin with. The advantage of goggles over sunglasses is that they form a seal with your face. This stops snow getting in and blurring the vision. I would suggest you use one or the other as the glare from the snow can be tiring on the eyes. If you get any speed up then you need to protect your eyes from the wind and cold.

Other Equipment

Gloves are also essential. The extremities are the worst affected by the cold. You should get water proof gloves that cover over the wrist. Thing like mitten are not good as the will get wet and make you hands even colder.

Other snowboard equipment that you will require are items such as proper snowboarding shorts that must is padded which will provide protection to your hips and also tail bone, and you will also need hip and knee pads that are required to protect the lower parts of your body from accidental twisting while falling or when running into objects.