# Hi Everyone. Sitting in a hotel on my first trip, desperate for advice



## mivec (Jan 26, 2016)

Hi everyone,

Nice to meet/post to you all here. 

Sorry for the huge wall of text here. I’m hoping that if I provide enough information someone can help out with my current issues and provide some helpful advice. 

I’m currently sitting in my hotel room abroad on my first ever snowboarding trip, feeling a little disheartened after two days riding, wondering if the board I purchased was the wrong one for me.

First a bit of information about my size, experience and my snowboard. I started snowboarding in a snowdome in April last year and have done somewhere in the region of 30 hours practice. I weigh around 15st 7, which is 99kg, or 217 lbs. I’m about 5ft 11 in height and have a side 10 foot. I’m able to link turns at speed and ride pretty confidently. Jumps and tricks are of no interest to me right now. I just want a board that I can feel super confident on at speed and will enable me to transition from one side of the board to another to get on edge when moving forward quickly. 

I use Burton Mission large bindings. The snowboard is bought is a Rossignol one Magtek 2015 in a 157W. Using the board on the mountain where I can ride for longer than 20 seconds on a variety of terrain has really, really knocked my confidence. I feel like rocking from one edge to another on the board is a bit of a struggle. People have advised me that purchasing a wide board with my foot size was likely a mistake which after riding I believe.

I have been into the town here on holiday and looked at a few boards today to find a solution. I was interested in the Capita Mercury which is a 157, but after looking at the tip and mid width, has seemingly the same dimensions as my Rossignol so I’m scared of dropping that much cash on what might feel like the same board.

Other options in the town was a 161 Burton Flagship. The sales guy was obviously keen to drop such a high spec board on me, but I feel like a 161 monster like this is pretty out of my skill level right now. Other options in town are the Burton Easy Living in a 158 and a 2015 Yes The Greats in a 158.

If anyone out there can give me some advice here I would honestly appreciate it so much. I’m in a state of low confidence, questioning my riding when actually I know I’m not a bad rider (obviously I have huge areas to improve in) – I’m definitely more of an intermediate when it comes to easy/intermediate runs here but feel like my board may be holding me back a little. I’m also apprehensive of sales people selling me stuff I don’t need and really am unsure of what board direction I should be looking in here.


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

Stop the presses.

Is there anywhere near where you are that will rent you a board? If you are at a resort of any consequence, there will be a rental shop. Go in, explain your situation and take the opportunity to get on a board that is better suited for you. It might not have been in your budget, but consider it money well spent.

Do not purchase another board under these circumstances.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

Oldman said:


> Stop the presses.
> 
> Is there anywhere near where you are that will rent you a board? If you are at a resort of any consequence, there will be a rental shop. Go in, explain your situation and take the opportunity to get on a board that is better suited for you. It might not have been in your budget, but consider it money well spent.
> 
> Do not purchase another board under these circumstances.


This is excellent advice. Try to get a decent rental board. Some resorts have higher performance gear. Why did you buy a wide board? I wouldn't recommend a wide board for someone under size 11 or 12 boots.

Also, I'm still not clear what the exact problem is. You can't link turns on this new board but you could before? That's odd.


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## Mystery2many (Aug 14, 2013)

A wide board with size 10 feet. I know for a fact how awful that feels. I suggest you get a directional or directional twin all mountain board with a hybrid camber profile (no full rocker or flat board). Mid flex range 6-7 and make sure its not a wide. If you pick a good brand with those specs I bet you'll feel right at home. I would push you towards CRC camber rocker camber since it'll be a little more forgiving while holding a good edge at speed and being damp.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Hmmm... I've just loked up the stats. Seems that the board I ride is even wider in relation to my feet than yours. Not optimal, of cours, no question, but one gets used to it... instead of buying / renting in despair, first try if shifting the bindings to the toe edge helps. I do that to increase leverage on the toe edge; leverage on heel edge you by + highback fwd lean. 
Depending on your Burton model, you may need to get other binding plates which allow frore/aft shifting tho.


