The New Shapes Of Snowboarding
For the 30 year anniversary of the Baker Banked Slalom Mathieu Crépel broke out a retro shape that took him straight to the famed top spot. Photo: Mike Yoshida 108
Alternative Board Shapes Are They Saving Snowboarding? Words by Annie Fast
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Tim Eddy would have been thankful for the Cool Bean’s long scoop nose when floating through these Hakuba pillows. Photo: Colin Wiseman 110
Right: Jake Burton has been testing new and innovative shapes since day one of Burton Snowboards. Photos: Todd Kohlman/Burton
the last few seasons we’ve seen the focus in snowboarding diverge from contests and freestyle to a renewed focus on freeriding, whether that’s the art of turning your board or simply tuning in to new ways of maximising terrain and snow conditions. Board design has evolved alongside this focus—the standard twin and directional board profiles or “homogenised popsicle stick boards” as Spring Break Snowboard’s Corey Smith refers to them, no longer confine riders. The options are limitless, from allaround tapered swallowtail shapes, to carve-friendly super directional retro shapes, to really out there shapes that are built strictly for deep powder riding. Riders are beginning to pick up the quiver habit and many are assembling an arsenal of snowboards for every type of riding and terrain. This revolution can be traced back to 2001, with Burton’s introduction of a shortened, tapered powder board: The Burton Fish. The board’s longer, wide nose that tapers down to a diminutive tail and setback stance was fresh at the time, yet it flaunted traits of some of the sport’s earliest designs. Burton was one of the first to tease the idea of building a quiver of snowboards. There were of course other interesting offerings on the racks, including Winterstick’s ever-present Swallowtail – originally launched in 1976. Very slowly over the years, creative shapes have come from the fringe and have exploded, peaking this winter with brands across the board offering one-offs or entire collections of uniquely shaped boards that are built to enhance every type of riding scenario.
111
As Mikey attests, these new uniquely shaped boards don’t compromise on performance but rather the custom shapes can actually enhance performance in a very specific way. This year’s winner of the Legendary Baker Banked Slalom, Mathieu Crepel, beat the packed field to win the gold duct tape trophy on a modern re-release of the original mid-80s finless Gnu Swallow Tail Carver. Pete Saari at Mervin Manufacturing says, “The original version of that board in the mid-80s was our first finless board that blended concepts from ski construction and surf shapes. The wide full nose shape, camber centred under the back foot, with early rise rocker in the nose ripped hardpack, ice and still felt great in powder.” Mathieu chose to race the retro shaped board as a tribute to the LBS’ 30th anniversary. He said: “I pretty much rode it for the first time on the comp day and to be honest I didn’t think it was going to work as well as it actually did. The trick in the Baker course is to keep your flow as much as possible - you can’t attack the turns really hard, so a good board is key.” Mathieu attributes the longer sidecut of the Swallow Tail Carver to giving him more hold in the turns, which translated to more speed, fluidity and hold enough for the gold duct tape. The Gnu and Lib Tech lines include several other plays on shape including the asymmetrical Gnu Zoid board and the Lib Tech Travis Rice Full Quiver series featuring five boards from the more classic shaped HP Blunt to the Climax. K2 is also offering a series of boards made for creating a quiver. The K2 Enjoyers Collection consists of four boards created with an “open-minded viewpoint of snowboarding” with a focus on creating new turning experiences and clean fluid style. The collection includes a swallowtail Cool Bean, the Party Platter, which is an evolution of the Cool Bean with an evolved tail for riding switch, and the Carve Air, a retro shape designed as a directional resort ripper. Speaking of quivers, a word that we’re collectively borrowing from surfing, surfing shapes are majorly trending in snowboarding with surf shapers even being enlisted to build snowboards. Lib Tech brought on Matt Biolos of Lost surfboards to collaborate on a line of boards and Jones Snowboards recently introduced a new partnership with San Diego surfboard shaper Chris Christenson, of Christenson Surfboards. Christenson is a lifelong snowboarder who, until a recent property fire, was