how much does the forgivingness of your snowboard affect your normal riding style?

Question

does it cause you to fall more if you have less forgivingness or does it not affect you that much

Answer 1

"Normal riding" is kind of relative when you think about the different places to ride, the skill of different riders and the different snow conditions - even one rider can experience these changes on a single run.

I mostly ride on ungroomed hills when I can and under those conditions a softer or stiffer board isn't really an issue. On groomed runs, a softer board can chatter especially when the snow is really packed or icy.

A soft board is preferable for learning because it is easier to flex for turns and is more forgiving when there is too much or too little angle on the edge. When you start riding faster and especially when you start carving, you will depend less and less on the flex of the board to initiate turns and a stiffer board will perform and hold the edge better in hard turns.

Good Luck

Answer 2

It makes a huge difference.

If you are a begginer then a board that is too stiff (not forgiving) will kick you on your butt, and you will have trouble controlling it.

If you are an advanced rider, then a soft board (forgiving) will not give you enough stability for high speeds and landing off of big jumps. It will also chatter. But at this level of riding, controlling your board is not really an issue anymore.

Unless you are riding mostly rails, then a soft board is generally preferred. But you are not going as fast on rails, so the chatter is not so much an issue. And a soft board will not kick you off rails as easily as a stiff board will.