Top 4 Snowboards for Beginners

Buying your first snowboard is all fun and games until you drop a few hundred bucks for a board that you can’t really ride. 

Luckily, it’s not rocket science. As a beginner, you will want to look for three main things when choosing a snowboard:

Versatility: Get a board that you can use for all types of riding, since you are still discovering your own preferences. 

Value: Don’t blow all your cash. You’ll probably buy another board in the next 2 seasons. And, you might also decide it’s not for you and become a skier—(our condolences.) 

Ease of control: People recommend “softer” boards, or those that are easier to flex, for beginners. The stiffer your board is, the more speed and force you’ll need to get a good carve—this will translate to the board feeling unresponsive as you just start out. 

At Telos, our boards range from x to y in flex. Some are quite stiff and better for experienced riders who demand high performance.

To avoid a terrible experience with your first snowboard, here are 4 that we recommend:

1. Adit

The Adit is an amazing all-mountain twin tip board for all levels of riders. Whether on groomers or deeper powder, you can ride effortlessly. The profile and shape have been designed together perfectly so that it is virtually impossible to catch an edge which makes it perfect to improve your skills with less spills! Made to suit all types of terrains and conditions, the carve control core of poplar and bamboo with carbon fiber give it torsional flex and a surfy feel. The lightweight triaxial fiberglass construction makes the Adit an ultra-playful and fun all-mountain board. 

Beginner-friendly features:

• Triaxial fiberglass construction
• Carve control core
• Flex 5

2. DST

The Telos DST is named for its Dual Swallow Tip shape, designed to be an all-mountain freeride board that is lightning fast, ferociously fun and easy to ride on any terrain or in any conditions. From the park to the tree-line to the gnarliest peaks or conditions, the DST remains forever faithful and forgiving. It allows you to do things you thought were impossible on other boards. The stability and edge hold combined with the edge-to-edge control truly makes the DST an agile board that can handle anything you throw at it and will have you smiling from ear to ear while doing it.

Beginner-friendly features:

• Fiber-flex construction
• Torsion control core
• Flex 6

3. Caldera 

The Caldera has been tweaked, toyed with, and painstakingly designed, iteration by iteration to be the perfect, easy surfing, pow shredder for riders of all levels. The wide rockered nose is unsinkable and at home in the deepest alpine pow fields, chutes and tree-lined gullies or ridges. Take a back seat and turn quickly off of the tail when dropping steeps and deeps or move slightly forward and you have a board that allows you to make graceful turns in pow and lay trenches on banks and groomers.

Beginner-friendly features:

• Surf Control Core
• Fiber-flex construction
• Flex 8

4. Back/Slash

You’re probably already aware of the fact that volume shifted boards allow you to ride a shorter board than you would normally ride. But did you know that if you combine this with the right shape, construction and expert engineering this can make a board that absolutely rips on anything you put in front of it? The Telos Back/Slash is an all-mountain masterpiece that was designed to surf pow and tear apart corduroy at the seams! This in itself would be a show stealer, but in fact, it can also handle tight trees with unmatched responsiveness, side hits with tons of pop, carves trenches in groomers with ease, plus floats effortlessly and tirelessly in the deepest of white rooms all day long.

Beginner-friendly features:

• Electra base
• Torsion control core
• Fiber flex construction
• Flex 8