When it comes down to snowboarding, its all about style and your individuality. So there's no surprise that when it comes down to snowboard clothing there is an abundance of brands, colours and styles to choose from.
Not only does style play a large role in the choice of clothing to hit the slopes in but there is that all important factor of warmth and protection, afterall, thats what we wear clothes for in the sub-zero temperatures of the mountains - it could be a little chilly otherwise!. With the ever growing advancements in material technology, snowboard jackets, pants and gloves are becoming seriously technical; offering varying layers of fabric types, breathability, and all round climate control.
Snowboard Jackets
Snowboard jackets are usually the most important clothing for most people, keeping your core temperature at a comfortable range, having enough pockets to stash your phone, wallet, glasses in but also the most obvious area and clothing item to show your style on the slopes.
Snowboard jackets can often be expensive, sometimes ranging above the £350 mark, however, with such highly priced jackets you usually get a whole bunch of features thrown in. Top of the grade fabrics and construction, awesome designs, plenty of features (pockets, zip vents) and sometimes built in IPOD controls!
Snowboard Pants
Trousers, pants, salapettes whatever you want to call them are also a necessary item in your snowboard clothing collection, because of the nature of the sport they are usually baggy in appearance to allow freedom of movement as well as having that "street" look. Some model of snowboard pants feature "venting" areas between the legs to allow you to cool down easily after a hard session on the mountain whilst others include features as a zippable waist band which allows the pants to be zipped and secured to a compatible jacket!
One thing you'll be pleased of with snowboard pants is their waterproofness, as sitting down in the snow talking to your friends can get a little uncomfortable around the bum area when wet, luckily all snowboard trousers are waterproof and some even give added protection around the bum area, both for waterproofness as well as cushioning for when you fall over!
Snowboard Gloves
You'd be a fool to think you could ride all day without wearing gloves, your fingers would simply drop off by putting them in the snow all day (remember when you were a kid playing outside in the stuff), well luckily for the clever ones amongst us there are a huge range of snowboard gloves to choose from.
Dependant on the climate you are travelling to for your holidays you may want to choose a thicker, more insulated glove or mitten that will keep your extremities cosy in the harshest of conditions. Wind chill factors of -40 and continuous snow storms require something with a little more warmth than the lighter style gloves (pipe gloves).
Pipe Gloves, so called because they are mainly worn by professional half pipe riders (who dont put their hands down much) are a much thinner glove, shielding your hands from the cooler temperatures but not from anything more than a slight chill.
So where ever you are going this year, make sure you have the right snowboard clothing in your bag, and dont be left out in the cold with inappropriate gear. Oh yeah - and dont forget its all about the style too!
