• Price: £520 / €599
• Lengths: 156, 159, 162, 165
• Flex: 7
• Profile: Hybrid Camber
• Shape: Directional Twin
• capitasnowboarding.com

With only the name staying constant in its various years of terrorising the slopes, the CAPiTA Black Snowboard Of Death is the Dread Pirate Roberts of all-terrain decks. Maybe that’s why they’re so fond of putting threatening tall ships on the topsheet?

“The CAPiTA Black Snowboard Of Death still boasts a freeride-friendly setback camber with a lifted nose that loves the powder”

Among the most significant changes to the CAPiTA Black Snowboard Of Death for the 2017/18 season is the new layout of ‘X-Arcs’. These curved carbon rods replace the previous model’s straight versions, making the board torsionally stiffer at the nose than at the tail – ideal for crud-busting and high-speed charging.

Elsewhere you can find an improved core (as light and strong as always, but now FSC-certified too), and an upgraded blend of biax and triax fibreglass. It also has new, faster base material, and improved sidewalls.

The profile, at least, remains unchanged, so the CAPiTA Black Snowboard Of Death still boasts a freeride-friendly setback camber with a lifted nose that loves the powder. It’s not so directional that you couldn’t throw a few shapes, but fast-and-serious is definitely this board’s comfort zone.

Sometimes a classic board disappears for a few years, only to reappear to high acclaim. In the case of the ever-evolving, ever-excellent CAPiTA Black Snowboard Of Death, however, a change is as good as a rest.