This year’s snowboard demo days, hosted by the World Ski & Snowboard Festival on Whistler Mountain were, again, a great couple of weekends.
It was a full on busy but enjoyable time for me and once again the event was very well organized, ran on time and all of the reps/ambassadors were friendly and knowledgeable – even the one with the obvious hangover!
There were 4 days for demoing, split out over 2 weekends, with some brands there both weekends and others just one or the other.
I attended 3 of the 4 days. Unfortunately, I had come down with a vomiting bug and had to miss the first Saturday. But thankfully I had recovered enough to attend the Sunday of the 1st weekend.
Conditions on the Days
The conditions were really good each day and we were lucky enough to get a variety of snow conditions which is really great for testing snowboard gear.
Day 2: Sunday, April 9th, 2017
Mix of sun and cloud with 100% visibility all day. Snow was perfect for demoing. Soft packed most places with some powder to be found and some harder spots. Not slushy which is rare this time of year. Reasonably cold too, especially in the morning.
Day 3: Saturday, April 15th, 2017
Cloudy with periods of sun in the morning. Started snowing around midday (so much snow in April – it’s awesome!) Some fresh overnight snow made the snow lovely and soft in the morning – hardened up as it was compacted but was still soft-packed on groomed runs and powder to be found off. Then Softened up again a bit in the afternoon with the snow.
I think the sun came back at some point in the afternoon too. Visibility was great all day – a feature of all 3 days.
Day 4: Sunday, April 15th, 2017
Sunshine! And plenty of it.
Snow conditions were again great. Harder than the day before overall but still plenty of powder to be found. Again, great conditions for demoing with a bit of everything. Still quite cold in the morning but got quite warm in the afternoon – to a point that it almost actually felt like spring!
Brands on Show
The following brands had gear to demo at some point over the 2 weekends.
- Rossignol
- Flux
- Never Summer
- Union
- Capita
- Jones
- Now
- YES
- Salomon
- Burton
- GNU
- Lib Tech
- Ride
- K2
- Nitro
- Prior
- Sims
- DC
Plus, various other brands including ski brands (there were demos for skis and snowboards). Apologies if I’ve missed any brands from this list.
Gear that I was Able to Demo
I had the privilege of demoing the following:
Snowboards
- Rossignol One Magtek 2018
- Rossignol Jibsaw Heavy Duty Magtek 2018
- Salamon Assassin 2018
- Salamon Assassin Pro 2018
- Never Summer Funslinger 2018
- Never Summer Snowtrooper 2018
- Never Summer West 2018
- K2 Fastplant 2018
- Ride Timeless 2018
- Ride Helix 2018
- GNU Metal Gnuru
- Burton Free Thinker 2018 (new for 2018)
- YES Typo 2018
Bindings
- Flux XF 2018
- Flux TM 2018
- Flux DS 2018
- Flux RII 2018
- K2 Lien AT 2018
- K2 Formula 2018
- Ride Rodeo 2018
- Burton Genesis X 2018
- Burton Cartel 2018
Reviews for each of these will be published throughout the year along with all of the other gear that I demoed earlier in the season.
Favorite Gear of the Days
Day 2: Sunday, April 9th, 2017
This is a tough one because I actually loved all the boards I rode on this day. Some for different reasons. But since I have to choose, I would have to go with the Salomon Assassin Pro (this is new for 2018 – it’s in some ways a continuation of the Assassin Classicks 2017 but with a completely new core).
Honorable mention to the Rossignol One Magtek – has been a solid board for years and this year is no different.
Day 3: Saturday, April 15th, 2017
The Never Summer West was my most enjoyable snowboard on this day. What a board! It can do a bit of everything and does most things really well – how an all mountain board should be, but few achieve it the way that this one does.
Day 4: Sunday, April 16th, 2017
I mostly demoed bindings on this day and my pick would have to be the Flux XF. These bindings are super responsive but at the same time have great board feel. I often find bindings that are really stiff can lack board feel but that’s not the case with the XFs.
The Genesis X was a close second on the day.
Big Thank You
A big thanks to the World Ski & Snowboard Festival organizers, the brands that attended, all the reps/.ambassadors and to Whistler Blackcomb for another awesome event this year.
Looking forward to next year’s event – hopefully without the vomiting bug wiping out my first day! ?
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