(Part 2) Best products from r/snowboarding

Hey there! I moved to Boston two years ago and came to r/snowboarding to ask this exact same question.

1. Board - this board was recommended to me and I bought it. I love it. The big thing is magne-traction which has fantastic hold on ice. This isn't a great park board, but it's great for ripping around the mountain. Stable at high speed and served me very well. I'm 160lb, 5'10 and I got the 156cm length. Probably could have gone 154 no prob
   
2. Boots - best bet is go to a shop and get advice from a pro for sizing. Ski Monster downtown is great. They can also help you with boards and sizing. They'll match online prices, so if you find something you like online, consider supporting a local business and getting it from them.
   
   Accessories
   
   
3. 1, 2 and 3 is easy to use wax. I wax my board beginning of every day. Some of my friends re-wax mid day. Makes a huge difference. You'll move faster and you're way less likely to catch an edge. This is not the best wax ever but its very, very easy and takes two minutes. If you cash to spare, pay $10 to get a hot wax and it'll last you a couple days of snowboarding. A good middle ground is something like this or this. More of a PITA to apply, but better overall. Frankly, I don't think you'll notice the difference until you have more time on your own equipment.
   
4. a buff like this is great to have on really cold days.
   
5. Wool socks are great as well.
   
6. Cat crap in case your goggles ever fog up.
   
   If you're looking for people to go with feel free to shoot me a PM. Also Boston Sports & Ski club is a great way to meet shredders. Good luck and enjoy the proximity to great snowboarding!

I've been waxing my own snowboard for quite some time. I read an article on it a very long time ago, so my methods might not be good, but here goes.

Take off your bindings before starting.

First, i use an edge sharpener, rather than a straight file (like i see in board shops). Run that along your edges first, removing any rust.

Next, i take out my wax scraper, and scrape off as much old wax as i can. I am always surprised how much comes off.

When you are done scraping, clean your board. Use a special cleaner, or save your money and use something like Windex (that's what i do).

Next, you'll need wax and an iron. And old iron will do, or you can buy a dedicated waxing iron. I used to use an old iron, but then I left it in one spot for too long and messed up my board. If you plan to use an old iron, keep the temperature low on it. If your wax starts smoking, your iron is too hot. Be patient with it, spending a few extra minutes is better then having the spend hundreds of dollars replacing your board.

Take your wax, and hold it up against the iron to drip the melted wax onto the board and try to get good coverage. When you are done you should be looking at a board with a bunch of wax drops on it, not a solid layer of wax.

Now, take your iron and start moving it around the wax to spread it evenly across the board. You can add more wax as needed by dripping it on. Don't hold the iron in one spot for long, keep moving around.

Once you have all the wax spread in a uniform layer, let it cool back down to room temperature. Once it's cool (not warm) take your scraper and scrape off all the wax. What you want to be left on you board is just a thin layer. When you touch it with your hand, it should feel very smooth.

This is where I stop, but some people like to polish it further using some kind of cloth. I might use an old tubesock to just give it a quick rub down.

Put your bindings back on, and enjoy.

You should grab a copy of this book to get you started. Not all tours in there are great for splitters but they make mention if its good for shredders or not. Besides the obvious Tucks / sherbie, the Cog is an awesome go to. Your best bet at finding new places is head to the local watering holes (read Moat, Schilling, Woodstock, etc.) and make friends. Shred bums love to talk about their adventures gear and beta... especially when you put a few craft brews in em. Hope to see you in the North Country soon!

I would remove this as a gear question, but it sounds like you really need avalanche and backcountry safety. I have yet to take a course myself, but I have read a couple of great books that I would recommend.

Avalanche Essentials

Allen and Mike's Backcountry

If you have a guide maybe you will get some training, but these books are excellent. As far as backpacks go these are many great one out there. Make sure to get something specific for snowboarding/skiing. It will have a pad or hard plate so if you land hard on it your belongings won't hurt you. If you have the cash you migh also consider an avalanche backpack with floatation. And if you sre going to do a lot of backcountry get the ave level 1 training. That is what I am signing up for this year. And a helmet is even more important in the backcountry. People have been found unburied after a big slide with head trauma.

