Choosing the right width is key
If your feet are bigger than average then you’ll probably need a wide or at least a mid-wide professional snowboard. This is to combat toe and heel drag when you’re cranking the board onto its edge.The tipping point comes at a shoe size of around US 11 / UK 10 / EU 44.
In terms of the board, anything with a waist width over 25.4 cm is generally considered wide. Most people with big feet are taller and slightly heavier, too. We take all these factors into account when dialing in the flex of our wider models and deciding where to place any extra core materials. The result is that boards like the National and Warden feel very similar to ride to their narrower versions – so if you’ve got big feet then you really don't have to compromise on performance.
To make it super easy to choose the right size board we’ve put together a bunch of charts right here.
Double-check your stance
If your feet are just a little on the big side and you would prefer to stick to a standard width snowboard, there are other ways to reduce any toe overhang.
First up is your stance width. A snowboard is narrowest in the middle and gets wider towards the nose and tail, so the wider you set the bindings, the more width becomes available under your feet. Angles also play an important role. The steeper your binding angles, the less your toes will overhang. You don’t have to go full racer-mode, but by making some subtle adjustments to your stance you might find you don’t actually need a wide snowboard.
Extra benefits of wide snowboards
Aside from whether your feet demand it, there are some good reasons to choose a wider board. Back in the day, wide models felt sluggish edge to edge, but thanks to continuous improvements in construction (especially fine-tuning the torsional flex) they can now feel equally lively and responsive when compared to their narrower counterparts.
This has allowed manufacturers like Rome to play around with more radical shapes, shifting the volume from the length to the width in order to generate extra float when blasting through powder or surfing over slush – all while keeping the board short and agile. Check out the Ravine to see exactly what we mean. Wide snowboards are also more stable, and allow you to carve deeper than ever before. In fact many of today’s standard widths are significantly wider than ten years ago for that reason.
So yes – we think every rider should try one, whether or not you’ve got big feet. It's fun to try new things, right?
