Jones Snowboards made it's grand debut! All four of Jeremy's boards looked gorgeous with sick shapes and innovative construction. The Flagship (left) is Jones' directional charger and features a rockered tip, slightly rockered tail, mellow magnetraction (less bumps), and an oiled wood topsheet (no fiberglass!). The Solution is the splitboard of the lineup and is very similar to the Flagship in shape and flex. Unbelievably the proto Solution pictured here was stolen out of the Jones booth yesterday! If you ever see this T-bolted Solution proto or a mismatched set of green/gold Spark R+D bindings please contact Unofficial Squaw. Reward offered for info!
DC's Status Travis Rice Pro Model were some of the best boots I saw at the show. They feature dual zone constrictor BOA lace tightening and a unique liner with rubber venting.
The Contact Pro binding from Union is a hot new offering for 10/11. Gigi Ruf designed the binding based on the performance of Union's Force binding and the board feel of the regular Union Contact. Magnesium buckles, a carbon injected baseplate, and a four density EVA footbed highlight the Contact Pro.
You may be a party animal but are you an EXTREME party animal? If so, pick up one of these Capita Stairmaster Extremes – a cambered true twin park/rail board.
Speaking of eye candy, Pamela Anderson made an appearance at the Nidecker booth in support of a 'Pam x PETA' board model by NDK Kreative. She signed autographs and posed with dudes who were clearly fulfilling long time fantasies.
Venture Snowboards out of Silverton, CO had really tight boards on display – top notch construction. The Storm (right) is their new all-mtn split featuring tip rocker and tail rocker.
Roxy Snowboards were the best looking women's boards I saw. Made by Lib Tech/Mervin, the Roxy lineup featured several boards with C2 rocker flex and magnetraction.
Salomon's Womens Optima boot looked really nice and featured a power liner with adjustable ankle support tabs. Ladies with narrow heels take note!
Lib Tech had wild new stuff as usual. They weren't sure this 180cm Birdman will make it to production but it looked large and in charge with a mega-nose.
Check out the new Lib Tech convertible Mono-ski, aka Travis Rice's new splitboard! The TRice split will come in a 164.5 and will not include inserts for hardware. You're gonna have to T-bolt this beauty right out of the wrapper.
Nitro was showing off boards with 'rail killer' edges. If you know anything about board production these burly footed edges that Nitro custom made look wicked strong and seemingly easier to repair. Here's hoping such bomber materials trickle down into freeride boards throughout the industry.
Yes snowboards introduced a five board lineup including four true twins, two of which are cambered while two feature CAMrock (rocker tip/tail camber b/t feet). The fifth board is a CAMrock directional twin called the Optimistic (2nd from right).
Spark R+D showed off some sweet custom colorways of their epic new splitboard binding – The Fuse. If you are interested in riding Spark binders this year you better get on it as the complete sets are virtually sold-out nationwide. Baseplates will still be available direct from Spark R+D.
Never Summer presented a good looking lineup of freeride and freestyle boards, most featuring their award winning rocker/camber technology that places a camber point under each insert pack of an otherwise rockered board. They also introduced a new high end freeride/freecarve board called the Raptor that has a carbon laminate top sheet.
The big push in bindings is "true flex" – as in the binding is able to torsional flex seemlessly with the buttery nature of new rockered boards. Forum came with the 'Shaka' which features a hinged center disc and a baseplate with an EVA rubber footbed.
Rome had a cool new binding as well – the 390 Boss. The 390 features adjustable heel and toe ramps for better binding to edge centering and the ability to slightly cant the sides of the binding up. Riders with wide duck foot stances should enjoy the canting potential as it will inherently allow better edge response on the outsides of your feet.
Thirtytwo showed off some dope kicks including these 86 Fasttrack Joe Sexton's that are modelled after Etnies original skate shoes. As expected the 86 are soft-flexing park boots.
Arbor Snowboards delivered a progressive lineup of rockered and cambered boards each adorned with way wilder graphics than the namesake wood topsheets of past models. Tahoe's 'Dangerzone' Nick Visconti just signed with Arbor…
Unity Snowboards debuted a new freeride board called the Dominion. Handmade in Colorado, the Dominion features directional rocker with a stiff tail. AK board baby.
As it said in Stepchild's catalog – "If you don't know who Scotty Wittlake is than you don't deserve to ride this board." Nuff said – new guest pro model from a Truckee snowboard legend.
DC had a quiver of new park boards. The Devun Walsh Pro (right) looked tight and featured 'no camber' – as in the board is completly flat contact point to contact point.
Burton debuted a few new things but nothing groundbreaking. The Ralph Steadman 'Easy Livin' models (Danny Davis's steed) looked cool, but the Marley collabo looked as played as a greatest hits album.
Burton's 'Afterschool School Special' caught my eye for the wee ones. The box contains a complete kids board package (board/boots /bindings) and is sold based on boot sizes (childrens 11-3). The boots have stackable footbeds that allow them to be worn through two full sizes of growth.
According to Bitch Snowboards this kit is built for an urban 'Betty in total control of herself'. I guess that's why the mitts resemble boxing gloves – lace em up and take control of your precious spot amongst a sea of bros in the KT liftline…
One more round of product features comin' at cha from SIA 2010…stay tuned.