Lifting for hypertropy (Body Building) will not translate into good snowboarding. You need a mix of endurance, strength, power, agility, flexibility and nutrition.

Nutrition: Don't eat like shit, I am not big on giving nutrition advice, but eating Paleo works for me.

Flexibility: http://www.mobilitywod.com/ every goddamn day, and squat (unweighted)

Strength: http://startingstrength.com/ (for beginners, Coach Rip has an excellent book)

Power: Two lifts will generate a lot of power, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. The power clean (part of Starting Strength) is also very good. The clean, snatch and power clean will also help your jumping power a lot for you park rats.

Agility: There are a lot of ways to work on agility, I don't do agility specific work.

Endurance: I ride a bike, but you can also run or have angry bees chase you around.

Yes you can do 100 pushups and 100 situps a day, but training correctly with barbells can get you big gains which translate to snowboarding. I do not train specifically for snowboarding or skiing or biking but here is what my daily exercise routine looks like:

Bike 3 miles to gym.

Gym work (5 days a week, skip friday if doing something on saturday, monday if did something on sunday):
Warmup
Mobility WOD
Two Lifts
Crossfit Style Conditioning

Bike ten miles to office (pace here is usually about 16 or 17 mph, including stops for lights, etc)

Bike thirteen miles home after work (I am usually running about 14.5 mph home including stops)

That Neverwet stuff is amazing, but I don' think it is designed for fabrics per se. It would probably come off with the natural movement and abrasion from a few hours of riding. You're better off just getting a good quality pair of snowpants and taking good care of 'em. If you want to touch up your gear, something like this might work better: http://www.amazon.com/Granger-09004-XT-Waterproofer/dp/B0028XERR4

Try boxing wraps. It's like an ace bandage but they're thicker and provide more support. They have a loop to stick your thumb through on one end which makes it way easier to start the wrap, and Velcro on the other end to keep it secure. It won't be as solid as an actual wrist guard, but it still provides a good amount of support. They're also pretty durable so you can just throw them in the wash with other gear without any real issues. TITLE Boxing Hand Wraps (Single Pair), Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00115KZE4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lFmnyb4SP8ZTP

What off-season exercises/activities help your overall snowboarding experience?

I'm always looking for new ways to stay in shape, here's a few of my current favorites:

• Longboarding to help with balance, edge transitions and leg endurance. I started learning to ride switch, hope this helps me with switch on snowboard.
  
• Boxing to help with overall stamina, balance, core strength, rotation and counter-rotation.
  
• Balance board, started about a month ago and it's helped me drastically. I mostly do squats and different types of twists/spins
  
• Swimming mostly for core/leg strength and cardio.
  
• Weights: Squats, rear leg elevated squats, leg press, and lunges are the shit
  

I actually posed this question a few weeks ago but it wasn't too helpful. After doing a bunch of research, it came down to 2 cameras, the Panasonic TS4 and the Nikon COOLPIX AW100. The reviews I read seem to suggest the Nikon had slightly better picture quality and a better locking door mechanism. The reason I chose the TS4, however, is because it had more camera control options (manual control, longer exposure time) and it had an altimeter built-in which I thought would be cool on the mountain. It's honestly a coin-toss between those two cameras though. If you were more on a budget, I'd suggest the Panasonic TS20, which is similar to the TS4 but has a few less features like GPS builtin. Hope that helps.

I am a huge fan of Volcom products. My reasoning is partly because they are lightweight yet incredibly warm with when wearing a simple base layer under. Great ventilation on the legs with big ol' zippers that make it easy to open/close with gloves on. The other big selling point is the compatibility with Volcom jackets. They have integrated a "snow skirt" which basically connects the bottom of your jacket to the top of the pants to prevent any snow from getting up your back if you fall. I realize that may not be a big selling point for someone who already has a jacket, but its something to keep in mind down the line (if you are looking to replace) Breathability and Waterproof ratings are what to look for. r/lonbordin just posted a great link to the ratings. Gortex is great as well. Check out these.

