Staff Picks Winter 2023-24
It’s here, your seasonal guide to the Edge crew snowboard setup for Winter 2024. We test out the boards for a few reasons, to help you find the right board and because we really love snowboarding. It is mid-winter now, so you can trust we have really given the boards a test, in all conditions.
Read on to find what our crew of snowboard enthusiasts have to say about the 2024 boards from Burton, Gnu, K2, Korua Shapes, Lib Tech, Nidecker, Ride and Stranda.
BURTON Deep Thinker
This hard charging all mountain ripper is on the stiffer side, it is a blend of free ride and freestyle. The Deep Thinker has a tight turning radius and is on the narrow side, giving you a quick edge to edge response. Camber under both feet makes a stable ride in variable conditions.
K2 Instrument
Tim + Sara
A great all-round Fernie board with a slight setback and taper that is not overly aggressive or stiff. The all-mountain shape has playfulness to it, making it a more freestyle-ly all mountain board. Little wider under foot so it's great for those who want to tip and carve aggressively, or even for those with a slightly bigger foot. A bigger turning radius with a good torsional flex - stable at speeds and in the bumps. If in doubt, size down for manoeuvrability.
K2 Passport
Maddy + Yank
You might have seen a lot of K2 Passports charging around the mountain, there is a good reason for this. It’s another great Fernie all-rounder, loves the pow, eats the groomers and is stable at high speeds. Slightly stiffer compared to the instrument and has more of a directional shape with a cutout tail and blunted nose. Great board for getting into carving, its turning radius allows you to hook into turns and on edge very easily. A lightweight snappy board with a longer nose to float in powder.
NIDECKER Alpha
Michelle US WMNS 9
A great all-mountain board that takes you through the pow without having to lean back too much. Has an approachable flex with enough pop for Ollies and side hits. It’s versatile, quick edge to edge with a good waist width - not too wide, not too narrow.
NIDECKER Beta APX
Rich 165W 6’2” 180lbs US11 +6+30°
This is the perfect freeride board for Fernie. The APX version has a cap style construction where the board’s core goes further out towards the edge. This gives extra feel when locked into a carve and improved grip for steeper icy sections. The small swallowtail design reduces surface area in the tail of the board allowing more balanced feel between front/back foot while riding deeper powder, which is great to reduce that back leg burn! The side kick nose pops the board on the surface of soft snow at slower speeds and gives a nice surfy feel to the nose carving on hard pack.
Bottom line is - this thing pops up to the surface quickly in soft snow and cuts deep trenches on hard snow! Perfect for the rider who loves making powerful surf style turns equally in pow and on cord.
RIDE Berzerker
Kaelan - 160W 6’2” 175lbs US 8.5
The 2024 Ride Bezerker is a board for advanced to expert riders who already has good technical riding and has a hard charging style. With its stiff flex pattern, quadratic side cut and slightly tapered shape - this board likes to carve but still feels comfortable in switch.
The flex pattern of the board stiffens up from nose to tail giving it great landing gear for chunky awkward hits and run outs. The camber profile is also quite aggressive with extra camber, more than your average board, making it carve and punch through chunder with ease. One of the best features of this board has to be the sidewall material, Rides “Slimewalls'' technology. This softer material absorbs impacts and smoothes out the ride like no other board I've ever ridden and honestly extended my ability to ride longer through the day.
“Ride Fast, jump big, and stomp everything that’s the Berzerker” - Kaelan
STRANDA Descender
“When in doubt, take the descender out” - Tim
True all-mountain freeride shape, with an early rise nose that performs in pow. Gives you confidence because it is really good at speed and is stable in chop and variable snow conditions. It has a phenomenal edge hold for those confident carvers.
LIB TECH Lib Rig
Connor 159 - 180lb, 5’11”, US 8.5, 0 or -6 and +18 or +24
The Lib Rig is the ultimate all mountain freestyle board. It has a perfect mid flex profile with Lib Techs signature C2 profile which makes the board easy to land in all conditions and great responsive characteristics. The perfect board for someone looking for something to do it all on every aspect of the mountain.
KORUA Dart
Connor 160 - 180lb, 5’11”, US 8.5 +6 and +27
The Korua Dart is an amazing turning board. Whether it's in pow or its on groomers, the board performs amazingly well in either conditions. With its incredible edge hold but floaty camber profile with the fish tail cut out it makes for an extremely unique ride that can only be found within this board.
Most of the boards we carry at Edge are directional freeride snowboards because they are perfect for riding Fernie’s rugged, snowy off piste terrain and powder days. For any rider who wants to progress in their carve, pow turns or cliff drops the freeride collection is for you. These boards are strongly tapered shapes with directional flexes.
If you are in Fernie, come pop in and have a chat to our staff about what freeride board is right for you. We can help you with a full setup of snowboard boots and bindings.
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