In article . com,
wrote:

On Nov 7, 9:03 am, Neil Gendzwill wrote:
jw wrote:
Most recently, I am riding a Santa Cruz 164 wide
board, even with only size 9 feet.

I find it weird that 164 is about the longest you can find in the shop
these days. My main ride is a Coiler AM 172, and if conditions are soft
I'll be on my Rad-Air Tanker 200.

Those are monstrous by local (Pennsylvania) standards. My board is a
162W, and it's usually about the biggest I see around here on the
slopes; often feels really long in the crowded lift lines. Shops carry
bigger boards, but I'm not sure who buys them. Of course, there are
reasons for the tilt toward the small:
* little or no powder to worry about
* apparent preference for park vs. freeriding
* more kids/teens riding than fully grown adults

Haha. I can imagine, being primarily a New England rider, where sure
there is more powder, longer runs, steeps, etc., but it's all relative.
We're still kinda far down on the snowboarding "totem pole." (I've
snowboarded and skied Colorado and Tahoe many times, as well -- for
perspective.).

Myself, I like the bigger boards now. I like speed, stability and big
carves, as well as natural hits and some hits in park on occasion.

Naturally, our season hasn't started yet, so I'm referring to years
past.

Naturally...good choice of words when a lot of the snow is machine made,
rather than "natural."

We haven't started yet either (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine), but they
were blowing snow on Killington and saw snow at Sugarloaf.

-jw