The official gopro stick is pretty good.

pros:

• Sturdy.
  
• Neat if you want a tripod and a selfie stick in one.
  
• The arm folds and bends so you don't get the stick itself in your shot.
  
  
  cons:
  
  
• A little too bulky
  
• extends too short, resulting in a too close selfie picture.
  
  Otherwise this one:
  
  
• fits nicely in a pocket
  
• skinny
  
• extends further.
  
  cons:
  
  
• A little on the flimsy side.
  
• Strap is too thin breaks easily.
  
• Takes some wisdom to get a firm connection between the GoPro and the stick.
  
  I'd recommend the GoPro branded one for the tripod and shooting friends and the second one for shooting yourself.
  
  
  Also no matter which one you get, always shoot with the GoPro dangling from the stick for more stable image. You can either turn on upside down recording in the settings or do that in post.
  

Help me choose a snowboard/cold weather jacket

Here are the jackets I have saved after many hours of research, all of them have 10k/10k weather resistance.

Non of them are perfect. Some look good, but lack functions while others have functions, but don't look that slick.

My helmet is red, pants are black and my snowboard is white, black and red. Also where I live it gets quite cold in the winter (-30'C), so on the coldest days I would use the jacket to go around the town as well.

O'neil - All the functions, but looks too edgy, no?:
http://www.amazon.de/ONeill-Herren-Skijacke-Sapphire-450015/dp/B00L09WOL8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415970481&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=O%27Neill+Men%27s+PM+Galaxy+Jacket

L1 - Nice looking jacket(I'll forgive the diagonal pockets), unfortunately lacks the skipass pocket on the sleeve:
http://www.dogfunk.com/l1-omen-jacket-mens?ti=U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM6b21lbi1qYWNrZXQ6MToxOm9tZW4tamFja2V0&skid=LON000N-GRE-S

WLD - Functional and looks ok, not fan of the brown stamp on left pocket :/
http://www.blue-tomato.com/en-GB/product/WLD-Snowy+Moon+Jacket-301643489-denim+blue+melange/?back=fn4dow

O'neil - Functionality ok, looks too dark, also very "contrasty" pocket zippers: http://www.blue-tomato.com/en-GB/product/O+Neill-Utility+Jacket-301796739-blue+wing+teal/?back=nAUUhA

Foursquare - Looks a bit "adventurous", good functionality+price, doesn't have wrist gaiters, so if I crash in powder snow can get into my sleeves:
http://www.amazon.com/Foursquare-Label-Snowboard-Jacket-Medium/dp/B0053ZPG9C/ref=sr_1_190?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1416323344&sr=1-190

DC - Goes well with my helmet, no skipass pocket on the sleeve:
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Mens-Axis-Jacket-Medium/dp/B00IJHX4V8/ref=sr_1_19?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1416324395&sr=1-19

O'neil - Sleeve pocket to high, other than that, looks good:
http://www.amazon.com/ONeill-Snow-Jones-Shell-Medium/dp/B00KQ26N3U/ref=sr_1_51?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1416324921&sr=1-51

DC - Looks ok, but weird design inside the hood:
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Forest-Jacket-Dress-Medium/dp/B00MJ2320C/ref=sr_1_53?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1416324921&sr=1-53

samcbar recommended DaKine. Both of these look good: Gloves Gloves2


If I might ask one more thing. There are a million goggles out there. Are there any differences? Or is it basically like sunglasses? Do they all fit the same?

Those locks are better than nothing, but I would just like to point out they can be easily broken by simply twisting the entire green part until there is no slack in the cable and then continue twisting. Something will snap.

But even still those locks are good because they can be used anywhere unlike the ski key locks which can only be used in racks but are alot harder to break: https://amzn.com/B0042L1THG

They both have trade offs. If i'm at a resort that has tons of racks, ill bring my ski key, but if they don't have many then the cable locks are better

Yeah, if I can find the time, I'm considering using Starting Strength as my pre-season workout routine for next winter.