Jones Frontier Snowboard Review

Who is the Frontier Most Suited To?

The Frontier is great for anyone looking for a more aggressive than average all-mountain board that doesn't want to pay what you pay for most aggressive all-mountain boards. 

It's something you can get quite aggressive on but also slow down and play around on too. It's not ultra aggressive, but it's just on the more aggressive side of aggressive/playful. 

Not for complete beginners, IMO, but good for anyone intermediate and up.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 580mm (22.8″)

Stance Setback: 20mm (0.75")

Width at Inserts: 266mm (10.47") at front insert and 269mm (10.59") at back insert.  

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 2880grams (6lb 5oz)

Weight per cm: 18.46 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.45 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 51 boards that I've weighed in 2019 and 2020 models. Bang on average.   

Powder

Not the ideal day for testing for powder, but based on specs and my experience with other similar Jones board and on the 2018 Jones Explorer (which is essentially the same board - they just changed the name), this is a very good board in powder. 

It's got enough direction to it's shape and a 20mm setback, with rocker in the nose, which all helps with float. It's not like a powder specialist by any means, but very good float none-the-less. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: When you do regular turns, this board doesn't feel overly aggressive, but when you really lean into a carve you can get quite aggressive on it - it likes to be on edge.  

Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's not bad. It's something I found rides better with a bit of speed on it, but it's not a tank at slower speeds. 

Skids: It's middle of the road for skidded turns. There's some consequence to it. It's not the hardest to skid turns on, but not the easiest either. 

Speed

It was pretty stable at speed. You could get it quite fast. You can feel the bumps on it for sure, but never felt squirelly or washy at speed. 

Uneven Terrain

You can feel the bumps and crud under this board - it's not overly damp. But it's maneuverable enough to maneuver through bumpy terrain. It was nice in the trees I found, but you have to ride it with an aggressive approach in the trees, rather than a more casual, surfy approach. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

The Frontier is pretty good overall for jumps, but it's not something that I would call exciting for jumps. 

Pop: It's got decent pop, but without being ultra poppy. The pop isn't hard to extract but it's not effortless either. 

Approach: Nice and stable for larger jumps and maneuverable enough for trickier, slower approaches. 

Landing: Solid enough, without being something that I would call a stomper. 

Side-hits: Pretty good for side-hits, without being mega-fun. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps:  Best for medium jumps. Not quite that snappy fun jumper for smaller jumps and side-hits, but not quite enough of a stomper on landings for bigger jumps. 

Switch

It's pretty good for switch, without being amazing. But definitely doable. 

Spins

OK but not great for taking off/landing switch. Good without being epic pop. Was relatively easy to get the spin around. Overall fine for spins without being amazing. 

Butters

Easier to butter than I expected. You can butter the nose and tail, but I felt the nose was just a bit easier to butter, which isn't too surprising as I think it's supposed to be softer in the nose. 

The Frontier is a board that doesn't feel that aggressive until you start to ride it aggressively, then you can get relatively aggressive on. On a scale of playful to aggressive it's not hyper-aggressive but it's on the aggressive side of the middle. 

It feels best when riding with a bit of speed on it and likes to carve & ride powder most of all.