WaterSkiWorld.com: Is the Elan El Grande the widest snowboard in the world?

Is the Elan El Grande the widest snowboard in the world?

-Article written by Big Al, our editor.

We received a comment from a young snowboard rider:

"Hey just letting you know that this is no longer the widest snowboard in the world. The lib tech skunk ape horsepower ultra wide got it beat - A massive rider."

REPLY: The skunk ape horsepower?

First of all, with a name like that, it cant be as serious wide snowboard for mature all mountain riders who are on the big and heavy side. It is probably a park board for that Lib Tech made bigger to compete with the wide boards on the market. We say this with no offense intended. We have nothing against park riders who want to grind rails, and nothing against kids and teens (and sometimes adults), wearing jeans half way down the butt with the underwear showing. (I cannot imagine somebody doing this who weighs 280 lbs or more). A quick look at the board graphics demonstrates my point. Note the morbid skulls on that board. Human skulls, skeletons, and a zombie looking ape in a grave is not a graphic that mature adults riders would buy.

Aside from graphics and the name, lets look objectively, without bias, the width specifications and compare side by side to the Elan El Grande. El Grande has a name that tells you that it is a board for big riders. The name in Spanish means the huge or the big.

We looked at the all sizes available for the skunk ape ultra wide HP. To be specific, we located SKU: 14-M-BD-LI-SKUH-UW where UW stands for ultra wide.

The El Grande beats the skunk ape for the sizes 163 and 167. For the Lib Tech Skunk Ape UW HP170, the largest and widest lib tech in that series, the skunk ape beats the el grande 171 waist width by only 1 mm, but the El Grande 171 still wins for tip and tail width.

The Lib Tech is a different type of board designed to be bi-directional. The El Grande is directional for all mountain riding and designed for heavier more mature riders going on those super long runs in Park City Utah, or mountain riding the black diamond rated trails in Telluride, CO, or those heavier riders looking for a board that will stay afloat on fresh new powder snow. The El Grande is not designed for park riders.

Note that this lib tech Ultra Wide board retails for about $700, compared to the MSRP on the El Grande for $550. WaterSkiWorld has the El Grande on sale for $549. Elan Austria is the premiere location for pro skiing and snowboarding, and the best equipment comes from Europe. Compare to Lib Tech Seattle WA. This information should be enough to compare and make a choice.