Hello and welcome to my GNU Ladies Choice review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Ladies Choice as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Ladies Choice a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: GNU Ladies Choice
Price: $629
Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle
Flex Rating: Medium (4/10 to 5.5/10 depending on size)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (5/10)
Rating Score: 91.0/100
Compared to other Women’s All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards
Out of the 23 women’s all-mountain-freestyle snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Ladies Choice’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Ladies Choice’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | All-Mountain-Freestyle |
Price: | $629 - BUYING OPTIONS |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Turn Initiation: | Medium-Fast |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | Hybrid Rocker - GNU's "C2X" Profile |
Shape: | True Twin - Asymmetrical Twin |
Setback Stance: | Centered |
Base: | Sintered (GNU'S "Sintered Knife Cut") |
Weight: | Normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
139.5 | 226 | 50-130 | 23-59 |
142.5 | 232 | 60-140 | 27-43 |
145.5 | 240 | 70-150 | 32-68 |
148.5 | 242 | 80-160 | 36-73 |
151.5 | 244 | 90-180 | 41-82 |
153.5 | 244 | 90-180 | 41-82 |
Who is the Ladies Choice Most Suited To?
The Ladies Choice is a really versatile board that is well suited to most riders looking for a one board quiver, particularly those looking for one with a slightly more freestyle feel to it.
Whilst it's not ace in powder, it's pretty good in powder for an all-mountain-freestyle board, making it a little more versatile.
Not for beginners, but great for intermediate and up.
The Ladies Choice in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Ladies Choice is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: GNU Ladies Choice 2022, 148.5cm (242mm waist width)
Date: April 9, 2021
Conditions: Snowing! Visibility around 70%
Temperatute -4°C (25°F) - so quite cold for April!. -9°C (16°F) with wind chill.
15kph (10mph) winds.
24 hour snow: 15cm (6") (and more snow while we were testing)
7 day snow: 20cm (8")
On Groomer: Was a little crunchy and even icy in patches to start, which was really surprising given the snow. But it was good in other patches. Then as the day wore on, the snow got softer and softer.
Off Groomer: Pretty good but a little crunchy with some icy patches on steeper slopes to start. As the snow kept falling it got better and better though, until it felt like a proper pow day by the end.
Bindings angles: +15/-12
Stance width: 530mm (20.9″)
Stance Setback: Centered
Width at Inserts: 250mm (9.84")
Weight: 2660g (5lbs, 14oz)
Weight per cm: 17.91g/cm
Average Weight per cm: 17.12 grams/cm*
*based on a small sample size of around 20 women's boards that I've weighed in 2020, 2021 and 2022 models. The Ladies Choice is a little heavier than normal but Jade found it to feel normal weight on snow.
Tester: Jade
Rider Height: 5'7" (170cm)
Rider Weight: 145lbs (66kg)
Rider Boot Size: Women's US6.5 Thirty Two Exit
Bindings Used: Burton Lexa, Medium
Damp or Chattery?
Not overly chattery but also not overly damp. Pretty close to the middle of the scale.
Smooth or Snappy?
More snappy than smooth, but close to the middle of the scale.
Powder
Wasn't enough powder to be a perfect test, but some there to get a feel for it - and it performs pretty well.
It's never going to be the queen of powder, but for an all-mountain-freestyle board it ain't bad. And as far as twin's go it's really good. So for anyone who likes to ride switch a lot in powder, it's a great option.
It has a healthy portion of rocker in the profile which helps it to float.
Carving & Turning
Carving: Whilst not a carving machine, you can lay one over pretty well on the Ladies Choice. Nothing super aggressive/high speed/epic, but some nice carves can be had.
Turning: A breeze to turn on. It responded effortlessly and was all round just fun and easy to turn with. 4/5 for turning, 3/5 for carving.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: Nice and easy to maneuver at slow speeds.
Skidded Turns: Quite forgiving of skidded turns. Not beginner level forgiving, but really quite un-catchy and can get away with skidding turns most of the time.
Speed
It's not a bomber, but you can certainly ride it at decent speeds without feeling like it starts to loose a little stability.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: It gets a little bucked around in crud. It's not the most bucky going around, but does get a little bucked. However, it is easy to adjust and correct.
Bumps: Nice and easy to maneuver between bumps and hugged them pretty well too.
Let’s Break up this text with a Video
Jumps
Overall really nice board for jumps.
Pop: It certainly doesn't have oodles of pop. And that's the one thing that really stops this board from getting 5/5 for jumps. But what pop is there is easy to extract. But if you really try to wind it up, it doesn't give back much more than when you give it a more casual push.
Approach: Easy to speed check and find a good line to the takeoff - and make any adjustments as necessary. Decently stable for most approaches. Perhaps only really big jumps where you need more speed, it could get a little wobbly.
Landing: Really nice landings on this board. Felt like it has the perfect balance between being stable on landings but also forgiving of less-than-perfect landings. Also easy to adjust in the air.
Side-hits: Was easy to maneuver to control to get to the side-hits - and that easy pop was nice and forgiving landings for those less-than-perfect landing spots. Could have had a little more overall pop, but overall, really fun board for side-hits.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Medium is the sweet spot for this board but still really good for smaller jumps and bigger jumps.
Switch
Perfect! Switching into switch, riding in switch, landing switch, setting up switch. Everything about this board in the unnatural direction was really good.
Spins
As just mentioned, the Ladies Choice is great for setting up and taking off switch for those 1s and 5s. And feels natural to spin and get the spin around. It's not the lightest, but still felt fine getting the spin around. For bigger spins could use slightly more pop.
Jibbing
It's not a jib master, but for doing anything simple on boxes/rails, it's fine. If you're doing a lot of jibbing, then you might want to go for something more jib friendly, but if you're only hitting them now and then, it's perfectly capable for sure. And a more experienced jibber would have no problem's with more creative jib tricks too.
Butters
It's not super soft in the tip and tail, but it's also not that stiff. It's easy to butter without being ultra easy and gives some decent spring out of the press.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
|---|---|---|
JUMPS | 4.5 | 18/20 |
CARVING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 4.0 | 8/10 |
SWITCH | 5.0 | 10/10 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 7/10 |
SPINS | 4.5 | 9/10 |
BUTTERS | 4.0 | 8/10 |
JIBBING | 3.0 | 3/5 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 4.0 | 4/5 |
TREES/BUMPS | 4.0 | 4/5 |
POWDER | 3.0 | 3/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 91.0/100 |
Overall, the Ladies Choice is a really fun board to ride, can ride in every condition and do whatever you want to on it. It's especially good for jumps, switch and spins, but it doesn't have any major weaknesses in other areas.
It's a do-it-all, but a do-it-all that's more freestyle focused than freeride focused.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Ladies Choice, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other women's all-mountain-freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare the Ladies Choice to other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.
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