The Boardroom Demo Day at Cypress Mountain took place on February 27th, 2016.
Kudos to Boardroom for organizing this awesome day that gives every rider the opportunity to try out next season’s snowboards from many of the top brands.
Conditions on the Day
The conditions were a bit choppy and slushy on Black Mountain and a little better on Mt Strachan but the weather conditions were otherwise all good apart from a brief period of rain. Visibility remained good throughout the demo times.
Brands Showcased
Heaps of the top snowboard and binding brands were present including:
- Lib Tech
- Gnu
- Union
- Never Summer
- DC
- Capita
- Ride
- Flux
- Flow
- Now
- Stepchild
- YES
- Slash
- Switchback
- Dinosaurs Will Die
- Smith (goggles)
And more… apologies if I’ve left any out – those were the one’s I can remember off the top of my head.
Gear that I Demoed
I was privileged to try the following gear on the day.
- Lib Tech TRS 2017
- GNU Space Case 2017
- Bent Metal Transfer Bindings 2017 (new bindings from Mervin)
- Union Contact Pro Bindings 2017
- Capita Black Snowboard of Death 2017
- Now IPO Bindings 2017
- Stepchild FTW 2017
- GNU Rider’s Choice 2017
- Lib Tech Hot Knife 2017
- GNU Zoid Goofy 2017
My focus for this day was on Lib Tech and GNU gear because I don’t currently have a contact for Mervin for demoing gear outside of demo days – so I wanted to try as much from them as possible – in addition to trying Now and Stepchild which I hadn’t had the privilege of demoing previously.
Of course, I will be releasing my reviews for all of the above products later in the year.
Favorite Board of the Day
This is a tough one because, despite the conditions not being ideal, I had a lot of fun on a number of boards.
But overall I have to say that the GNU Space Case was my favorite deck in the park and the Lib Tech Hot Knife was my favorite on the trails.
Surprise of the Day
Stepchild FTW.
I didn’t intend on trying anything from Stepchild to be honest. I just kind of stumbled upon their tent and ended up with one of their boards to try.
The FTW felt weird at first – not what I was used to – but after a couple of runs it started to feel ok. I would love to try this board in powder in the backcountry. I reckon it would really excel out there.
It was also awesome to try out Mervin’s soon-to-be-offered Bent Metal bindings. Stay tuned for these for the 2016/17 season.
Most Unique Board I Tried
GNU Zoid. I have been meaning to try the Zoid for a while. It intrigued me for sure. This deck has two versions – one for regular riders and one for goofy riders.
The Zoid is definitely unique not just in its look – but also that they have created an asymmetrical deck that isn’t a twin. It’s a directional asymmetrical (side cut is different on the heel and toe edge) which is why there has to be a regular and goofy version. Anyway more on that when I publish the review for it.
This was definitely a fun board and just felt cool to ride.
The Setup
The tents were set up conveniently close to 2 separate lifts which made it nice and easy to grab some new gear and hit the slopes.
Overall, most of the brand reps were really friendly and down to earth and it was a relaxed day/evening trying out new decks, bindings and having some great chats with the reps. Some exciting new gear is coming our way in 2017.
And there were some awesome one legged snowboard races, the highest ollie contest and other entertainment on offer too. I missed most of it because I was trying as much gear as I could but it made for a fun atmosphere for sure.
The Boardroom
Big thanks to The Boardroom for organizing and to all the brands who were on display.
Stay tuned for all my detailed reviews of the above mentioned products (and of course all of the other 2016/17 gear I have demoed and will demo) later in the year.
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