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## Staff_Sav (Jan 5, 2016)

I had my board nicked once, went to a rental shop so i could ride for the rest of the week and ended up with a board better suited to me than my original. Like the poster above said. explain your situation and the guys in rental shops are generally really good and will probably help you more than a pushy salesman.


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## AgingPunk (Feb 18, 2014)

Oldman said:


> Stop the presses. Do not purchase another board under these circumstances.


This old man agrees with that ^^^^ old man
Were you riding your current board in the dome? I ride a wide board with size 10, is it overkill, maybe. But I also have horrible memories of toe drag so I overcompensated, meh. Are you possibly dealing with exhaustion or fatigue due to altitude, are you dehydrated from said altitude or alcohol? Could be other factors besides the board, just sayin'


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Was this the board you used in the dome? Maybe its not so much the board as it is moving from the dome to an actual mountain. 30 hours is about 6 days worth of riding. Still a beginner. While I have no dome experience, I can say it is pretty routine for people to be nailing it on the beginner slope, and then get their butts kicked when they move to the rest of the mountain. No idea if the correlation is similar. Especially if you haven't been carefully choosing your runs and are jumping into things over your head.

While it may not be ideal I just am not sure if the wide should be causing this much heart ache.


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## mivec (Jan 26, 2016)

Mystery2many said:


> A wide board with size 10 feet. I know for a fact how awful that feels. I suggest you get a directional or directional twin all mountain board with a hybrid camber profile (no full rocker or flat board). Mid flex range 6-7 and make sure its not a wide. If you pick a good brand with those specs I bet you'll feel right at home. I would push you towards CRC camber rocker camber since it'll be a little more forgiving while holding a good edge at speed and being damp.


SO much great, honest advice in this thread which I appreciate so much I can't tell you. I have to be honest and say that this post read my mind, and the minds of others around me on the trip I'm on. I found a last season Yes The Greats in town for a pretty cheap price which ticks all the boxes suggested. 

The people who advised to slow down, take a breath and try some rentals have a totally inarguable point, and I'm really appreciative of the advice. I checked out the rentals in the town and to be honest, in a resort this busy the offers looked pretty shabby. Whilst it is not the most responsible decision, I'm not too tight on cash atm to take a £250 plunge on the YES in the hope it's what I'm looking for- every review I've come across online in the hours since posting seems to point in that direction.

I've definitely gone with my heart over my head here admittedly, but hopefully it turns out for the best.

Again, thanks so much for the replies everyone. I'm going to bed significantly more optimistic for tomorrow. Great forum.


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

Hey bud, go to the resort do and rent a "demo" board if you want to try this years stuff. If you ask about standard rentals you'll get shit. If you don't want to demo, I'd say first add some forward lean on the binding. So lower the guy on the back of the binding high back two or three notches, and that will force you to Bend your knees a bit more which in turn will help with turn initiation. Also it's in your best interest to take a lesson. If you already took one, take an intermediate lesson or Private lesson. Buying a new board won't result in your problems being resolved. Your still going to have technical issues that are playing you now. You CAN fix this on your current board.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

ridinbend said:


> Hey bud, go to the resort do and rent a "demo" board if you want to try this years stuff. If you ask about standard rentals you'll get shit. If you don't want to demo, I'd say first add some forward lean on the binding. So lower the guy on the back of the binding high back two or three notches, and that will force you to Bend your knees a bit more which in turn will help with turn initiation. Also it's in your best interest to take a lesson. If you already took one, take an intermediate lesson or Private lesson. Buying a new board won't result in your problems being resolved. Your still going to have technical issues that are playing you now. You CAN fix this on your current board.


Post a picture of your boots in the bindings. Your board has a slight setback.. are your bindings attached correctly? (IE they're each the same # of notches away from the middle). 

Your board has a strong rocker. you shouldn't have any issues turning. I'm a size 10.5, I weigh 35 lbs less than you, and I'm very, very comfortable in a 160w with less of a rocker than you have. 

To be fair, my first board was a huge mistake.. I bought a heavy camber board with 0 rocker (2009 burton custom) and I couldn't turn it for the life of me. it was a 157 normal (not wide). The rocker (CRC) on my new board (2015 NS Snowtrooper) helped me turn much, much better even though my new board was longer and wider. 

