How to read
a board

A number out of ten for how hard the board resists being bent. It is the single most useful figure on the sheet, because it decides how the board behaves at both ends of your speed range.

3 – 4 · Soft

Easy to press and butter, forgiving when your weight is in the wrong place. Gives up stability once you are going quickly.

5 – 6 · Medium

Playful enough to work with, stiff enough to hold a line when the run opens up. Where most riders spend the day.

7 – 8 · Stiff

Holds its edge at speed and drives hard out of a turn. Less forgiving when you are not riding it properly.

Stand a board on a flat floor and look at it side on. The gap under it — where it touches and where it lifts — is the profile, and it decides how much edge is on the snow at any moment.

Camber

Arcs away from the snow between your feet. Press it flat through a turn and it pushes back — that stored energy is the pop out the other side. The most demanding of the profiles and the most rewarding when you commit to it.

Rocker

Curves the other way: the tips lift off the snow. Less edge in contact means less to catch, and a nose that rides up rather than dives. Forgiving at low speed and in soft snow, looser than camber when you push it.

Flat

Level between the contact points. More edge on the snow than rocker, more predictable than camber. Stable underfoot without asking you to ride it aggressively to get anything back.

Hybrid camber

Camber underfoot, rocker at the tips. Keeps the grip and the pop where your weight is, and lifts the ends so the board is harder to catch. The compromise most all-mountain boards are built on.

Hybrid rocker

Rocker between the feet, camber outside it. Float in soft snow without giving up the edge hold you need to get back to the lift. Powder boards that still have to survive a groomed run.

Directional rocker

Rockered and set back in the stance. The nose lifts and the tail sinks, which is what you want pointed downhill in deep snow. Not shaped to be ridden switch.

What the board was shaped for, which is not the same as where it can go. An all-mountain board will ride powder; a powder board will get down a groomer. The label tells you which of those it was built to do well.