shaping boards seasonally from his cabin near Mammoth Mountain, California. Christenson relies on his diverse experience, shaping everything from contest surfboards to longboards to big wave guns, in his new Jones collection. The collection includes three models - The Storm Chaser and Storm Chaser Split, both of which utilise refined contours originally developed for his fast gliding short boards, which translate into high-speed powder boards. The third board is the Mountain Surfer, a 4’6” (139 cm) binding-less ride. All three boards feature directional surf-inspired subtleties of Chris’ fastest surf shapes including a “surf rocker” profile that matches a Christenson surfboard rocker profile, a spoon nose and speed channel tail. Nitro riders Austin Smith and Bryan Fox are also in on unique board shapes with their 2017 Nitro Quiver series featuring four unique boards. They’ve been charging hard on these boards all winter from steep spine lines in Haines, Alaska to the ZigZag banked slalom at Baldface Lodge. Inspiration for the series partially came from Austin’s experience riding with Taro Tamai (Gentem) in Japan, while Bryan says he was influenced by the variety of shaped surfboards, especially the models
Many collectors would sell their first born child to get their hands on that board today. Photo Todd Kohlman/Burton
the riders who have been driving excitement for these shapes. You might have seen Dylan Gamache carving the tapered V-tail Capita x Spring Break Slush Slasher down low-angle resort groomers, or Mathieu Crepel crossing the finish line of the Legendary Banked Slalom with the fastest time on a retro Gnu Swallow Tail, or even Bryan Fox and Austin Smith blasting classic methods on any number of Nitro’s Quiver Series’ wild silhouette boards. Some riders are even making these their go-to boards, while others are enthusiastically building collections of carving, freestyle and powder boards. Recently, Burton has continued to lead the charge in the alternative shapes revolution from their in-house Craig’s Lab design den in Burlington, Vermont. Burton’s John “JG” Gerndt has worked behind the scenes at Burton since the pre-Craig Kelly days, testing and designing boards. You might say that he knows a thing or two about boardcraft. “It’s fair to say that some of the shapes we’re seeing come from a surf background and others are skate” he explained. According to JG, the process of developing new shapes is fairly straightforward: “We come up with an idea, we design it, build a mold, make some boards, ride them, send them to some riders, gather feedback, make some changes and then pull the trigger if things look good.” Regardless of whether the board is designed as a powder or carving board, JG maintains that for Burton to go to market with a board, the shape has to be versatile and adaptable to terrain and snow, from the top of the mountain to the bottom. So even the most powder-specific offering should still be able to expertly handle all conditions. The most recent Burton shapes to get the green light are the CK Nug, a directional board inspired by the original Craig Kelly Air with a blunt tail and modernised with a shortened profile; the SkipJack Surf, a fish shape with a swallowtail; and the brand new Skeleton Key which is a directional all-around board with 10mm of taper, camber, and a skeleton-key inspired tail design that rips on groomed runs and in powder. Mikey Rencz has been riding the updated Burton Trick Pony in Whistler, which features a new playful tip and tail design for 2017. Mikey says that the new shape of the Trick Pony has improved his favourite board, adding a playful element to the classically powerful design. Mikey says: “It’s so much fun for backcountry freestyle riding or just riding hit runs on the resort.” 112
Terje could probably float this method on an esky lid, but there’s no doubt that board made the process a little easier. Photo: Adam Moran
113
The art of touching your hips to the ground. Photo: Shaun Daley
