Understanding Snowboard Shapes

Snowboard shapes have come a long way in the last decade or so. Back in the late 90s – when guys like Peter Line were dominating the scene and everybody dreamed of starring in a Mack Dawg film –  if you stripped the graphics away then it was pretty hard to tell one snowboard apart from another. They all had that classic lollipop shape. These were great for spinning off cheese wedge jumps, but a bit limited.

History of snowboard shapes

Snowboard shapes have come a long way in the last decade or so. Back in the late 90s – when guys like Peter Line were dominating the scene and everybody dreamed of starring in a Mack Dawg film –  if you stripped the graphics away then it was pretty hard to tell one snowboard apart from another. They all had that classic lollipop shape. These were great for spinning off cheese wedge jumps, but a bit limited.

In the year 2000, Bataleon shook up the market with the launch of Triple Base Technology (3BT) which introduced the concept of bevel between the edges. Noses, tails and sidecuts, however, still looked much the same. 

A few years later, inspired by surf shapers, brands began experimenting with more and more radical outlines that improve performance in different conditions. It was a golden era for board design, the likes of which had not been seen since the pioneering days of Tom Sims and Dimitrije Milovich in the 1970s.

The result is that today, riders are confronted with a dizzying array of snowboard shapes. Round tails, swallowtails, crescent tails, pointy noses, blunt noses, progressive sidecuts, asymmetric sidecuts, tapered designs… the list goes on!

Although the choice of designs is vast – and new silhouettes are released every winter – every snowboard ultimately falls into one of three categories:

Directional Snowboards

If the nose and tail are different to each other then you’re looking at a directional snowboard. Sometimes this difference can be subtle – like a stance that is slightly set back from the centre – and sometimes it can be staring you in the face, like a massive fish tail.

Directional snowboards, as the name implies, are primarily designed to be ridden forwards. The elongated nose will plough through crud and float over deep snow easier, while the sidecut (curve of the edge) is usually optimised for flowing turns.

Some directional snowboards feature a tapered shape. These carry a lot of width at the nose, then gradually narrow through to the rear. This provides an even surfier experience, with maximum float up front and a tail that will sink naturally in powder, enabling you to turn off the back foot like you’re slashing a wave. 

Carrying this concept even further are swallowtails. By reducing the surface area of the base at the back, a swallowtail (or ‘fish’) will sink even easier into deep snow, whilst retaining plenty of effective edge on each side to help you carve both on and off piste. Check out the Surfer for a classic example. 

Crescent or v-shape tails work in a similar way but retain a little more switch-riding ability. Their stubby silhouette also reduces the overall length of the board, prioritising nimble turns over drawn out arcs. If this sounds like your vibe, take a look at the Cameleon and the Party Wave.

Asymmetric snowboards deploy a tighter sidecut on the heel edge to the toe edge. This compensates for our natural bio-mechanics, which dictates that we are more efficient at holding an edge when we lean over our toes. The result? Superior carving. 

A directional asymmetric snowboard (with a pointy nose) will mean selecting one that is designed for your stance. In other words, a regular rider would pick a model with the designated heel edge on the left as you look at the topsheet, and a goofy rider would pick a model with the heel edge on the right.

Asymmetric twins don’t really fit under ‘directional’ but for the sake of comparison we will explain them at this point. They feature a centred stance and mirror image tips, so the designated heel edge is the same whether you are regular or goofy; you just decide which end becomes the nose and which end becomes the tail. 

On a directional snowboard, the flex pattern typically changes along its length. The tail will be stiffer, improving snap through your turns and providing greater ollie power; the softer flex towards the nose will enable it to float better.

Directional snowboards

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Twin Snowboards

Twin shape snowboards have an identical nose and tail, and the binding inserts are centred. Essentially, each half of the deck is a mirror image of the other.

The first such boards hit the market in the mid 90s and quickly began to dominate thanks to their freestyle credentials. On a twin tip snowboard it’s just as easy (in theory!) to ride backwards as it is forwards, making them great for doing tricks. 

True twins like the Evil Twin even feature exactly the same flex pattern at the nose and tail, so you can nollie, land switch and do butters for days. If park and rail riding is your thing then these are the boards for you.

Twin Snowboards

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Directional Twin Snowboards

Directional twin snowboards aim to achieve maximum versatility. To the untrained eye, they look basically the same as a true twin, but look closer and you will see they have a slightly set back stance to favour riding forwards and/or in deep snow. At Bataleon, the nose of our directional twins is 1cm longer than the tail.

Under the hood, directional twins also tend to feature a flex pattern that differs along the length. By making the core slightly stiffer towards the tail, the balance is again tilted slightly towards carving and powder performance.

Blending these tweaks with the sidecut and contact area of a twin tip makes for a snowboard that can still happily ride switch, so you can tear up the freshies with the first lift before heading to the park for the afternoon.

In short, directional twins are the ultimate all mountain machine.

Directional twin snowboards

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3D Snowboard Shapes

So far, we’ve talked about shape in terms of the outline of a snowboard, as if you were looking at it from above. But shape is not just two-dimensional. 

At Bataleon, we’ve thought hard about what happens across the board, from one edge to the other. In other words, 3D snowboard shapes.  

From day one, our snowboards have featured uplifted sections along the base, known as Triple Base Technology (3BT). It smooths out turns, improves the ability of the nose to plough through powder (just like the hull of a boat) and makes it harder to catch an edge. Recently, we’ve taken this 3D idea further with the introduction of ‘Sidekick’ tips, which dramatically enhance the uplift where you need it most – at the wide points. 

Today, more and more brands are working on bowl-style noses and other such three-dimensional concepts of their own. For us, it only reaffirms a design philosophy we have spent twenty years perfecting. You can *find out more about how and why 3BT works in this in-depth article* [LINK]

3D snowboard shapes

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So, what snowboard shape should I get?

Choosing the right snowboard shape comes down to the style of riding you plan to do. Are you someone who likes to do tricks across a variety of different terrains and snow conditions? And is this your only board? Then you’re going to need a shape that is optimised for all-mountain snowboarding, most likely a directional twin.

Is your idea of a perfect day dialling some new spins in the park, or even shredding a stairset in a snowy city? You’ll be best served by a classic twin snowboard.

Finally, are you a full-on powder hound that dreams of tearing through trees, dropping into couloirs and drawing lines down open faces? Or maybe you just like getting your elbows down to the corduroy and carving the piste at 90mph? Either way, a directional snowboard is the way to go.

Whatever your riding style, it also pays to think about the shape of your board in all three dimensions – because snowboarding is always more fun with triple base!

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