Snowboard Gear

Snowboard Gear: Mole Snowboards and More

(Edit: I’ve updated/edited
this posting, originally posted last month, to incorporate more
information on my beginner board that seems to attract alot of
searches.)

I had to hit a few different stores in downtown Toronto last week for
some gear. Some if it was for me, most of it for friends who were with
me that are coming to Whistler.

I visited, in no particular order:

Hogtown Extreme Sports: Great
store, lousy website. Offer possibly the widest selection of ski and
snowboard bags I have ever seen. Knowledgeable staff, and only seem to
carry high-quality stuff. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the
King/Spadina area.

Mountain Equipment Co-Op:
Everyone loves MEC. Especially hippies. Good for base layers, camping
gear, that sort of stuff. Not much available in the way of gear
specifically for snowboarding, but great winter clothes.

Europe Bound:
You know, I had never been in there before, and I was disappointed when
I finally did. More stuff than MEC, but way less organized and very
messy. Difficult to walk around in. I guess this will appeal to a
certain type of shopper.

Sport Chek: I’m sure someone will
call me a ‘poser’ for saying this, but: I end up buying lots of stuff
here. Everything is very affordable, and they have a little of
everything - boards, coats, gloves, tools, boots, bindings, etc. Both
brand names and odd names you’ve never heard of (likely their own
private label brands), like Mole snowboards (I own one). At least my
bindings are from a company I’ve heard of before…

Man, I didn’t realize Flow got flow.com. Great URL.

Edit December 2005: I seem to be getting a lot of traffic from Google searches for Mole Snowboards. I, like you, couldn’t find much information about them. So I’ll list below what I know about them:

- I believe they are a private label brand of Sport Chek, a Canadian retailer. Sport Check has a few private lable brands they use for outdoor clothing and equipment.

- I got the board at an end-of-season sale at Sport Chek when I was
learning how to snowboard. It’s 154cm and has a picture of Mount Hood
on it.

- For all intents and purposes, it has been very good. Actually, I
still use it. And I’ve taken it to Whistler three times, Vermont once,
and southern Ontario a whole ton. It has done the job quite nicely, and
I highly recommend it as a learner board. It has taken rocks, jumps and
general wear and tear quite well.

- I’m using Flow bindings with the board.

- The board is thinner than most snowboards I have seen.

I am planning to replace the board soon simply because I think my
abilities now go beyond the board - I want something a little wider,
maybe a little more stiff, and a little thicker/able to absorb some
more shock. But all things considered it was a great board to
start/learn with.

If you have any more information on this board I’d love to hear from you so we can get a bit of a repository going.

© 2005 HighlyObsessed.com | The Snowboarding and Cycling Blog