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Powderboards

Dou you like powder? The deeper the better? There is never too much snow if you have the right powderstick.
But which one is the right one? Can they be compared considering powder conditions?
Yes! To give you an answer, I wrote the ultimate powder board review.

First lets clear some overlapping categories and terms:

• All mountain board: A verstaile board for everything the mountain has to offer (park, pipe, slope, powder). Usualy around 160cm.
• Freeride board, Big mountain board: A rather directional and rather longer all mountain board with focus on backcountry riding. Usualy over 160cm.
• Fish: A short and strong directional freeride board, usualy under 160cm. May have a a slight cutout in the tail.
• Powstick: A rather short freeride board, usualy around 160cm.
• Longboard: Very long all mountain / freeride board. Usualy 180cm till 220cm long.
• Swallowtail: Thats where it all started some decades ago. Very long and wide nose, deep cutout in the tail. One more word: Winterstick!
• Hybrid: Mix of old and new shapes with new materials.

This review is about specialized powder boards. I search the most extreme modern powder shape.

• All mountain and freeride boards are to moderate for me and therefore out of scope!
  They are widely reviewed and some have great powderboard ratings: Ride Slackcountry, Salomon Sickstick, etc...
• Longboards and swallowtails are each a chapter of its own... not the kind of versality i am locking for, and mostly rather classic than modern.
  Therefore out of scope, except the Radair Tanker and the Winterstick Swallowtail as an example for each type.

What makes a snowboard float in powder? Generally just its base surface. Therefore any board can float in powder, it just depends how you ride them.

What makes a snowboard float better than others? Generally the grade how directional it is. The more directional, the easier it floats. A short, low and narrow tail sinks easier. A long, high and wide nose lifts easier. A great setback makes the board float easier, because you have more board in front than in the back, like less tail and more nose. For the same reason tappered boards float easier. And with tappered boards you gain natural setback because the waist is shifted slightly to the back. A directional board is the key to save power in powder, and saving power is the key to everything in boardsports (unless you spend more time in the gym than on the board). I can't imagine any board able to let me do a nosepress in superlight and superdeep powder without digging the nose! Leanback is a must in powder, and based on that i conclude that the easier it is to lean back, the easier the board floats.

What else makes a snowboard float better than others? Generally the length, because the longer the surface the better the riders weight is distributed over the snow, which means less sink of nose and tail. But the effect of the length is not as clear as the effect of a directional shape and may depend on speed and snow conditions. While you shurly benefit from the longer nose of a longer board, you suffer from the longer tail on the same time!

While the length is obviously specificated for every board, a measurement for the directionality is missing. The ratio of surface area in the front versus the surface area in the back of the board would be such a measurement. To keep thing simple we measure only the length instead of the surface area:

• Overall offset (front - back): An absoulte measurement which considers how much the front of the board is longer than the rear, including the stance setback.
• Float factor (front / back): A relative measurement, the ratio of the length ahead of the front foot over the length behind the trailing foot, with the outmost inserts as reference.

[Brand]	[Name]	[Specification]	[Front-Back]	[Front/Back]	Comment
www.a-boardcorporation.com	3DX-1	Length 165cm, Setback 4.9cm		2.20	Seems like this nice japanese design is ahead of the rest!
www.dazzlesnowboards.com	Spirit	Length 160cm, Nose 29cm, Tail 12cm, Setback 7.5cm	32cm (17cm + 15cm)	1.95	The superior shape from the italian alps comes close to the japanese design! The mounting holes allow additional setback and fat stances!
www.gentemstick.com	Rocket Fish	Length 145cm	17cm	1.95	An extreme fish design by Taro Tamai, topping the one from Burton. Japanese, what else?!
www.burton.com	Fish	Length 156cm, Setback 7.5cm	28cm (13cm + 15cm)	1.85	The fish shape from USA has its great reputation for a good reason. Superior setback optios due to the channel system! This lets you increase the float factor over the holy mark of 2.0, where you can say: It has twice as much nose as tail...
www.a-boardcorporation.com	3DX-2	Length 151cm, Setfront 8.5cm		1.80	An other extreme japanese fish design.
www.jonessnowboards.com	Hovercraft	Length 156cm, Nose 28cm, Tail 10cm, Setback 2cm	22cm (18cm + 4cm)	1.75	This US shape has a long nose and a short tail. But with more setback id would be a hole level floatier!
www.unitysnowboards.com	The Whale	Length 160cm		1.75	I like this US hybrid fish design!
www.gentemstick.com	Big Fish	Length 163cm	17cm	1.75	An other extreme japanese fish design by Taro Tamai.
www.gentemstick.com	Slasher	Length 166cm, Setback 4cm		1.65	An japanese hybrid fish design.
www.winterstick.com	Swallowtail	Length 184cm, Nose 56.1cm, Tail 26.9cm, Setback 0cm	29cm (29.2cm + 0cm)	1.55	This classic US shape still can keep up with the rest.
www.gentemstick.com	Giant Mantaray	Length 159cm, Setback 8.2cm		1.55	A totally different japanese hybrid fish design by Taro Tamai.
www.priorsnow.com	Spearhead	Length 166cm, Nose 36.5cm, Tail 17cm, Setback 2cm	23cm (19.5cm + 4cm)	1.50	The canadian version of the hybrid shape.
www.nitrousa.com	Slash	Length 166cm, Setback 2.5cm	15cm (10cm + 5cm)	1.50	This US shape ist avarage regarding the float factor. 50% more board in the front than in the back is where it starts beeing interresting.
www.gentemstick.com	Zephyr	Length 160.5cm, Setback 2.5cm		1.50	This japanese shape is a swallowtail reduced to a normal boards length.
www.priorsnow.com	Fissile	Length 166cm, Setback 2cm		1.35	I wish to have more specifications of this canadian shape. It seems to be less floaty than its "younger brother" Spearhead.
www.powderequipment.de	Type B	Length 170cm		1.35	This german shape is another hybrid which may carve well, but could have a better float factor!
www.dupraz-snowboards.com	D1 5'5"	Length 165cm, Setfront 2cm	13cm (17cm - 4cm)	1.35	With the setfront of the stance it may be a carve machine, but a powderboard seriously needs a setback mounting option.
www.venturesnowboards.com	Storm	Length 165cm, Nose 22.5cm, Tail 15.5cm, Setback 3cm	13cm (7cm + 6cm)	1.35	This US shape is not as floaty as it seems to be on the first lock.
www.venturesnowboards.com	Odin	Length 164cm, Nose 21.5cm, Tail 17.5cm, Setback 4cm	12cm (4cm + 8cm)	1.25	This US shape is not as floaty as it seems to be on the first lock.
www.radical-sports.com	Tanker	Length 180cm, Setback 3cm		1.2	This classic swiss longboard shape is not as floaty as most of the dedicated powdwer sticks, but nevertheless it must not hide himself!
www.apo-snow.com	Spray	Length 160cm, Setback 2.5cm	09cm (4cm + 5cm)	1.15	This french design is the point to stop: Only 15% more nose than tail is not enough for a powder stick. You can reach this float factor with any standard board that has solid setback mounting options.

Don't take the numbers too serious, some values are approximations. Correct me if you can!
More specifications will follow...

Conclusion:
A long, wide nose and a short narrow tail together with a good portion of setback are the key!
The length is secondary, because ambigious: on one side it generally increases floatability, but on the other side it lowers the effect of the above overall setback!
There exists good powderboards in all sizes, so choose the size you like, then watch out for the biggest overall offset and float factor!