• Price: £500 / €560 / $560
• Category: All-Mountain, Freeride/Powder
• Ability Level: Intermediate, Advanced
• Sizes: 154.5, 157.5
• Flex: 5.5-6/10
• Profile: Hybrid
• Shape: Directional Twin
• Base: Sintered
• New for 2020/21 season

Why we chose the Gnu Barrett Snowboard: A full redesign and some freeride finesse gets added to one snowboarding’s most iconic women’s snowboards.

A re-brand and re-build for the longest-running women’s pro-model snowboard, the Gnu Barrett (formerly B-Pro) beefs up the construction and gives it a more freeride focused shape for this winter. Not only does Barrett Christy have over 25 years of experience snowboarding as well as countless medals in everything from slopestyle to banked slaloms but she is also head of design for Gnu’s women’s snowboards. So, as you would imagine, the board that bears her name aims for the same high standards she does as a rider.

“As you would imagine, the board that bears her name aims for the same high standards she does as a rider”

The Barrett is packing Gnu’s top-end wood core construction using sustainably harvested aspen, paulownia and balsa to give a light, snappy medium stiff flex. This is backed up by bi and tri xxial glass fibers as well as power pop bands, which make getting edge to edge quick and precise.

The new directional shape on the Barrett is tailored even more towards backcountry and freeriding for 2021 with the stance being further setback and a taper added to help sink the tail and float the nose. The C3 camber profile, however, is more grip and stability focused than float and forgiveness with camber between the contact points and a slight rocker right in the middle. It doesn’t scream pow laps like a rockered nose might, but the C3 profile is better suited to riding pisted, bumpy or chopped up snow than those shapes.