This is a guide for beginners, and people who don't know what they're buying. I wrote it because I felt that the other guides did a poor job of preparing you for snowboarding.

Before you buy anything you should rent. This way you'll know what you're getting yourself into before you make the investment on equipment, which in the past 10 years has gotten very expensive.

Most important thing is the snowboard boots. If the boot is too tight your feet will hurt, if they are too big you will feel like you're falling out of them. A good fit will feel slightly snug, and your toes shouldn't touch the front. The boots, if new, will "pack-out" almost 1/2 size bigger after a few times riding in them. Two important things to note are 1. when the boot is tied your heel should not move around. "Heel lift" is a very unsettling feeling when your riding and it doesn't allow your boot to respond properly to your body movements. The second important thing to remember is to tie your boots properly. I see many beginners with boots that are barely tied, and laces hanging on the floor. The boot is a tool, a piece of sports equipment; when used the way it was intended can do magical things. As a beginner, get a boot with medium stiffness, or "flex". This way when you get your next pair you'll be able to determine if you a stiffer boot (more response from the board, and ankle support) or a softer boot (more comfortable, easier to do advanced tricks). The third type of boot is a hard boot; they look like ski boots and you should just stay away from them for now.

The second most important piece of equipment is the binding. This connects your boot to the board. There are really two types of bindings. Strap bindings and step-in bindings. The step-in bindings have a little locking device where you just click your boot into them and away-you-go. However, they require a special boot that is compatible with only with that binding. They are becoming obsolete and are mostly used on rental boards now anyway. The binding that you should get is the strap binding. This is the tried-and-true system, and I'd say about 99% of snowboarders use it. You have two traps; a toe strap which goes either on top of the toes or covers the toes. The second strap is an ankle strap that goes over the ankle. Very simple. Now that you've decided to get a bindings with straps the next thing to look out for is the binding stiffness. Like the boots a stiffer binding offers more response, and a softer one offers more flexibility. It's just personal preference here, if you think you'll be doing tricks all day get a softer setup, if you like going fast and steep get a stiffer setup. As a beginner start somewhere in the middle. One last note on bindings, they come in sizes. Usually Small/Medium, and Large/X-Large. And not only is your foot size a determining factor, but so is the thickness of the boot. Some boots are very chunky; and even though you're a size 6 and should normally get a Small/Medium binding your boot still might not fit in the binding. In this case you'll have to get a different model of binding, one that is more accommodating to thicker boots.

And the most essential item, and the one which is the namesake of our lovely hobby, is the snowboard. The snowboard while being the most essential, I find it to be the easiest piece of equipment to choose and the one that needs the least amount of description to explain. Basically you have a wooden plank, with plastic around it, and metal edges. There's obviously a lot more then just that, like fiberglass, foam, etc. but it's irrelevant at this stage of the game. This is how I choose a snowboard, if I want to go fast and be able to have a stable ride at high speed I get a stiffer board (freeride). If I want to do tricks I get a softer board (freestyle). They also have a medium flex board (all-mountain), which might be a good starting point. To the inexperienced, visually they all look the same. And you can still do tricks with a freeride board almost just as well as a freestyle board. It's all a matter of preference and that will come with experience. But you'll need to know what size board to get. The board sizes are in centimeters, and it'll be a number like 155 or 55. If it's a double digit number just put a "1" in front of it; so a "62" is really 162cm. Unless you are abnormally tall, or short, compared to your body weight, you choose a board size by just that, your weight. No matter what anyone tells you, it is your weight, not your height. There are charts online that give the correct weight to board size ratio. I'm 5'11", 190lbs; and in the past years I've ridden anywhere from a 156 to 164. I can probably go bigger but for where I snowboard that's just fine. Where you ride and board size is another topic, not for this basic discussion. But as you can see overall it's pretty flexible, and there isn't really a right or wrong.

So there you have it. Once you get everything there are plenty of ways to set up your equipment, the only advice I can give you is experiment; none of us really know what we're doing anyway, I think. And just remember if you don't fall it means you're not really trying.