Boxes and rails designed for snow have greater impact on them from the force of the snowboarder or skier landing from higher jumps, greater distances and faster speeds. Strength – A snow box or rail must be built to a higher standard than a skate feature. Although rail preference will vary from athlete to athlete, when given the opportunity a round double barrel design is highly desired because it has all the stability of the flat design but with much less friction. Many rails at mountain terrain parks are rectangular in shape yielding a wider surface area. Narrow square or round coping 1 ½” or smaller is a difficult rail surface for beginners. Rails for snow need to have all of the larger scale features mentioned above. As the skill level of the athlete improves, they will need these higher features to accomplish advanced tricks (2’s and 3’s are very difficult off a 12” high feature). More often than not, features found on mountains will be much taller than a foot and working up to and practicing at that level is important for success in the parks. Remember a one foot feature set in snow is lower than a sheet of notebook paper turned on its side.
A box or rail for snow taller than 12” is a must. “Ride-ons” are great when you are learning, but nobody uses the magic carpet forever. Since a snowboard (or skis) is twice as big as a skateboard, it stands to reason that the jib needs to be twice as big doesn’t it? If you are just beginning on boxes and rails, a box 12” wide or less will be a challenge, and if it’s only 8’ long, you’re off the feature before you knew you were on it. Why? Just think proportions - the average snowboard is 4 and a half feet long and approximately 10” wide. A good snow feature “Box” should be wider than 12”, longer than 8’ and a minimum of 12” in height. Being adjustable means that not only can different skill levels of riders use it during the same session but also that it will accommodate the athlete’s growth within the sport. Having the flexibility to change the pitch, height or even grow the length quickly gives the athlete motivation to excel in the sport without having to shovel snow or dangerously place objects under the feature.
A feature that cannot grow in height or length becomes boring very quickly (think of it like never progressing beyond the bunny slope, forever stuck in the pizza wedge position). The following is a list of things to look for in a good box or rail for snow sports.Īdjustability – Boxes and rails for snow or skate should be flexible enough in design to grow with the athlete’s ability and skill level.
Although you can use a snow feature for skateboarding, you should never do the reverse. The fact of the matter is most skate features are undersized and underbuilt for the demands of snow sports. What makes a good Snow feature? Why are snow features different from Skate features?īoxes and rails used for skateboarding are not suitable for snow sports like snowboarding and skiing.
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