If you’re into freestyle riding, doing butters (aka presses) is probably one of your favorite activities inside and outside the terrain park. These ground tricks are super versatile, provide a ton of creative freedom, and can be a great entry-level trick to learn. Seriously what’s not to love about butters? I would certainly put them as one of the top tricks you can learn quickly! There are a variety of different types (i.e. tripod, nose presses, pretzels, tail butters) that are super easy to learn and great for showcasing your style and creativity. Beginner and intermediate riders can perfect these basic tricks in no time, and they are fun to practice when deep powder is scarce. Just remember to have patience!

However, the truth of the matter is that not all snowboards are created equal. A rider could perform the exact same butter tricks on two different styles of boards and have a totally different experience across the two, based on the specs of each individual snowboard. For example, a board that is considered a freeride board is great on deep snow and powder days but not necessarily great on flatland. Additionally, it's worth mentioning having a soft flexing boot also helps a rider's ability to press/butter. Even with the right board, learning edge control and making sure your weight is leaning uphill will help you stay catch-free (catching an edge is a common price of failure of this trick). With that being said, today we’re looking at five of the best snowboards for buttering that will boost your buttering jib game to the moon!

What Makes a Good Buttering Snowboard?

Board Flex

All snowboards have different flex ratings and are typically categorized as either soft, medium, or stiff flexing (though you will see medium-stiff flex and other combo flexes as well). While a softer flexing board takes the least amount of effort to do butters or presses on, it doesn’t always mean it’s the best option for a butter board. There are plenty of boards with medium stiffness that are also great for butters.

Snowboards with a stiffer flex can take more work to get into presses but are easier to hold once you get into them. A softer flexing board might be better for learning the basics of butters, whereas stiffer boards are great for more advanced riders who do butters. There’s no perfect answer here, and it ultimately comes down to personal preference.

Board Length/Width

Typically slightly shorter length boards will be better for buttering, as they’re lighter and, therefore, easier to throw around into different butter combinations. Additionally, some people prefer wider-than-average boards for butters because they provide a bit more stability when on their nose or tail.

Board Shape

If you’re seriously into buttering, a board with a true twin (fully symmetrical) shape might be your go-to, as it’ll feel exactly the same riding regular and switch. This can be helpful if you plan to do a lot of spinning or swiveling when buttering. However, you shouldn’t rule out directional (non-symmetrical) shaped snowboards as good buttering options. As you’ll soon see from this list, some of them make awesome butter boards!

Board Profile

The best snowboard profile when it comes to doing butters is very subjective! However, many people would recommend having at least some amount of rocker in their ride as the rocker makes the snowboard more playful and easier to press. If you’re unsure of where to look, hybrid rocker profiles are a very popular and versatile choice that’ll excel with buttering. Riders who prioritize butters tend to pick a zero-camber board and stay away from the traditional camber profile because it tends to make the board more rigid and harder to bend. However, many air trick riders love traditional camber boards because they are poppy and provide more spring to launch the rider into the air.

The 5 Most Recommended Snowboards for Buttering

Many brands pride themselves on making soft flex boards that are great for butters (i.e. Bataleon, Arbor, the Salomon Huck Knife), but these aren't the only options available. Below are some of my favorite boards for butters and presses:

1. 2024 Ride Twinpig

The Ride Twinpig is an unconventional yet very popular snowboard option, especially among buttering and jibbing enthusiasts. It’s a twin-directional, volume-shifted board, meaning its waist-width is much larger than that of your average board and therefore meant to be ridden 3-6cm smaller than your typical board. It’s also got a very soft flex to it throughout the entire length of the board.

This combination of a shorter-than-average board that’s easily pressable gives riders the ability to explore the wildest butters they can think of, as they can really throw this board around! However, this board is much more than a buttering board; with a hybrid camber profile (rocker/camber/rocker), the Twinpig can hold a mean carve, and due to that extra width underfoot, it also floats very well in powder. This means that the board can not only crush butters, but also serve as your all-mountain groomers board or even your pow board on those deep days!

2. 2024 Rome Party Mod

The Rome Party Mod is one of my personal favorites for buttering. It is my current freestyle board, and I couldn’t be happier with it! Unlike the Ride Twinpig which is very noodly, the Rome Party Mod has a bit more stiffness to it and is rated as a medium flex. While this isn’t the board you’ll be able to press with zero effort, it is a board that’ll teach you how to butter properly. That’s because the midsection between the bindings is actually decently stiff flexing, whereas the nose and tail are the softer flexing sections. You have to put in some effort to get into a press, but once you find the sweet spot, you can really hold presses well.