that transform average small waves into a fun session. Bryan says of these new shapes: “Your mentality changes, you take out a different shaped snowboard on a mediocre day, or even on an amazing day, and even trying regular tricks becomes real fun – some also make riding powder a lot more enjoyable. They all serve a purpose, but they’re not designed to revolutionise snowboarding – that’s not the point.” Bryan adds, “It’s fun to ride different boards because you’re not trying to do 1080s everyday … or sometimes ever.” Bryan ticks off the benefits of each of the Nitro Quiver series boards to give a sense of how he and Austin cycle through their options, “The 154 POW makes it really effortless to ride powder no matter how deep it is. The 149 Tree Hugger is my favourite because it has a reasonably small waist width so it rides really well on hard pack, and it’s super short so there’s no swing weight – easy to spin, easy to land. The 163 NUAT has a pointy nose and pointy tail; it’s funny to ride such a bizarre-shaped snowboard. The 183 Cannon is insane – you stay right on top of the snow and haul ass – you can go as fast as you want and it’ll stay on rail and never give out on you.” While it’s clear that the majority of these new shapes are drawing inspiration from surf and retro snowboard shapes, some designs are coming from a new creatively driven experimental side. Artist and former pro snowboarder Corey Smith, of Spring Break Snowboards, started experimenting with snowboard shaping in 2010, Corey says, “I just thought that snowboards and snowboard design were losing their soul and degenerating from instruments of creation into disposable
mindless sports equipment. Snowboarding and snowboard design is an art form and should be treated with the same respect as any other creative expression.” Spring Break Snowboards, in partnership with Capita Snowboards, is offering six boards for 2017, including four new unique powder specific shapes of which the Powder Hole stands out as the most exotic. As you might expect, the Powder Hole features a gaping hole in the tail. Corey says: “It works similarly to a swallowtail in that the tail sinks in deep powder, but unlike a swallowtail you can wheelie up on it for tail-heavy turns and it won’t wash out.” The lineup also includes the Slush Slasher. Corey says: “When I developed the first prototype of the Slush Slasher in 2011, the concept was for a directional park board, which is kind of a contradiction, but I wanted a shape that people could just have fun on and look at park riding in a new way. It’s short and hard carving and you can get really creative with it.” He points to Yawgoon Dylan Gamache, who rides this board, as a great example of a rider who took that shape and turned a vision into reality. In the process Dylan has inspired a new generation of riders to focus on the art of the carve for the fun of it, and to earn himself recognition for Standout Performance of The Year for carving progression at the 2016 Transworld Riders’ Poll Awards. These new shapes combined with riders’ super creative approaches have paved new roads in snowboarding, allowing for progression on the mellowest of slopes, excitement in all types of conditions and a continued damn good time in powder - that will never change. 114
Alternative Board Shapes Are They Saving Snowboarding? Words by Annie Fast
109
Tim Eddy would have been thankful for the Cool Bean’s long scoop nose when floating through these Hakuba pillows. Photo: Colin Wiseman 110
Right: Jake Burton has been testing new and innovative shapes since day one of Burton Snowboards. Photos: Todd Kohlman/Burton
the last few seasons we’ve seen the focus in snowboarding diverge from contests and freestyle to a renewed focus on freeriding, whether that’s the art of turning your board or simply tuning in to new ways of maximising terrain and snow conditions. Board design has evolved alongside this focus—the standard twin and directional board profiles or “homogenised popsicle stick boards” as Spring Break Snowboard’s Corey Smith refers to them, no longer confine riders. The options are limitless, from allaround tapered swallowtail shapes, to carve-friendly super directional retro shapes, to really out there shapes that are built strictly for deep powder riding. Riders are beginning to pick up the quiver habit and many are assembling an arsenal of snowboards for every type of riding and terrain. This revolution can be traced back to 2001, with Burton’s introduction of a shortened, tapered powder board: The Burton Fish. The board’s longer, wide nose that tapers down to a diminutive tail and setback stance was fresh at the time, yet it flaunted traits of some of the sport’s earliest designs. Burton was one of the first to tease the idea of building a quiver of snowboards. There were of course other interesting offerings on the racks, including Winterstick’s ever-present Swallowtail – originally launched in 1976. Very slowly over the years, creative shapes have come from the fringe and have exploded, peaking this winter with brands across the board offering one-offs or entire collections of uniquely shaped boards that are built to enhance every type of riding scenario.
