Alpine snowboarding is for those of you who are a little more extreme about speed than most. Alpine snowboarding encompasses more than just speed. Other areas often included are racing and extreme carving. Alpine snowboards are uniquely designed for their purpose. An alpine snowboard has a longer, narrower and stiffer construction than any other snowboards. This design allows for higher speeds, very sharp turning, and aggressive edge holding power on hard snow and excellent high-speed stability.
Alpine snowboarding is generally done on hard packed snow or groomed runs. Hard packed snow usually isn't good for snowboarding but is exceptional for high speeds,
heart of alpine snowboarding. With other styles of snowboards maneuverability is impossible on this type of terrain. Thanks to aggressiveness of edge of alpine snowboard, fast, snappy control is least of your problems.
Since riding is so different from other types of snowboarding it only stands to reason that gear would also be slightly different from normal. The gear for alpine snowboarding resembles skiing equipment more than it does snowboarding equipment.
In order to protect rider and maximize control at high speeds an alpine snowboarder will use following things. First is a helmet and eye protection. Thanks to laws of physics we know that a hard surface becomes even harder at higher speeds. This means that a helmet and eye protection are an absolute must if you wish to stay safe when ripping down a hill at blazingly fast speeds as impact from any mishap can be more than normal.
The next thing to consider is your boots. You must use a hard-shelled boot that resembles a skiing boot. Since speeds on an alpine snowboard are so much higher forces required to maintain a tight turn are also higher. In order to make shape-cornering possible you must use a hard-shelled boot to leverage your power with snowboard.
After thinking of your boots you must also think of stance that you wish to use when riding your alpine snowboard. There is basically only one choice but there are subtle variations for each rider. Traditionally front foot should be set at about +70' and rear foot at about +35'. With advance of technology and improvements of snowboards degree of feet has become less important. More commonly stance is determined by width of board as long as there is a difference of at least 5'.
