Ten of the Best - Park Snowboards

Snowboard-Review.com gives you a quick guide to ten of the best park orientated snowboards on the market this season. If you like cruising through the park riding every obstacle on offer, including kickers, rails and pipes then you could do worse than reading our shortlist.

Burton – Easy Livin’

Just as you thought Burton were loosing the plot by disbanding the infamous Uninc team and stopping the production of their best freestyle specific deck along comes the Easy Livin’. Designed by Burton and Analog shredder Danny Davis the Easy Livin’ is an all-mountain jib stick that will leave every snowboarder, no matter what their orientation, with a giant smile across their face. This board excels at every aspect of freestyle from; jibbing around on a mellow slope; to lapping kickers and rails in the park; and it’s even great fun hitting kickers and dropping cliffs in the backcountry. Not only that but the Easy Livin’ has the torsional and longitudinal strength to go fast on icy slopes without lots of chatter and can hold a decent heelside and toeside carve. The Easy Livin’ recently won the overall Transworld Good Wood award which goes to show we’re not the only snowboarders that think it’s great.

K2 – Believer

The Believer is now in its second season at the top of the food chain. After winning the overall Transworld Good Wood award in its first season it was always going to be a hard job improving this board……but K2 have done exactly that. Developed by K2’s team to rule the whole mountain and poke fun at the park; this years Believer has been given ‘Flatline Technology’ (zero camber) and a longer sidecut. The result is a board which gives you supreme confidence hitting kickers and jibbing. You’ll also be pleasantly surprised when you take this board to the backcountry as it literally bounces everywhere and floats effortlessly. If that wasn’t enough; the base is ridiculously fast and this board is one of the lightest park specific decks on the market.

Stepchild – JP Walker

This years Stepchild JP Walker has been a real surprise to everybody that has had the pleasure of riding it. Stepchild has produced a board that is not only ridiculously stable but still very easy to jib around on at low speeds, a balance that its Stepchild counterpart the Chamberlain has missed. The JP mixes great torsional and longitudinal strength with a light poppy core that allows riders to hold onto those sketchy landings and carve around the slopes with relative easy. Not only is this board a pleasure to ride on kickers and in the pipe it’s fun on rails and all over the mountain. A great park deck for those who want a board that loves the park but doesn’t compromise on any other aspects of snowboarding.

Head – Team i

In my view one of the best decks of 2009 and definitely the most competitively priced. This is the board to buy if you’re looking for something that will give you the confidence to hit bigger jumps or you’re looking to boost higher out of the pipe. Thanks to Intellifibres and honeycomb inserts in the tip and tail this board is very happy jibbing-around and spinning at low speeds but once you crank up the speed and the amount of vibrations increase the board automatically stiffens giving you more control and a smoother ride. Combine all that technology with a very fast sintered base, a poppy camber and bright graphics and you’re onto a winner.

GNU – Park Pickle

If you don’t like bananas then Gnu have a new culinary offering this season; the Park Pickle. The Park Pickle is the result of GNU putting all their infamous technology into one board; an asymmetric sidecut allowing easier heelside turns, Magnetraction for better grip, a banana rocker for a more jib-friendly ride, sintered UHMV sidewalls for increased durability and a lightening fast Sintered 9900 alloy base. Thanks to all this technology you’re left with a board that is ridiculously fun to pop and jib around the park even in January when it’s icy and both take-offs and landings are bulletproof.  Those looking to hit big kickers in the backcountry may want a board with slightly more longitudinal and torsional rigidity to stick sketchy landings.

Bataleon – Evil Twin

If you’re a kicker rider looking for a board to give you the added confidence to start spinning off those bigger jumps in the park and take away that overwhelming fear of catching an edge on the take-off then look no further. The Evil Twin uses Bataleon’s Twin Triple-Base Technology, which has a wider flat section in the middle of the base, for added stability on rails and when riding in a straight line. The beauty of the triple base is that it carves very smoothly up transitions and keeps your opposing edge well clear of the snow. Carbon stringers throughout the board give it great pop and the triaxial glass weave ensures that the Evil Twin has enough torsional rigidity to keep you on your feet after landing off kilter.  In short, if it’s good enough for Tyler Chorlton then it’s probably good enough for you.

Never Summer – EVO R

The EVO-R is the culmination of years of R&D by US Snowboard manufacturer Never Summer. Unlike conventional rockered boards the EVO-R uses RC (rocker camber) technology, meaning that the centre of the board has a rocker shape which switches to a camber between where the bindings are mounted and the end of the effective edge. Never Summer have proven that this provides added pop and better edge hold than normal rocker decks. Due to its RC profile the EVO-R is great fun when popping off kickers, it takes landings in its stride and retains a lot of the fun traits that a normal rocker hold when jibbing. Riders that are unsure about fully committing to a rocker profile should definitely give the EVO-R a trial run.

Nitro – Rook

Similarly to the K2 Believer; Nitro have developed the Rook with a zero camber profile and longer nose and tail to help riders rule in the backcountry as well as the park. Like the Believer this board is great fun in the park; stable on rails and boxes and poppy off of takeoffs and landings. This is a board that will rule the park and allow you to a great time when the park is closed due to too much snow.

Atomic – Axum

Another great board from Atomic. The Axum is a park specific snowboard that not only has the stability and strength to hit the big obstacles in the park but is also great for jibbing and hitting the scariest of street rails. The Axum uses Atomics ‘Pop Rocker’ profile, a 2.5 degree bevel and their RSR+ edge technology (an ultra hard ceramic Ptex that runs along the inside of both edges) to ensure it slides smoothly every time. In short, the Axum is a rail slayer with the flex characteristics of a park specific/all-mountain deck. If you’re an indoor or East Coast rider and you want a deck that you can use to ride rails at your local hill and take away on holiday to a bigger mountain environment then the Axum should be on your Christmas list……it’s also great value.

K2 – Parkstar

What happens when you give K2’s classic park-specific snowboard, the Darkstar, a rocker profile? You get the Parkstar! Like the Darkstar; the Parkstar is a lot of fun in the park, this deck not only installs confidence but will allow you to press and butter onto and along rails with real ease. If you’re looking for a board that will help you progress your riding in the park and help you get more technical on those gnarly rails and boxes then look no further. Similarly if you’re looking for a deck to use in the spring and summer slush the Parkstar will float like a butterfly and sting like a Bee.

Posted by Tom Ewbank in Features.