Off-piste descent with your Snow Goggles. The best of freeride!
Freeride is known as the snowboard modality in which you make a completely off-piste descent, on totally virgin snow, avoiding all the rocks and obstacles that come our way. Currently there are freeride snowboarding competitions on marked out routes that meet the optimal conditions, although the truth is that true freeride lovers undoubtedly prefer a good session of powder snow with some jumping over rocky bars.
Normally, some people associate freeriding with other disciplines such as freecarve or even extreme snowboarding.But the truth is that many times it is only a matter of small details. For example, the snowboards used in this case have to be very versatile because in a freeride outing the board needs to offer very good behavior on powder snow, hard snow and when practicing jumps from a rocky bar that we catch with our snow goggles.
Because they are so versatile and versatile, freeride shapes boards take almost half of the entire market share, as they guarantee excellent performance in all conditions, they are all-terrain boards: whether off-piste, on a snowpark or in the half pipe, and also on the slopes of your ski resort.
We are talking about directional boards, that is, they are designed to be mounted in only one direction: front, forward. A snowboard has a directional shape when the tip and tail are not symmetrical. The tail is narrower, shorter and with less curvature than the front of the board. For this reason, in freeride boards the bindings are placed slightly further back so that the rider's weight is loaded on the back of the board and thus compensates for said asymmetry. Even with everything, you can practice fakie maneuvers with this type of board, although they are not specifically designed for it.
Freeride boards are characterized by being stiffer, longer and thinner than freestyle boards. Despite this, they have a very soft flex and are very maneuverable, which is a great help for beginners. And it is that freeride snowboards are the most versatile and versatile that you can find, since they work in almost all situations that you can find at a good level.
By the way, with “all mountain” boards you can wear “soft” or “step-in” boots and bindings. The spacing between these bindings is quite large (between 50 and 55 centimeters) and their angle varies depending on the rider who rides the board, generally between 0 and 15 degrees at the rear and between 15 and 25 at the front. However, other riders opt for the "duck" position. The purest freeriders place the bindings slightly further back to float better. Always wearing your best pair of snow goggles.
BEGINNINGS OF SNOWBOARDING
The development of snowboarding is derived from other sliding sports such as skateboarding or surfing. In 1965, engineer Sherman Poppen built the first snowboard "board" for his daughter in Muskegon, Michigan. It was a wooden board without footholds and with a rope at the front that helped maintain balance. Brunswik Company decided to develop and sell this new concept that had a relative sales success in the 1960s and 1970s.
Also during this time, avid ski surfer Dimitrije Milovich designed a board the size of skis but much wider and allowing for "surfing" in powder snow, known as the Winterstick.
Although Sherman Poppen invented snowboarding in the United States in the 1960s and became popular in the 1980s, it did not arrive in Spain until the early 1990s.
What are the modalities of snowboarding?
The best known are Freestyle, Freeride, Parallel Slalom, Boardercross and mountain or cross-country Snowboard. Within the Freestyle we find the following:
- Half-pipe
- Slopestyle: jumps, rails and boxes. It will be an Olympic discipline from the 2014 Winter Olympics.
- Big Air
- Jibbingd
- Quarterpipe
Where can I practice snowboarding in Spain?
Take advantage and escape with your snow goggles to the best resorts: Baqueira-Beret (in my previous post you will find all the information), Astún, Candanchú, Formigal, Cerler and Sierra Nevada.
Also enjoy the Snowparks they have set up. They are very very worked by great shapers. For our taste, the best is that of Formigal. The atmosphere between riders is also unbeatable.
Are you delighted with this information about snowboarding?
