I'm 53 and often see guys even older on our local hill :)

I went out a few weeks ago and forgot my padded shorts and chest protector. Naturally, I caught a downhill edge and slingshotted into the hard pack, chest first. Fractured yet another rib and it was hard to sleep and breathe for a solid month. Don't forget the padding while snowboarding!

Try having him push his knees together while riding. Maybe a little more towards the front, kind of like someone who is knock-kneed. This provides a little flex to the board allowing more of the edge to be in contact with the snow.

Tim

That wouldn't be a Burton PJ by any chance, would it? One of my favorite boards. That and my Burton Asym-6, which was also a wonderful carver.

Side note: I broke my leg one late winter boarding in Stratton Vermont -- went off a tiny jump, and landed in wet snow and twisted. Five to six fractures in my front (left) leg. Took me 6 months get finally get out of a cast and brace. The day I got out of my cast, my buddies threw me a party, and gave me a Burton PJ. The following winter, I strapped that on, and never looked back.

Now back to the OP - a couple of points:
Hard pack? Being an east-coast rider, we were lucky if the conditions were hard pack. Most of the time, you had to deal with ice-pack! :D Dealing with ice or a really hard hard pack: sometimes it is impossible to get the edge to grab, especially at lower speeds -- so the trick is to point the board a little more downhill, gather up a bit more speed, and then hopefully you are beyond the ice pack, and with more speed, you have greater ability to turn the board. (Boy, this brings back memories of White Face - aka Ice Face - and getting those first few runs on freshly groomed hard pack...good times...)

I am assuming your son uses soft boots. Is he using the clip-in bindings or the strap-in bindings? If he's using the strap-in bindings, the do his bindings have three straps or two? Two-strap bindings will offer the rider more flexibility for jumps and terrain park stuff, but if your son is more of a carver, then three-strap bindings will allow him better edge to edge carving ability, since there is less 'give' transferring leg movement to the board.

A stiffer board is easier to carve with. On my race board - the PJ - you just think about initiating a carve and you're perpendicular to the slope of the mountain! If he is using a terrain park / half-pipe board (sounds like it) - he may want to switch over to a free-riding or mountain board (don't know what they call it these days...).

My raceboard and my Asym Air were asymmetrical boards, where the board is essentially cut down the middle lengthwise, and the toe side is shifted slightly ahead of the heel side -- this allowed the stiffest part of the board to be between the feet on both the heel and toe side of the board. Don't know if they make asym boards anymore - but if they do, that could be an option for your son to investigate as well.

Finally, sometimes you cannot fight the mountain -- if you can't grab an edge on hard pack, your best bet is to go with the flow - point the nose downhill, ride it out until you can grab the edge and make the turn - hopefully that happens before you run out of trail! :D

-Z-man.

Every couple years, some new snowboard technology comes along that makes prior models obsolete. Magne Traction (offered by just a few manufacturers) is a great answer for hardpack.

There is no single board for all conditions .. but the Jeremy Jones Flagship is pretty darn close, so far as all-mountain directional boards are concerned. Rail-to-rail transition is so smooth that I can't even consider riding my Lib Tech or Burton boards any longer (except when there's deep powder, at which time the Burton Fish comes out to play).

3 strap bindings? You can't even get those (or Asyms) any longer. But there's no real need. Today's boards don't require muscling around like the old equipment. On great powder days, I sometimes eliminate my rear foot toe strap, as it does very little for you in powder. When you're competing for first chair rotation, one less binding to click in makes all the difference in leaving the crowd behind. The Burton No-Boards don't even use bindings, and the Snow Skates (skateboard-like platforms) are coming on strong. It's a pretty progressive time for snowboard evolution. Just need more snow ..

SIMS Switchblade here!

I too am 46 years young guy, a dad to a 13yr old and I snowboard but I'm a crap snowboard instructor.

Do the right thing and get your son some lessons from a qualified instructor, both your son and you will be glad you did.

I snowboarded off and on through my 20s... could never get comfortable on a board.
Switched to skis a few years ago and felt instantly at home.
YMMV

Z-man, sounds like you had a similar background regarding local mountains (hills). I remember vividly night skiing on ice--the noise of the edges scraping and the occasional sparks when hitting a bare spot or rocks will forever be etched into memory. When I did get out west, I couldn't believe some of the complaints regarding conditions being "less than stellar"--to me, every day was like Paradise.

Anyways, back to the OP--Once again, verify his equipment is correct and properly tuned, tell him an intermediate lesson isn't about ego, it's about getting better. Between line-ups, we used to clinic with the directors and race team guys every day, there is no shame in learning from those that are better and are helping you get better. You mentioned he can be tentative when transitioning turn to turn on steeper/faster terrain. This can be part of the issue, hesitation can quickly lead to getting caught on the wrong edge and biting it, hard. If he is concerned with carrying too much speed turn to turn in the steeper terrain, tell him to focus on finishing the current turn prior to initiating the next, cutting across the fall line as much as needed until he is comfortable with his speed, then start the next, otherwise, with each new turn, he will be accelerating. Once he commits to taking the next turn, though, make it happen.
Nice rolling groomers are the best way to practice and get a visual on your turns--take 2-3, then have him stop and look back at his line to see what it looks like--lots of side-slip, or some nice crisp lines.

Think of a rad song and go for it!

Same here, actually - foam core and all! Then I got the PJ and later, the Asym Air.

I really should get back into it - with all the snow and cold this season...

Given all the input here, I never knew there were so many 'knuckle draggin, butt scraping' boarders on this forum...

funny thing, the calculator and i agree, he should be on a board about 135cm. a convex base is going to make it nigh impossible to properly carve (i am remembering my burton cruiser 165, great in the powder, terrible for carving).

i'd go with an all-mountain board, sharp edges, detuned as described above. if they don't release on a turn, they need more detuning. an all mountain board will be more forgiving than a downhill board and be good to learn carving with.

burton factory prime 7.1, i think it is the same board they used in the winter olympics in 98, or so. i got it pristine, never used. hard boots for the win. i got hard boots for my all mountain board, too.

i remember those. i was very envious of those. i started with burton elite 150, but had a burton backhill, too. i sold the backhill to fund the all mountain purchase.