New Snowboard Kit for Winter 2013
Interchangeable bindings and new boards to add to your Christmas wish list
Our search for the ultimate in ski and snowboard Christmas presents has this week taken us to Morzine. The Portes du Soleil has been a mecca for snowboarders for a number of years now, so where better to search for snowboard stocking fillers?
Morzine and Les Gets is home to Olympic boardercross medallist Deborah Anthonioz and Avoriaz, which has The Stash, three freestyle parks a boardercross track and a half pipe, is home to snowboarding's Grand-daddy of style Nico Droz. As a result, the heart of the Portes du Soleil seemed like a fitting place to search out the latest in snowboarding kit.
Both Slopestyle and Attack Attack, Morzines's two snowboard stores, can be found on Rue du Bourg so that's where we headed.
A few years ago the ski and snowboard world was buzzing with the advent of reverse camber. This year there's no new breakthroughs in design quite as revolutionary as that, but there are plenty of companies playing with camber patterns and designs.
In Slopestyle we found one of the newest additions to snowboard hardware; Nikita snowboards. Nikita hail from Iceland and for years they have been making street and mountain wear "for girls that ride". 2012/13 is the first year the company has ventured into hardware and for the first year there are two models built specifically for the ladies.
The "Sidway Sista" is Nikita's all mountain freestyle board with zero camber and and a medium flex pattern. Light and forgiving this looks like an ideal board to go anywhere and do anything with.
The second board, the Nikita Chikita has a gentle 4mm positive camber an soft flex and a recycled wood core. It looks like a soft playful board better suited to girls who like to jib, bonk, butter and press.
If Nikita are saying hello this winter then Forum are saying goodbye. Since the company was founded in 1996 some of the most progressive and talented snowboarders ever have stood on Forum boards. Peter Line, JP Walker, Devun Walsh, Jeremy Jones, Adreas Wiig and Bjorn Lines all rode in the Forum team and video like "The Resistance" and "True life" set the bench mark at the time for riding and snowboard film making.
Alas this will be the last year of Forum so to be a part of this snowboard swansong this Christmas ask Santa for a Youngblood Grandpops or a Destroyer Doubledog. Although both boards have some of the most ridiculous names in the history of sport they have got some pedigree behind them as well as some unusual camber/rocker patterns.
For freeriders the newest addition to the snowboard world comes from Austrian wunderkind Gigi Ruf. Slash snowboards are Gigi's own brand that will launch this winter in selected stores like Morzine's Attack Attack. There are park, urban and all mountain models but we thought the freeride "Straight" was the most interesting. Ridden by Gigi in the 2012 Red Bull Supernatural it's the board that took him to second place in the comp on his first ever day out on it.
Directional shape with set back stance and a "camrock" camber means that the board is designed to be ridden in powder with out having to be too big and heavy. Maybe a little powder-specific for some people it is none the less an innovative snowboard that would be the perfect weapon in deep snow, or as Gigi proved in Canada flying through the air.
Far more customisable are the Switchback bindings. The five components that make up the bindings; base, highback, two straps and footbed, are completely interchangeable and as they come in five different colours there's over 3,000 possible combinations. The real genius of these bindings is the fact that none of the parts require screws. All the components can be pressed or popped into place. Carry a spare strap in your pocket and when you snap your toe strap on a cold day there's no need to find a store or borrow a screw driver, just pop out the broken piece and swap it for a new one.
Finally it was eye wear that caught our....um, er...eye when looking round Morzine. Smith Optics have been around for years but in the last few years they have really been working on making their goggles look cool. This year's I/OX certianly looks cool and comes loaded with tech. Super-easy to change lenses that have been robotically cut, the I/OX employs a microporous filter called "Porex" to ventilate the lenses and reduce fogging.
Let's just say, there's definitely plenty out there to ask Santa for.
