With so many snowboards out there to choose from, the addition of all the new technology made available the past two seasons just makes life a whole lot more complicated. Cambers, reverse cambers, dead-flats, rockers, cambered-end rockers… It’s a zoo out there. To make your life easier we took a look at twelve of the best boards for this season, researched the crap out of them, and helped breakdown some of the tech that goes along with them. Here they are, in no particular order…

#1. Lib Tech’s “Skate Banana” ($490)

Although many snowboarding companies have been familiar with reverse camber technology for quite some time, you really have to give props to Lib Tech for reviving it with the Skate Banana. Over the past 2-3 seasons, the company has also been tweaking this board with minor adjustments just to make it better and better. I absolutely LOVE riding this board and so does everyone else who tries it.

The board features Lib Tech’s take on the “reverse camber” where the board is kinked upwards between the feet and from there runs flat to either end of the board. The result? A very loose, fun board that will have you jibbing around and pulling tricks like you never thought possible. Critics will say that this thing is unstable at high speeds but they’re wrong with this board cause the length of it from tip to tail will be on the snow when you carve. With eight contact points digging into the ice on a turn, you’ll also be more stable thanks to the Magne Traction tech.

Sizes: 148N, 151N, 152, 156, 156W, 159, 159W

#2. Ride’s DH2 ($500)

There’s been a lot of talk about the Ride DH2 among the snowboarding community for 2010.  The board features a different kind of reverse camber technology with the board running flat underneath your feet and then kicking up outside the bindings. This allows for a fun, relaxed feel that makes it ideal for the pipe, jumps, and pressing rails.

Haven’t tried this board myself but fellow boarders out there have told me that apart from being incredible in the park, the board can be used with no problems for aggressive riding as well. Ride adds what it likes to call “Carbon Pop Rods” in each tip that give a lot of character to the feel of this board. Apart from being lightweight, it also has thicker steel edges to help with the wear and tear that happens from park riding over time.

Sizes: 151, 153, 155, 156W, 157, 159, 159W

#3. Burton’s Joystick ($530)

With a name like “Joystick” you know fun is just around the corner with this board. Had the chance to try out this board from a Burton demo tent early into the season and was thoroughly impressed with it. Featuring Burton’s “rocker” reverse camber design, this board is similar to the Skate Banana in it’s between-the-feet kinkness. The board’s got a slightly wider feel with tips that scoop up (technology similar to Morrow’s spoon).

The Joystick is very fun to ride, whether it be for jibs, jumps, or pipe attacks. The nice thing about it is that it is insanely forgiving, so you can go big trying new tricks on it. The scooped tips maintain the boards very free feel even when you lean hard on it. With a very balanced stiffness and quick edge-to-edge movement, the board can do pretty much whatever you want.

Sizes: 150, 154, 156W, 157, 159W, 161, 163

#4. Omatic’s EXTR-ECO (aka The Wigglestick, $390)

Omatic took a different direction with this board. Instead of throwing in a reverse camber or “rocker” tech on it they opted to keep the board dead flat from tip to tail.  What they did do is play around with the stiffness of the board in different parts of it and add carbon fiber points to adjust its feeling. With their new BS technology (stands for Bowed Surface, no joke), Omatic have virtually eliminated any edge catching on rails with this board.

Carbon fiber V’s extending form the bindings to the edges help increase your stability when recovering from a jump or rail. They also help give a more dramatic pop to the board making it really fun to ride. The board’s flex is pretty soft in the middle of the board and stiffens as you go towards the tips for maximum control.  I also love the “no such thing as a ‘green’ snowboard’ decal.

Sizes: 149, 151, 154, 157, and 160

#5. Rome’s MOD ($550)

This solid board is designed for the more experienced, aggressive rider due to its conventional camber design. Camber boards are slightly raised in the midsection and run flat to the tips before they scoop up. This tech keeps the board very stable at high speeds. The MOD features a wider waist and mellower sidecut for nailing the landing on those giant jumps. Slightly scooped tips also alleviate the problem with most  camber boards by helping you stay more floaty in powder.

With a camber design and stiffer middle area than most boards, this thing will stick with you through the good times and the bad. The board feels really nice on traditional piste but will be pretty smooth off of it.

