identifying a ski board

We were at Mt Shasta in northern CA a few weekends ago and saw an unusual type of board. It appeared to be about 7-10" wide and about 4' - 4 1/2' long. Reddish in color with a traditional round shaped tip and a squared off tail with a triangle (pizza slice) missing (a twin tail?) from the tail. The rider was situated in a stance similar to a slalom water ski as opposed to the splayed stance of a typical snowboarder. My 15 yr old son was impressed and wants to try to find one. Any ideas what this board my have been or where to find something similar to purchase?

Thanks!

I believe you are referring to an "Alpine Snowboard".  Often miss-identified these days. To be clear I have added a couple photos, an alpine snowboard, alpine snowboarder and a "Swallowtail" powder type board.  Perhaps these can further clarify your "Ski Board" sighting.  Which is in-accurate in both cases.

The Alpine snowboards are designed or focussed on carving the groomers.  Typically they are longer, narrower and stiffer than free-syle type snowboard.   The bindings are what we refer to as "Plates" or "Hard-boot" bindings.  If you are interested in pursuing the "Alpine" type of snowboarding I would recommend the following sites.  THe "Swallowtail" or powder specific snowboarads are softer, wider intended for deep soft snow.  Hope this helps. 

BomberOnline

CarversAlmanac

Edited by www.oldsnowboards.com - 3/19/2009 at 06:19 pm

That split tail looks like what we saw. thanks for the info. My son wanted me to ask, is the alpine board easier or harder to learn than a traditional snow board?  He has 0 snow ski experience, about 10 days on a traditional snow board and is an accomplished water ski and wakeboard rider.

thanks again,

That swallowtail shown above would generally be ridden with a more sideways stance like a regular snowboard, I think.  You probably saw an alpine board with a swallowtail rather than the powder board pictured here.

Riding an alpine (carving) board would probably be more difficult than a normal snowboard for most people, but given your son's experience with slalom waterskiing, he would probably take to it. The wakeboarding probably translates more to a freeride (soft boot/ sideways stance). 

I don't waterski or wakeboard, but my guess is the carving board is more like riding a waterski, while most snowboards feel more like a wakeboard.

To answer your son's question about difficulty learning.  In general I would say yes. It is more difficult. Why? A few reasons:

1- Equipment and lessons in Alpine snowboarding are not as readily available. Few offer equipment or lessons any more.

2- The alpine hardboots and bindings offer a stiffer , less forgiving, connection to the board.  The good and bad?  Allows powerfull and precise control,  less forgiving and down right punishing of mistakes.

Hope this helps.

Now, as to the identification of the board.  It may be a fairly rare combination of both.  Alpine + Split tail.

It is an alpine board (not powder) , however, it does have a spit tail to change its flex characteristics.

Bryan of www.oldsnowboards.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5AKMAN 

 

That split tail looks like what we saw. thanks for the info. My son wanted me to ask, is the alpine board easier or harder to learn than a traditional snow board?  He has 0 snow ski experience, about 10 days on a traditional snow board and is an accomplished water ski and wakeboard rider.

 

thanks again,