# Required Riding Experience For Boards



## Charlie-O (Dec 23, 2019)

Hello all,

As this is my first post on the forum, i would like to wish everyone a happy new year.

I would like to get opinions on aforementioned ''required'' experience levels for different boards, with my own examples.

I consider myself an intermediate rider and last year i finally decided to buy my own board as i was moving to Switzerland. And bought myself a Nidecker Area. But had awful days with it and i totally lost my confidence and started to question my ability. At some point i decided to ride with rental boards again, i have tried many of them until last week-end and lastly i have ridden Salomon Huck Knife yesterday. And i feel confused because for my senses, mentioned suitable experience levels for the boards do not necessarily correlate with the real life cases. For instance, i enjoyed Huck Knife as much as Rossignol Templar. On paper, Huck Knife is not recommended for beginners but it was as easy as Templar to ride for me.

So im quite confused and don't know which board to get now. I am looking for an agile, fun all mountain board that can also handle icy days. (By the way, Huck Knife was not that capable on the icy terrain) Would love to hear your thoughts on this.


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## Grunky (Mar 21, 2019)

There is no rulebook about required experience. Each company, or website can tell what they want. Usually they will base it on the profile, flex, pop, ....
Also the experience you have depends on what you're doing. I'm for example quite experienced for freeriding, but never go to the park.

The Nidecker Area is a board meant for carving. So yes it can be advertised as an "intermediate" board, but if you never carved, or only want to do park, it's not the board for you.
The Huck Knife is a freestyle board. It's not recommended for beginners on the freestyle part: it is (a little) stiffer than beginners park board and has more pop and also is cambered (if I'm not wrong) which can be more hooky. But if you use it as an all mountain board, it's an easy going board. 
The templar is more an all mountain board. 

So when comparing, you have to compare on the same things. An intermediate freestyle board will not be the same as an intermediate freecarve board. 
From my experience: for ice you want camber, long effective edge, and stiff. Which can be opposite to agile and fun. Or you can go with a softer board with edge tech like magne traction.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Welcome!

I would guess that what you had issues with on the Area was the longer effective edge in combination with the camber. It’s a board made for carving and if you ride it right it can work for you.


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## Snowdaddy (Feb 2, 2018)

Charlie-O said:


> And bought myself a Nidecker Area.


I would like to add that I own the Nidecker Tracer and if you still own the Area I would give it another chance. The Nidecker carving Series are really nice boards. There are of course other nice boards out there that may fit your riding style better...

As already mentioned you need to get into carving for the Area to make sense.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

You also need to factor in your weight vs flex of the board and things like how often you go and the type of hill...because the term "intermediate" can mean different things on different hills/locals.


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## Rip154 (Sep 23, 2017)

Beginner boards are usually cheap, intermediate and up you can justify a more expensive board, so they don't get the beginner tag that often. You don't necessarily want a stiff board for hard snow, you want most of the edge to be in contact with the surface. That means if the edge turns away from the surface (rocker without tight sidecut), or bounces you off the surface (too stiff camber), you will have issues. The board can be too stiff if it is too long/wide/meant for something else, but weight ranges usually take care of this.


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## PwhyTwhy (Jan 20, 2020)

Just sounds like you bought the wrong board - it isnt a great board for an intermediate that cant already carve. It is a great board and actually stiffer side of medium with full camber. I promise you if you can carve the area you can ride any board you out on your feet. Its seems to me you prefer a more forgiving camber profile though so I would go shopping. If you give us your weight/height and boot width and riding terrain preferance and some companies you like or have access to this forum will give you so many good options you will be confused


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## Charlie-O (Dec 23, 2019)

Thank you all for your comments. They are all very helpful. 

I want to add that Nidecker Area was not a total disaster for me as i enjoyed it somedays. As i said i am not an expert rider but i can carve occasionally here and there. But i can't forget a specific day that made me really hate the Nidecker; on that day i had reasonable fun up on the mountain and when i decided to end the day, i took the only way back to town (totally iced up very narrow path leading to the town, with tons of skiers going straight down) and on that narrow ice skating kind of ''couloir'' i decided not to ride it again. I understand its a full camber, stiff carving board but i still think its a no go on that kind of parts of the mountain. Even though some experienced rider can manage it everywhere, i think it's not fun. Well, apparently not for my taste so obviously i made a mistake buying it. : )

I've read many threads on the forum for choosing a new board but i would love to get your suggestions as well. I'm 1.85cm tall and 80 kg with a boot size 44.5 EU. Lately i noticed that park boards that can handle all mountain conditions are more fun for me and im trying to find one in that perspective. (i.e Huck Knife)


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## Kevington (Feb 8, 2018)

Jones Mountain Twin is great as an all rounder than has a park like feel but can handle just about any terrain. Has some edge disruption so is great on ice and a little rocker in the tips which make it forgiving in crappy snow and that long run down to the base station which is all scraped off and full of skiers and you wish you just took the gondola down but you wanted that one last run


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## Charlie-O (Dec 23, 2019)

Kevington said:


> Jones Mountain Twin is great as an all rounder than has a park like feel but can handle just about any terrain. Has some edge disruption so is great on ice and a little rocker in the tips which make it forgiving in crappy snow and that long run down to the base station which is all scraped off and full of skiers and you wish you just took the gondola down but you wanted that one last run


What about Jones Frontier in that perspective?


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## Kevington (Feb 8, 2018)

I've not tried the Frontier but they are similar. The MT is as the name suggests, a twin. The Frontier is more directional in its shape and has more rocker in the nose than the tail. Probably a little better in powder but my experience of the MT in powder was great and its more versatile for riding switch and hitting the park. I guess they are both really user friendly boards than can get you through pretty much any situation you might encounter, even in Switzerland. If you want park feel with all mountain capabilities then I'd go for the MT over the Frontier.


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