Sizes: 151, 154, 156, 158, 160, 162

#6. GNU’s Park Pickle ($490)

Have you ever noticed that when you’re bombing it down the mountain carving away slalom-style that turns on your toe edge are a w hole lot tighter than the turns you pull on your heel edge? The reason behind this is the fact that it’s impossible to dig your heel edge into the snow the way you can your toe edge. When I was first introduced to this board, I didn’t quite agree with that statement but then I took a closer look at the way I ride… My toe edge turns are so tight sometimes, my face skims inches away from the ground and I usually put my hand on the snow to get even more lean.

The guy’s at GNU came up with a great idea to counter this. The Park Pickle’s heel edge sidecut is one whole meter tighter than the toe edge, giving you that extra bit of digging power to make your turns nearly symmetrical. And guess what, it actually works! I tried this board at Mont Tremblant at the beginning of this month and difference is feelable. Mervin (the company that owns both GNU and Lib Tech) put the same banana reverse camber that you see in the Skate Banana into this board. They also added Magne Traction, softened the waist, and stiffened the tips for a perfectly balanced board. The board’s asymmetrical sidecuts doesn’t make it look weird or anything. You won’t even notice it.

Sizes: 147, 150, 153, 156, 156W, 159, 159W

#7. K2’s Slayblade ($550)

Meant for high speeds, the Slayblade is stiff from end to end and even from edge to edge. What I love about this board is that it’s your typical aggressive stiff board, but with a dead flat camber profile. This will give the board a much more forgiving, playful feel than other stiff boards out there. So, you can hang around the park, jib and play around, then just bomb it the hell out of there.

I haven’t tried this board personally but I can only imagine it as being something I would definitely be interested in. My riding is fast and aggressive but I have those days when I just want to spend hours in the park and my Burton Vapor just isn’t meant for that with its positive camber and pretty stiff core. I want to play around but still have the freedom to ride the chair to the peak and tear the mountain apart when I want to. A stiff dead flat like the Slayblade sounds just about right.

Sizes: 153, 156, 158, 159W, 160W, 161, 164, 164W

#8. Never Summer’s EVO-R ($480)

I love it when snowboarding companies look at a problem boarders are having and then come up with great solutions to tackle them. A lot of riders that make the switch from camber to reverse camber or rocker boards complain of the “dead” feel they have with reverse camber because the board isn’t as poppy and pulling of an ollie just feels different. Never Summer’s answer? Give the board a reverse camber between the feet but a normal camber design underneat the feet and out to the tips.

This technology is very similar to Lib Tech’s C2 Power Banana, which I had the chance to try this season. All I can say is wow. These boards just combine the best of both worlds. You’ll find yourself twirling on it’s center like a ballerina but when you need that perfect pop to ollie onto a rail, it’s there waiting for you. The design also gives the board a slightly more stable feel at higher speeds than traditional reverse cambers.

Sizes: 148, 151, 153, 155, 158, 161

#9. DC’s BDR ($430)

For a company that’s not really known for making snowboards, DC pulled off a great board with the BDR. The reverse camber design here runs flat between the feet and kinks up right outside the feet straight to the tail. The boards are playful and super fun for the park rider.

For those occasional back country missions, the “kinkness” in the BDR will help you stay afloat in powder. The board is stiff from tip to tail meaning that there will be zero squirming at high speeds too. An all around, fun yet reliable reverse camber board from Ken Block and his crazies at DC.

Sizes: 149, 153, 156, 159

#10. Capita’s Indoor Survival FK ($400)

FK stands for Flat Kick and helps you get an idea of the design of this board. The core of the board is flat between the bindings and lifts up outside them for that kinked feel we talked about earlier. The tips of the board are different in the sense that they are flatter than most tips you see out there. The design contributes to the versatility this board is meant for.

The Indoor Survival is wider than most boards, which gives it a lot of energy and the right setup to nail big jumps. The board starts out stiff in the center and gets softer towards the tails for a very smooth and clean feel.

Sizes: 152, 154, 156, 158, 160

#11. Smokin’s MIP DTX ($420)

Smokin’ Snowboards purchased the license for Lib Tech’s Magne Traction and threw it on this kinked reverse camber board. Smokin’ have been gaining a lot of attention from riders lately because of their truly versatile fun boards. The MIP DTX is solid at high speeds, stable on sharp turns, yet catch-free on spins and jib landings. This board is truly meant for everywhere on the mountain: park, groomers, powder, and cliff drops.