111
As Mikey attests, these new uniquely shaped boards don’t compromise on performance but rather the custom shapes can actually enhance performance in a very specific way. This year’s winner of the Legendary Baker Banked Slalom, Mathieu Crepel, beat the packed field to win the gold duct tape trophy on a modern re-release of the original mid-80s finless Gnu Swallow Tail Carver. Pete Saari at Mervin Manufacturing says, “The original version of that board in the mid-80s was our first finless board that blended concepts from ski construction and surf shapes. The wide full nose shape, camber centred under the back foot, with early rise rocker in the nose ripped hardpack, ice and still felt great in powder.” Mathieu chose to race the retro shaped board as a tribute to the LBS’ 30th anniversary. He said: “I pretty much rode it for the first time on the comp day and to be honest I didn’t think it was going to work as well as it actually did. The trick in the Baker course is to keep your flow as much as possible - you can’t attack the turns really hard, so a good board is key.” Mathieu attributes the longer sidecut of the Swallow Tail Carver to giving him more hold in the turns, which translated to more speed, fluidity and hold enough for the gold duct tape. The Gnu and Lib Tech lines include several other plays on shape including the asymmetrical Gnu Zoid board and the Lib Tech Travis Rice Full Quiver series featuring five boards from the more classic shaped HP Blunt to the Climax. K2 is also offering a series of boards made for creating a quiver. The K2 Enjoyers Collection consists of four boards created with an “open-minded viewpoint of snowboarding” with a focus on creating new turning experiences and clean fluid style. The collection includes a swallowtail Cool Bean, the Party Platter, which is an evolution of the Cool Bean with an evolved tail for riding switch, and the Carve Air, a retro shape designed as a directional resort ripper. Speaking of quivers, a word that we’re collectively borrowing from surfing, surfing shapes are majorly trending in snowboarding with surf shapers even being enlisted to build snowboards. Lib Tech brought on Matt Biolos of Lost surfboards to collaborate on a line of boards and Jones Snowboards recently introduced a new partnership with San Diego surfboard shaper Chris Christenson, of Christenson Surfboards. Christenson is a lifelong snowboarder who, until a recent property fire, was shaping boards seasonally from his cabin near Mammoth Mountain, California. Christenson relies on his diverse experience, shaping everything from contest surfboards to longboards to big wave guns, in his new Jones collection. The collection includes three models - The Storm Chaser and Storm Chaser Split, both of which utilise refined contours originally developed for his fast gliding short boards, which translate into high-speed powder boards. The third board is the Mountain Surfer, a 4’6” (139 cm) binding-less ride. All three boards feature directional surf-inspired subtleties of Chris’ fastest surf shapes including a “surf rocker” profile that matches a Christenson surfboard rocker profile, a spoon nose and speed channel tail. Nitro riders Austin Smith and Bryan Fox are also in on unique board shapes with their 2017 Nitro Quiver series featuring four unique boards. They’ve been charging hard on these boards all winter from steep spine lines in Haines, Alaska to the ZigZag banked slalom at Baldface Lodge. Inspiration for the series partially came from Austin’s experience riding with Taro Tamai (Gentem) in Japan, while Bryan says he was influenced by the variety of shaped surfboards, especially the models
Many collectors would sell their first born child to get their hands on that board today. Photo Todd Kohlman/Burton
the riders who have been driving excitement for these shapes. You might have seen Dylan Gamache carving the tapered V-tail Capita x Spring Break Slush Slasher down low-angle resort groomers, or Mathieu Crepel crossing the finish line of the Legendary Banked Slalom with the fastest time on a retro Gnu Swallow Tail, or even Bryan Fox and Austin Smith blasting classic methods on any number of Nitro’s Quiver Series’ wild silhouette boards. Some riders are even making these their go-to boards, while others are enthusiastically building collections of carving, freestyle and powder boards. Recently, Burton has continued to lead the charge in the alternative shapes revolution from their in-house Craig’s Lab design den in Burlington, Vermont. Burton’s John “JG” Gerndt has worked behind the scenes at Burton since the pre-Craig Kelly days, testing and designing boards. You might say that he knows a thing or two about boardcraft. “It’s fair to say that some of the shapes we’re seeing come from a surf background and others are skate” he explained. According to JG, the process of developing