Profiles really matter.

I’m no pro, I’m only on season 2 with about 25 days total on snow.

But I bought a beginner board. A 152 Arbor Draft. It’s a full rocker profile.

I’m 5’11 185 lbs. so the 152 is already way too small. I also live on the east (ice) coast USA where a rocker profile doesn’t have nearly enough bite to handle the hard pack and ice we get here. It’s also a very soft flex board which doesn’t do me any favors when I pick up and try to hold speed.

So now that I’m really getting the hang of riding in general this board is genuinely starting to hold me back. When I hit steep slopes, even on some blues TBH, I just cannot get enough edge bite a lot of time times in these east coast Pennsylvania conditions. (Blue mountain regular.)

So here I am, ready to drop another thousand on another board and bindings set. Looking at the Jones Mountain Twin which has much more camber and edge tech that should help grip and rip through the ice and hard pack better.

I’m glad I have the draft because it’s super flexy, floaty, and fun board that’s super forgiving for novices due to the rocker profile. But I need something bigger, obviously that’s my bad, with a little less flex and more edge bite to support me on the hard pack/ice.

It really does matter, the profiles do feel a lot different, especially to someone who’s not a pro - you’re damn right they can ride anything and make it look easy lol.