Sizes: 147, 151, 155, 158

#12. Nitro’s Rook ($470)

If you’re the park rider that’s hesitant on giving up the more traditional positive camber design, the Rook is definitely for you. This thing was made for the park in every sense. Clean presses, clean spins, and clean pipe boosts are all part of the package.

The board is slightly wide and is softer in the middle than in the tips. The nice sidecut profile helps with edge-to-edge transitioning while the rest of the board helps you stay stable on the rails and jump landings. If you’re not ready for the transition to a reverse camber just yet, it may be worth your while to give this stick a shot.

Sizes: 152, 154, 156, 158

Merry Christmas and a Shreddin’ New Year folks!

Related posts:

1. Top 5 Freeride Snowboards of 2010
2. Review: 2010 Lib Tech Banana Magic
3. Burton Jussi 2010 Review

I got a chance to try this board out for a couple days on the East Coast this past weekend. I’ll spare you the details and jump right into the juicy review stuff.

Where: Mt. Tremblant, Quebec
Snow Conditions: groomed / packed powder
Size: 158 cm.

Notable Technologies/features: Banana/reverse camber design, Magne-traction, made from green-friendly material, and art by Matt French.

First Impression: It’s stiffer than other Banana boards I’ve ridden which makes it more of a freeride board than a freestyle one. It’s official Lib Tech flex rating is 7/10, but it felt less stiff than that (a good thing in my books). The board didn’t feel too heavy or too light, so I was a little concerned with taking jumps with it, but it felt as balanced in the air as it did on the snow.

Feel: So depending on what type of board you’re used to riding, the Banana Magic is on the stiffer end compared to a typical park board and on the more flexible end compared to a typical all-mountain board. In other words, the board is neither overly stiff or flexible and is ideal for a freerider who wants some some extra flex compared to what you get from an all-mountain/freeride board.

Response: To put things in perspective, I ride a T6 (here’s my Burton T6 2010 Review) and I’m an aggressive rider. Given my experience with the T6, responsiveness of other boards is usually weak in comparison. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Lib Tech’s Banana Magic’s responsiveness. It’s deeper sidecut made turning fast and easy and going from edge to edge was a breeze. Overall, there were no issues with sharp turns or wider turns.

Magne-traction & Stability: The MTX technology definitely comes into play with this board, allowing you to be more aggressive with the turns compared to a same-flex board with no MTX. To my surprise, the board was also pretty stable bombing down  the mountain.

Pop & Switching: The Lib Tech Banana Magic isn’t as playful and easy to press as park boards, but it certainly had more pop than typical freeride boards and was fun to butter with. As for switching, the board is designed as a true twin board and it rode that way. My buddy didn’t completely agree with me at first, but after a few runs, he got used to it and felt it did ride like a true twin board.

Overall Impression: Lib Tech is selling this as a stiffer Skata Banana for freeriding, and I think they hit the spot with that. The Banana Magic will be ideal for freeriders who like to get a little rough with their boards, but also enjoy hitting up the park every now and then. I just don’t recommend getting too comfortable in the park. The Banana Magic is definitely one of Lib Tech’s more aggressive boards that’s easy on the legs.

Related posts:

1. Lib Tech Travis Rice C2 Bananarama Rider Review
2. Burton Jussi 2010 Review
3. Ride DH2 In-Depth Review

Lib Tech Travis Rice BTX: Bananarama

A rider review by Hoon, a rider, surfer, biker, and all-round family man: hoonhwang.blogspot.com

The doods at Sierra were able to help me secure a Lib Tech Travis Rice BTX with MTX and XYZTX. I reviewed last year’s Trice on my own blog. If you’re too lazy to read it, the Clifnotes are: good board, stable, too slow base, not sold by MTX. Thankfully the 09 version has some significant updates and changes. As a disclaimer, I rode the 08 157 which has a waist width of 258. This year I am older, wiser and digging short boards so am on a 153 with a sensible weight watchers waist of 252.