new shapes is fairly straightforward: “We come up with an idea, we design it, build a mold, make some boards, ride them, send them to some riders, gather feedback, make some changes and then pull the trigger if things look good.” Regardless of whether the board is designed as a powder or carving board, JG maintains that for Burton to go to market with a board, the shape has to be versatile and adaptable to terrain and snow, from the top of the mountain to the bottom. So even the most powder-specific offering should still be able to expertly handle all conditions. The most recent Burton shapes to get the green light are the CK Nug, a directional board inspired by the original Craig Kelly Air with a blunt tail and modernised with a shortened profile; the SkipJack Surf, a fish shape with a swallowtail; and the brand new Skeleton Key which is a directional all-around board with 10mm of taper, camber, and a skeleton-key inspired tail design that rips on groomed runs and in powder. Mikey Rencz has been riding the updated Burton Trick Pony in Whistler, which features a new playful tip and tail design for 2017. Mikey says that the new shape of the Trick Pony has improved his favourite board, adding a playful element to the classically powerful design. Mikey says: “It’s so much fun for backcountry freestyle riding or just riding hit runs on the resort.” 112
Terje could probably float this method on an esky lid, but there’s no doubt that board made the process a little easier. Photo: Adam Moran
113
The art of touching your hips to the ground. Photo: Shaun Daley
that transform average small waves into a fun session. Bryan says of these new shapes: “Your mentality changes, you take out a different shaped snowboard on a mediocre day, or even on an amazing day, and even trying regular tricks becomes real fun – some also make riding powder a lot more enjoyable. They all serve a purpose, but they’re not designed to revolutionise snowboarding – that’s not the point.” Bryan adds, “It’s fun to ride different boards because you’re not trying to do 1080s everyday … or sometimes ever.” Bryan ticks off the benefits of each of the Nitro Quiver series boards to give a sense of how he and Austin cycle through their options, “The 154 POW makes it really effortless to ride powder no matter how deep it is. The 149 Tree Hugger is my favourite because it has a reasonably small waist width so it rides really well on hard pack, and it’s super short so there’s no swing weight – easy to spin, easy to land. The 163 NUAT has a pointy nose and pointy tail; it’s funny to ride such a bizarre-shaped snowboard. The 183 Cannon is insane – you stay right on top of the snow and haul ass – you can go as fast as you want and it’ll stay on rail and never give out on you.” While it’s clear that the majority of these new shapes are drawing inspiration from surf and retro snowboard shapes, some designs are coming from a new creatively driven experimental side. Artist and former pro snowboarder Corey Smith, of Spring Break Snowboards, started experimenting with snowboard shaping in 2010, Corey says, “I just thought that snowboards and snowboard design were losing their soul and degenerating from instruments of creation into disposable
mindless sports equipment. Snowboarding and snowboard design is an art form and should be treated with the same respect as any other creative expression.” Spring Break Snowboards, in partnership with Capita Snowboards, is offering six boards for 2017, including four new unique powder specific shapes of which the Powder Hole stands out as the most exotic. As you might expect, the Powder Hole features a gaping hole in the tail. Corey says: “It works similarly to a swallowtail in that the tail sinks in deep powder, but unlike a swallowtail you can wheelie up on it for tail-heavy turns and it won’t wash out.” The lineup also includes the Slush Slasher. Corey says: “When I developed the first prototype of the Slush Slasher in 2011, the concept was for a directional park board, which is kind of a contradiction, but I wanted a shape that people could just have fun on and look at park riding in a new way. It’s short and hard carving and you can get really creative with it.” He points to Yawgoon Dylan Gamache, who rides this board, as a great example of a rider who took that shape and turned a vision into reality. In the process Dylan has inspired a new generation of riders to focus on the art of the carve for the fun of it, and to earn himself recognition for Standout Performance of The Year for carving progression at the 2016 Transworld Riders’ Poll Awards. These new shapes combined with riders’ super creative approaches have paved new roads in snowboarding, allowing for progression on the mellowest of slopes, excitement in all types of conditions and a continued damn good time in powder - that will never change. 114