I have a hunch that your bindings aren't in the pins that they need to be in, and that you're applying your turning force onto a part of the board that isn't a contact point. your board has a strong rocker, so there are plenty of places on the board that aren't contact points. 

Full disclaimer: I'm a newb. You probably have more hours than me. But I'm a newb who recently had the exact same problem and can now carv.. I mean skidturn my way down black diamonds. Not real ones, mind you.. but I'm not the one who labels the darn runs  

Other things that helped me:
increasing my forward lean on my bindings
leaning forward 
changing my binding angles to be more forwardish... (I used to be -9 and 12, now I'm 0 and 21. also I ride goofy.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

dude so I just checked. the board you want to buy is a very similar RCR profile to the board you have. It's also very stiff, which makes turning harder.

Go buy a CRC board at the very least. The board you're looking seems like a direct competitor of the exact same board. If the issue is anything other than width then you're wasting money.


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## 16gkid (Dec 5, 2012)

IMO its def not the board, thats one of the most neutral, easy to ride boards out right now, even going wide shouldnt make the board unrideable, you should be able to adapt, if ur skills are good enough.


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## mivec (Jan 26, 2016)

Thought I'd pop on today to give people a quick update on how things went today. 

I know that a well experienced, confident rider is able to find a way to make any/most boards work for them. The people in the thread stating that my inexperience is lending to riding issues are correct, however, I do feel it was not the only contributing factor. I think yes, I could have made that board work for me, but part of learning to snowboard is learning what board style you like, and which FEELS right for you at your experience level - technically a totally new boarder could learn on a Jones Flagship and it would never be the boards fault, it would be his riding, but it's not the right board for him. The Rossignol just FELT wrong.

Without a doubt, I felt a noticeable difference in the ease of edge transition between the Rossignol 157W and the Yes The Greats 158. I was managing to keep up speed on the slower flats with more confidence riding on my edges. On my second run down the mountain I finished my run on a steep finish riding faster and with more confidence than I have in the 6 months of owning my Rossignol (admittedly only maybe 55hrs riding in a snowdome and 2 days on a mountain - my 30 hrs in my original post was a bit of an understatement on reflection, although obviously still inexperienced). I honestly couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

There is so much about the Rossignol I like and perhaps having a very similar stiffness and RCR profile made the transition easier for me today. 

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and thank everyone for being so helpful. I know I probably did the more irresponsible thing by dropping another £250 on a board (although pretty cheap for over here), but I feel much happier today.

Thanks all.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

No need to defend yourself. (I always get an immediate yawn attack when reading that rider>gear blabla. It's sooo banal and usually no help with the pevalent problem. For high level riders it may won't play a role which board they take, for us mid-level riders the right gear can make the day. A board which feels good will give confidence to ride bolder n push yourself more. Period.)

If you could increase the value of your trip finding a board which feels better: yay! Enjoy!


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## Staff_Sav (Jan 5, 2016)

Good to hear you've found something that works for you. Where in the world are you now? Im guessing the alps for some reason?


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

Changing boards you've just lost 11mm off your waist width, which probably equals closer to 12-13mm at your binding inserts, factor in binding angles and riding your new 58 Greats with size 10.5s would be similar to riding your 57W One with size 12-12.5 feet.

Leverage matters, especially as a beginner. Good move, enjoy the new board!


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## mivec (Jan 26, 2016)

Phedder said:


> Changing boards you've just lost 11mm off your waist width, which probably equals closer to 12-13mm at your binding inserts, factor in binding angles and riding your new 58 Greats with size 10.5s would be similar to riding your 57W One with size 12-12.5 feet.
> 
> Leverage matters, especially as a beginner. Good move, enjoy the new board!


Made my day reading this. Thanks a lot. Definitely feels a lot different.

Also to the guy who asked where I was, yeah, I'm in Cervinia at the moment. The weather has been absolutely glorious all week. Beautiful sunny days and there was a 72cm snowfall about 5 days before we arrived. Having a blast, despite being exhausted.


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