Kemper Snowboards | Snowboard Shape Guide

While they are a seemingly infinite number of board types and styles, there are only a handful of shapes. In the following post, we’ll outline four different snowboard shapes — directional snowboards, directional twin snowboards, twin snowboards, and volume shifted snowboards — and provide examples. Read on to learn more.

Directional

To be clear, there’s quite a bit of variety within the all different snowboard shapes. Perhaps none have more variation than directional snowboards.

For example, a directional shape can encompass a 170cm swallowtail powder snowboard, a 160cm race snowboard, and a 158cm all-mountain snowboard with rocker camber. All three of those directional snowboards arguably could be in the one rider’s snowboard quiver.

Directional snowboards have a longer nose than tail. They usually are tapered. The taper will vary greatly between models depending on whether it’s an all-mountain snowboard or a powder snowboard. The stance will typically be set back. The sidecut gets increasingly deeper towards the tail, which helps riders drive into turns. As a result, directional snowboards are generally meant to ride one way and aren’t well-suited for riding switch.

Directional Twin

Directional twin snowboards marry the symmetrical shape of a true twin snowboard with the longer nose and shorter tail of a directional. These are frequently all-mountain snowboards, combining the stability and speed of a directional snowboard while enabling some level of switch riding and freestyle. Often directional twin snowboards may have a directional shape but a symmetrical flex or vice versa.

Directional twin snowboards are versatile, making them a great choice for people who don’t have or can’t afford a deep snowboard quiver. 

Twin

Twin snowboards, also known as true twins, are symmetrical. The nose and tail length are the same; the sidecut depth highest at the dead center of the board length. The stance is also set in the center of the snowboard.

Typically twin snowboards, of all the different snowboard shapes, are the least experimental. The variations tend to be in flex and camber profile (though many true twins are full camber). True twins ideal for people who ride switch often, including park snowboarders.

Volume Shifted

Short wide snowboards, some with swallowtails, have blossomed in popularity in the past five years. Normally the volume shifted snowboards are heavily tapered, meaning the nose is significantly wider than the tail. The stance is set back, way back. In some models, the volume shifted snowboard will feature a swallowtail.

All of these specifications are designed to let the snowboard float in powder. However, the primary benefit is how quickly they turn. Volume shifted snowboards are much shorter than their directional counterparts. For example, someone who rides a 154cm directional would ride a 144cm volume shifted snowboard.

Frequently volume shifted snowboards have a higher-than-average flex rating, i.e. a 7 out of 10. That gives an added benefit for carving. It’s not uncommon for volume shifted snowboards to have a blended camber profile with rise in the nose and camber underfoot.