The art work is by Mike Parillo this year versus last year’s which were by Mr Aaron Draplin. It’s not my cup of tea, but Parillo does some sick sick stuff.

Conditions: Cold like a witch’s teet, Stowe, hard pack with ice and snow guns, drifts of natural snow, wind, lots of packs of ski school kids doing s-turns across the whole hill, firm but fun park.

Pros:

• Travis Rice rides it. Seriously. I usually don’t buy into the hype, but he is pretty insane. Have you watched That’s It Thats All? The things he did on that slow-ass 08 Trice are death-defying.

• The 09 board is solid. The banana is not as pronounced as I thought it would be compared to some other rockers out there. All bananas are rockered between the bindings and flat towards tip and tail. This board carved well, was well balanced and had (gasp) decent ollie pop. The blunt tip and tail matched well with the banana and the short length of this board for park, trick applications. The board’s pretty lively and promotes catching air.

• Carving overall was fun. With the combo of the banana and probably the MTX, i was able to make some surfy (not ski racerie) backside carves. I wasn’t really sure if I liked this or not as my hands were out to my sides for some stability, total longboard in the curl style… Surf’s up duuuude. I tend to like carving looking like an enlarged ape. Anyway, it held an edge well and I was able to motor over some death cookie and other crap.

• Off the park jumps it was stable, solid, bomber. Landings were easy steezy. I didn’t hit any rails because it was cold, and I felt like a pussy.

Cons:

• I’m not into MTX. I think the whole ice to powder thing is crap. If you are a good enough rider, it really doesn’t matter when holding an edge. May be in pow or something it creates a “floatier” experience, but on the Ice Coast I think it’s purely marketing and/or psychological. I didn’t detune this board, but the MTX would catch in the most random places: off a spin on a kicker, in the middle of a long backside, high-speed carve, in the lift line skating. My plan is to detune the hell outta this board and ride it again. As I said above, the high speed arcing was fun with the BTX and MTX. The banana wasn’t as pronounced as I expected it to be, which isn’t really a pro or a con, just an FYI. I think an advanced rider would really be able to milk this board to its fullest capabilities, but an intermediate would probably be just fine as well.

Tech: Kudos for Lib for introducing the Bio-plastic beans topsheet on their high-end boards. With the combination of beans and their work in trying to be an enviro-friendly factory including: low VOC resin, soy-based sidewalls, basalt fiberglass, biodiesel and recycling a ton, It’s definitely a step in the right direction! The sidewalls are meaty. I can’t wait to stomp some cliffs in UT, bonk a rock or land on something weird to see what happens. For more Lib Tech tech info click here.

Overall: This board has a lot of hype and has won a lot of awards, which means it’s probably already sold out. The addition of banana and a fast base really up the ante on this board from my POV. The combination of being stiffer board and a slightly less pronounced rocker allows you to ollie better than some of the other rockers (which has been an issue for me with rocker boards) and stomp some landings off-kelter easier. The downside is that it means you have to do a bit more work when buttering and playing around on flatland. I think if someone is looking for an all-rounder to take from Right to Left Coast with some stops in the middle, and the specs work for you, this would be a solid addition to the quiver or a great one-board stable.

Specs (from Lib, yah for exclamation points!):

• CORRECT SANDWICH:Low spin weight!
• AXIS INVERSION FIBERGLASS SYSTEM:Mysto tech, more pop!
• H-POP CORE:Performance!
• POWER TRANSFER INTERNALSIDEWALLS:More pop!
• DOUBLE SINTERED UHMW SIDEWALLS: Tough!
• SINTERED UHMW BASE:Fast!
• MAGNA-TRACTION/BANANA TECHNOLOGY

Size Waist Stance (Min-Max) Set Back

• 153 BTX blunt [25.3 cm] 19” – 24” .75”
• 157 BTX blunt [25.8 cm] 19” – 24” .75”
• 161.5 BTX pointy [26.0 cm] 19” – 24” .75”
• 164.5 BTX pointy [26.2 cm] 19” – 24” .75”

What’s your experience with the board? Let us know in the comments below. You can also ask us questions about the board and we’ll answer.

Related posts:

1. Review: 2010 Lib Tech Banana Magic
2. Burton T6 2010 Rider Review
3. Burton Vapor 2010 Rider Review