What is the very best all mountain snowboard?

What is the best all mountain snowboard for intermediate women riders?

• Answer:

  All mountain board is a generic term for a board that excels in every area and ever aspect of snowboarding. With this in mind, a basic description of all mountain riding is needed. "All lift accessible terrain, at home in the back country, quick turns in the bark, bombing super booters, 10 foot out and never skipping that badass rail!" There are a lot of factors that go into picking a board for an individual. A rider's height, weight and shoe size can't be ignored. Assuming the intermediate rider is an above average athlete, male, 5'8" to 5'10, 155 to 170 lbs and having a shoe size of a 9 or 10 would create a a starting point. Next consider we are looking for best all mountain board, throw affordability out the window. When buying a board, essentially there are four important components that comprise the board: core, glass/resin, edges and base material. The best All mountain board should have the best of all four. You can ride 100+ days on a board that is well made, before it begins to break down. That's about 2 years for an avid weekend rider. The great cores are wood, ash or poplar. Select pieces of the wood are pulled for use in higher end boards. The wood is cut into thin strips and glued together like a butchers block. Higher end boards use complex configured wood patterns micro tune board flex, make them stronger and lighter. Expensive adhesives are used to make these cores stronger and lighter still. No Elmers glue. These cores are wrapped and held together with fiberglass and resin. This is where the board price can really escalate. Cheap resin weighs a ton and breaks down quickly, causing a board to chatter and lose pop. The glass wraps are the true structure to the board. Some will use a single later, tip to tail, junk. Top models use multiple layers, with less strands and added carbon fiber or kevar to additionally lighten and strengthen the board. This helps the snowboard ride better and stay new longer. Edges provide the board's grip to the snow surface. They are glassed and pressed into the board. Stainless steel edges are expensive but are hard, stay sharp and are durable. Impact can crack them. Steel requires a lot of sharpening, they rust but seldom crack. Carbon steel is better than plain steel. The base material is critical, the difference between low and top end is 150 bucks retail. Low end extruded p-tex material is soft and slow, but easy to repair. High end boards will use sintered p-tex base or teflon. A sinter base holds wax well is super durable and fast. Teflon is fast with le with out wax but impossible to repair. The difference in having a good base and a cheap one is walking on the flats and less turns in the powder. This is no place to compromise. The best All Mountain Boards: #1. Burton Vapor #2.LIB Dark Series C2BTX #3. Burton Custom X #4. Capita Black Snowboard of Death #5. Rome Anthem #6.GNU Billygoat #7.LIB Banana Magic BTX #8. Nitro Ultimate #9. Santa Cruz Smoke #10. GNU Rider's Choice These are my top ten all mountain boards for 2013. For an intermediate to compromise on board selection is unfounded. Any one of these boards will carry you through and to the next level. Still, not hold you back from anything, ice pipe, steep chutes, deep power or crazy ass handrails. Enjoy