“It’s in my DNA,” he says, in a French accent born of a lifetime in the Alps. “Since I was a kid I was always building stuff, trying to make products. I got hooked on snowboarding and skating very young, and when I was a teenager I’d get all the catalogues. I was the guy who went straight to the spec sheet – checking the radius, the waist width, all of this – rather than just checking out the graphics. Then I got an engineering degree, and that was my main purpose when I entered uni: I just wanted to build snowboards. It was clear to me.” 

Alongside Thierry ‘TK’ Kunz, Antoine is responsible for many of Nidecker’s recent shapes, which add modern surf-style lines to the brand’s proven carving technology developed over decades. So where does a concept like the Thruster begin?

“The goal would be to create nothing less than the ultimate all-mountain board”

“It always starts on the chairlift, when you’re riding,” he explains. “When you feel the elements, when you feel the glide, and the snow conditions and everything. This is where all the ideas come from.” During one such ‘research’ trip, Antoine proposed combining the best elements of their super technical carving deck, the Rave, with their all-terrain workhorse, the Platinum – whose classic round silhouette was starting to look long in the tooth. The goal would be to create nothing less than “the ultimate all-mountain board.”

Back off the hill, he duly set to work sketching ideas, beginning with the eye-catching nose and tail. “I like to start on paper, “ he says. “We discuss the concept, and develop it over a few weeks. When we feel we have something that might work the way we want, then we jump on the CAD software and begin really fine-tuning the curves, the radius, the values, and see if the whole thing works together or if we missed something.”

Another element that sets this shape apart is the fact it’s a unisex design. Many riders these days prefer not to be pigeon-holed when it comes to their equipment choice. As Kennedi Deck put it in her interview for the new WL print edition, “high end snowboarders want to ride high end gear – regardless of gender.” The Thruster certainly heeds that message, with sizes going as low as 147 and subtle tweaks to the width and flex at each length ensuring it can be ridden by almost anyone. All of which begs the question: are unisex boards the future? Why do we even still have men’s and women’s lines?

“I wouldn’t say it’s the future. It’s one way,” replies Antoine. “When we design a new board, the very first question is: who is going to ride it? Once we’ve defined this, then we start to shape. If we say that this board is for big guys that go freeriding in Alaska or Chile, and need a super stiff board, then we can go with wide mid sections. Likewise there are still women’s specific models for riders that really need them – for instance they could have [particularly] small feet, so even a short men’s board would be too wide. But if we take the decision to shape something unisex, then we try to have specs that can fit women and guys within an average range.”

“The Thruster’s universal approach feels like a significant moment for Nidecker, and perhaps even the wider industry”

Nonetheless, the Thruster’s universal approach feels like a significant moment for Nidecker, and perhaps even the wider industry. “We haven’t done this before,” admits Antoine. “For years we had a women’s collection, a men’s collection and a kids’ collection, but we [have proved] we can make unisex boards that work for real.”

As well as the lightest core – and the fastest base – in the line, the Thruster features one more ace up its sleeve: SideKicks. These 3D flicks at the edge of the nose were pioneered by Bataleon and initially adopted by Nidecker for their park-focused Sensor model, since they reduce edge catches if your landing is less than perfect. But there are true all-mountain benefits, too. SideKicks mellow out turn initiation and help the board glide through powder, so on the feedback of the team – who loved how floaty the Sensor felt in deep snow compared to regular freestyle decks – Antoine added them to the Thruster. “​​It helps create that surfy feeling,” he says. “That smooth roll from edge to edge.” 

With all this talk of surf-style turns, I wonder how it is that the snowboard market has progressed so far, and so quickly, from the ubiquitous twin tips of yesteryear? Are riders just getting old? Antoine has his own theory.  

“20 years ago, everyone thought they could do a 3, a 5 or a 7. Maybe a flip in the pipe. It’s not that complicated. Nowadays, if you’re starting out in 2021 and you watch a contest, you’ll see quad corks and be like, ‘I’m never gonna do this.’ It’s just too scary. So some riders have expressed their creativity differently and brought freestyle tricks into carving and made it cool again. Like the Yawgoons a few years ago. People got hooked back on the carve style. It’s not the same feeling as pow, but it’s a feeling of grip, of speed, of g’s. Anyone can appreciate it.”

“First and foremost it’s a board that goes super fast and turns like it’s on rails”

The Thruster taps into this mindset perfectly. Sure, you can ride switch on it. And sure, it will sail easily over the biggest of kickers – should you have the chops. But first and foremost it’s a board that goes super fast and turns like it’s on rails, whatever the conditions. And in that respect, it truly captures the essence of Simon Anderson’s all-conquering tri-fin.“I’m not a marketing guy, so I don’t say this about any board,” says Antoine. “Normally my purpose is to make a board that works perfectly for certain riders in certain conditions. But the Thruster is just amazing for anyone in any terrain. I’m super proud of this one.”