TEEEEECHNIIIINE! This is the 2011 Technine T9 true twin snowboard for women, coming at you new and improved for all around park riding. It’s bi-axial laminant stitching allows for more pop at the tip and tail with a medium flex feel between your bindings . This makes for higher ollies with less effort, more contortion under your bindings for linking smooth turns.  It also features a die-cut extruded base and fully wrapped metal edges . While I stand at 5’5” and weigh about 125 lbs, the ideal park size board for me is a 147. This model is available in a range of different sizes from 141, 144, 147,and 152 which makes it easier to choose the right size just for you.

The T9 board is noted as “the ticket to fun and function” and I would have to agree. It’s rated a three on the flex scale (which goes from one to ten), ten being the softest and five being a medium flex. If you have been riding the T9 snowboard from this season, then you should know that the 2011 model is made slightly stiffer for better support off larger jumps. We’re all fairly familiar with the process of breaking in a new board and being uncomfortable for the first couple of runs. The T9 is a different story ladies! Within the first run I couldn’t help but to express how much I enjoyed riding this board by hooting and hollering the whole way down. There’s plenty of flexibility for you to get well acquainted with what the T9 has to offer you.

If you find yourself mainly in the park, this would be the board I would recommend for you, without a doubt. My first day on it, I took it off all the features I’d hit on any normal day of snowboarding. This included skate style rails, boxes, jumps, and of course the pipe. I have high standards when it comes to choosing a board that is right for the style of riding I do, but after putting this board to the test… it can truly hold it down and passed with flying colors. I am proud to say the Technine T9 is and has been my most favorite park board of choice and if you haven’t tried it out for yourself, then you don’t know what you’re missing.
Unfortunately, for some time now there has been this misconception about the Technine reputation due to the image and style of riders that choose to represent this snowboard company. What have you really got to lose? Try it out and simply let the product speak for itself. The 2011 Technine T9 will be available next season and will retail in stores for three hundred dollars, so be sure to keep an out for it.

Feel free to share your opinion of this model or even the women’s Technine snowboard line in general and let us know what you think about Porter’s introducing these boards to the shop. If you have any further question please contact Porter’s boardshop via phone, the site chat or stop by at any one of the locations in Tahoe, CA.

Popularity: 3% [?]

What the Flux? A well known and respected binding company from Japan that started off small is now doing big things. I have been riding Flux bindings since I learned how to ride. More specifically, men’s Flux bindings. Although there are plenty of other companies out there making bindings that are suitable for female riders, such as myself, I have continuously ended up going back to riding Flux due to the quality and durability of their product.

The women’s 2010 Flux Gem binding is an entirely new reason to be stoked on this company. Dare I say… It’s about time! This is the first season that Flux is introducing a binding made for women along with the help of pro rider, Chanelle Slasics. Let’s break down on the deets on this thing.

The Gem’s highback has cut out slots located in it’s mid section to create what is called, a chair highback system. The “chair” system offers padded comfort and rests under the calves for more support from higher impact. The slots allow for power and pressure to be distributed throughout the entire highback rather than one point. Personally, besides just the weight difference in this binding, the chair system has affected my riding performance greatly. Chanelle loves this highback as well, and I agree one hundred percent when she says that it’s “more forgiving and specific to a female’s calf profile.”

The baseplate is also padded with a thirty percent glass fiber for, not only durability, but flexibility as well. The Gem includes 3D padded straps, aggressive teeth on the ladders, and wide ratchets to make for easier access for the hundreds of time that you strap and unstrap from your bindings on the daily. From experience, I can tell you that I choose to ride Flux bindings, overall, due to the quality more so than anything else this product has provided. I’ve never had an issue with ladders freezing and breaking off or even a strap coming undone and falling off, let’s say… At a contest. Sore subject. This company, unlike many others, has never let me down and I encourage you to have the Flux experience for yourself. Now the ladies can, with the Gem, which retails at $220 in stores. Get yours. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1% [?]

It is rare to find a product that you are genuinely, 100%, head over heels excited about year after year but this is just such an occasion. To explain why I love this product so much I am going to give a little back-story.

When I was looking to gear up for my first season of snowboarding my only snowboarder friend told me “buy something cheap, you’re only going to destroy it learning”. What he didn’t tell me was that this rule most definitely doesn’t apply to boots and bindings so a slightly younger and much less experienced me ended up riding with the cheap pair of Head bindings that had come with the board I purchased. They were your typical low-end pair of bindings: cheap plastic, toe strap, and very little padding. While I know this is what many of you spend years riding, I didn’t last more than a couple days. The foot pain I experienced was something that I have a hard time describing to this very day. Sitting in the chairlift was excruciating and more than once I felt myself nearly crying. The pain was so debilitating that I would have to un-strap and wait a couple minutes for my foot to recover before I could stomach strapping back in to ride. Too loose and my boot slopped around in the binding, any tighter and my foot wanted to mutiny. After a couple weekends of attempting to tough it out and trying every setting on the binding in an effort to make something work I gave in, walked into the shop, and asked to see the most comfortable binding they had. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: unranked [?]