Stance width

[JohnE]

My question is regarding stance width. For me this applies to softbooting but I wonder if the trend is the same hard & soft:

All else being equal what are the advantages / disadvantages of a relatively wide -vs- narrow stance?

If I decrease my stance width by 1" or 2" what am I likely to notice? What do I give up? What do I gain?

[Deuxdiesel]

Generally speaking, the wider your stance, the stiffer your board will feel and it will tend to be more sluggish on turn initiations.  An inch or to on soft boots will not make nearly the difference in feel that it will when riding on plates and hard boots.  With a narrower stance on hard boots and plates (like, extremely narrow) you can flex up and down more without getting as much heel lift, but you lose command over the board in dicey conditions.  You might be able to bend the board more with a narrow stance, but the ability to work the board fore and aft suffers.  This applies to soft boots as well.

 

[Odd Job]

+1 to +2 or whatever to the alpine stance.

[weather_nerd]

IMHO, stance width is a balance between mobility, stability, and comfort. Stance width and binding angles go hand-in-hand, too. With steep angles in an alpine setup or softboot carving setup, having a narrower stance increases your mobility, especially with stiffer boots. But, having a stance that is too narrow forces you to balance over a narrower "base", so you lose stability. Same is true with a standard softboot setup with more neutral angles, but there you can get away with a wider stance without losing mobility. My softboot setups are 1-2 inches wider than my alpine setup, depending on binding angles. My fun all mountain board (+12/-6) is my widest setup.

Try standing with your feet at your preferred binding angles and try doing some squats with varying stance widths. You will see what I mean about mobility!

 

[rst]

55cm vs 49cm

[TimW]

54 vs 52 cm

[Aracan]

I don't do softboots. One thing I have observed is that alpine stance widths have increased somewhat in the past. Probably because we don't tuck in the rear knee anymore. An old slalom board of mine has 46 cm between the center inserts, a more recent (though far from new) PB Bastard is maybe 5 cm longer overall, but center stance is 52 cm.