Our guide to buying the correct snowboard boot for you!

Fit

This is the most important aspect of any boot choice. The correct fitting boot will be comfortable, perform well and you will enjoy riding with it. Starting from the toes you don’t want to have pressure on the ends of your toes but should just be able to tickle the end of the boot when standing up straight. You shouldn’t have any squeeze from side to side as you boot would be too narrow and your toes would fall asleep, your heel should be held firmly so that when you flex you knee and your heel lifts the sole of the boot not within the boot itself. Finally the tongue should sit centrally on your shin and it must not dig into either side of your shin bone.

Flex

The Flex of a boot is very easy to understand 0 being the softest and 10 being the stiffest. What does then get a bit confusing is what’s best? Firstly softer boots allow the rider to manipulate the boot more which comes in handy when you are beginning as they are more forgiving. Also in the park it means you can tweak or bone your grabs easily, as the boots get stiffer they respond to the riders actions quicker. This is useful when riding fast, hitting big kickers and natural features at speed.

The weight of the rider is also something to think about as boots are generally going to feel a bit softer as they have more power behind them. So what should you choose? Figure out what sort of riding you plan on doing, realistically are you going to be spinning 10’s off an 80 footer or rolling over the butter box? Be conservative and stick in the middle and edge either way if you have something in mind.

Fastening

There is a massive array of different lacing systems on the market and all of them have their benefits. Traditional Laces, Fast Track and Boa are the big 3 to look out for. This is all personal preference and should not affect the fit of the boot in anyway.

Traditional Laces – Easily replaced and you are able to get a lot of tension through to the boot. But can take you an extra few minutes in the morning to lace up.

Fast Track – Easy no fuss lightweight lacing and can often change the tension in different zones across the foot can sometimes be a bit fiddly.

Boa – Easy boot fastening with zonal support, but breakages although rare could prove tricky to get repaired on the mountain.

Footbed & Liner

This is what is going to be in contact with your foot and could make or break your snowboard experience. There are loads of mumbo jumbo slogans and other brand wizardry to convince you that theirs is the best but what really matters is how it feels on your feet.

A few things to look out for is having a good heel pocket to keep you held in, Velcro on the tongue to make sure it stays central, plenty of shock absorbing material in the foot bed and an excellent upgrade is having then internal lacing system attached to boot not the liner.

Features

Snowboard boots are always going to have something that will attract you to them whether it’s the leopard print Danny Kass Nike Zoom or the super soft cushioning of the Burton Hail.

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