The board has a true twin shape which allows maximum creativity if you want to throw some spins into your butters. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that Rome added carbon hotrods in the core of this board, so you can really get some pop in and out of your butters. Overall this is a great option for riders who want a butter board that can also rip the rest of the terrain park!

3. 2024 CAPiTA Ultrafear

The CAPiTA Ultrafear is a capable park board/all-mountain board that is known for being lightweight and, therefore, awesome for throwing around in the terrain park and all over the mountain. It’s rated as medium flexing, but I would have to say that it has a slightly softer flex than the Rome Party Mod. It certainly has a totally different feel, as the flex pattern is the same throughout the entire length of the board, making it very predictable. There is also CAPiTA’s V1 resort profile which features a large section of camber from one binding insert to the other, followed by a small flat section, and finally rocker in the tips. This allows you to really experiment with different types of butters on this board without the fear of randomly catching an edge and ending up on your butt. Overall, this is the best conventional board option for riders who want to do lots of butters and also want a versatile deck for the rest of the mountain!

4. 2024 GNU Headspace

If you’re someone who wants to be able to do butters, but also wants a board that is dependable when riding hard and fast, the GNU Headspace might just be your best option. It’s a freestyle board by definition and can certainly back up that claim with its middle-of-the-road flex that’ll let you butter if you work for it. However, this snowboard has several features that set it apart from the other boards on this list!

Firstly, it’s got a prominent camber profile, with just a bit of rocker in the middle of the board. This large amount of camber is going to really help your carving. It also has Magne-Traction, which is a technology that only a few select companies use. It’s essentially several small serrations along the edge of the board that act as extra contact points and significantly improve edge hold in firm snow or even icy conditions.

When you combine this mostly camber profile with the Magne-Traction technology, you get a board that’s got great stability carving, even at high speeds. Finally, it’s got a sintered base which is known to be durable and does not need frequent wax, and it is very fast which only adds to the high-speed buttering thrills! Overall, this makes the GNU Headspace a great choice for the aggressive rider who also likes to do butters.

5. 2024 CAPiTA Spring Break Slush Slasher

Switching things up a bit, the CAPiTA Spring Break Slush Slasher 2.0 might not be the first board to comes to mind when you think about easy buttering and presses. After all, it’s classified as an all-mountain/powder board! Yet, this board is a surprisingly awesome option for those who want to get jibby all over the mountain. For some context, this is an extremely wide directional board with a large nose, a swallow tail, and a setback stance. These features make it great in deeper snow, but you may still be wondering how this makes it any good for butters and presses.

Well, despite being a powder surfer, the Slush Slasher has a very soft flex to it, with the nose being the softest. It’s also another volume-shifted board, similar to the Ride Twinpig, so it’s meant to be ridden smaller than usual (for context: I’m 5’10 and 150lbs and I would ride the 147cm version of it). With its small size and soft flex, this board takes very little effort to press, spin, swivel, or do any other sort of buttering maneuver, and it’s especially good for nose butters because of the extra-long and extra-wide nose. The only downside of this board? Don’t expect to be doing a lot of switch riding or buttering, as it has a seriously directional shape. Overall, this is a great board option for the powder and/or freeride enthusiast who also likes to throw down lots of different butters.

Final Thoughts

As you might be able to infer, while each of these options is considered the best snowboard for buttering, they also have their own specialties elsewhere on the mountain. You’ll have a blast buttering on any of them, but deciding which one is the best for you is going to come down to your personal riding style. As mentioned, shorter boards with flexibility are ideal. If you like to ride the whole mountain and a softer board just won't cut it on steeper terrain, a medium flex board is also going to be a better option than a stiff snowboard. This doesn’t have to be a difficult decision though, and you certainly don’t have to make it alone! That’s because, on Curated, you can chat with a Snowboard Expert like me and get free personalized recommendations on the best possible board for you! Simply tell us a little bit about yourself as a snowboarder and what you’re looking for, and we’ll provide you with unbiased opinions on which piece of gear would truly suit you best. I look forward to discussing gear with you soon!