Snowboarding board, boot and binding technology continue to improve, making for gear that can take on every inch of any hill and beyond.
boards
1. Burton Juice Wagon
This member of Burton’s new Family Tree line features a tapered, directional shape and a positive camber profile that proves rocker is not the only game in town. This freerider holds a mean edge on hardpack when you need it. $600; burton.com
2. Never Summer Cobra
The bomber-built, directional-shaped Cobra has serious big-mountain chops. Opposite of most board manufacturers, Never Summer places its rocker binding-to-binding with the camber at tip and tail. The result is mega edgehold on hard snow, and the ability to surf and slash on pow days. $600; neversummer.com
3. Lib Tech MC La Niña
The longest running pro model in snowboarding gets better—it’s stood the test of time due to its all-mountain capabilities, rider-friendly rocker/camber profile and trusty Magne-Traction edges. It rips on groomers, floats in powder. $570; lib-tech.com
4. Venture Euphoria Splitboard
Make no mistake, this is a pow surfer through and through, and you can ride it with bindings—or without. You’ll need a torpedo to sink this ship: the Euphoria’s fat waist and floaty rocker profile keep it on top no matter how deep it gets. $895 (split) $595 (solid); venturesnowboards.com
5. Gnu Velvet Guru
Gnu classifies this board as a “quiver killer”…one women’s board to rule all terrain and conditions. Its true-twin shape and soft-to-medium flex equals just that—the Guru has earned accolades from the park to the steeps—due in part to a proprietary blend of banana rocker between your feet and elliptical camber at the tip and tail. $450; gnu.com
boots
6. Burton Ion x Pirelli
The snow-tire inspired tread, built by Italian tiremaker Pirelli, offers superior traction, and its upper mid-level flex is perfect for pretty much everything. $430; burton.com
7. Ride Sash Boa Coiler
The cush but not overbuilt women’s Sash boots are designed for all- mountain performance and register a six out of 10 on the flex scale. They offer the convenience of Boa’s reel closure system and fit. Intuition liners and adjustable calf sizing up the comfort level, too. $230; ridesnowboards.com
bindings
8. Now IPO
Rider and inventor J.F. Pelchat spent seven years developing the IPO in his garage. It offers a fresh take on the tried-and-true skateboard truck design by featuring a pivoting baseplate that creates more (and adjustable) flex and freedom to flow with the terrain. $289; now-snowboarding.com
9. Rome Madison Boss
The women-specific Madisons’ adjustable canting enables a more anatomically correct riding position—which results in precise, powerful turns and max board control. Straps are plush but not too fluffy. $250; romesnowboards.com •
