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Jones Stratos 2021-2022 Women’s Snowboard Review

Tested and selected for our top 100 snowboard products of the year: the Women's Jones Stratos

  • Price: £540 / €580 / $580
  • Category: Freeride + Powder
  • Sizes: 146, 149, 152
  • Flex: 7/10
  • Shape: Directional
  • Profile: Combo
  • 3D: Yes
  • Base: Sintered

Why we chose the Women’s Jones Stratos Snowboard: A freeride shape with freestyle flair. The culmination of a decade of Jones R&D.

No prizes for seeing this one coming; the all-conquering Jones Stratos is now available for female riders too. They didn’t waste any time, either, with the original board only entering its second season.

It makes sense, of course; if you’ve essentially cracked the code for the ideal all-mountain board, why not ensure that even more riders can get it under their feet? Whether deep in a carve, floating on pow, or high in the air, the Jones Stratos is right at home; and in 2021/22, it’ll find its way into more homes than ever.

“The narrow waist keeps it nimble, and it’s not so stiff that you can’t get spontaneous”

MORE INFO:
JONES.COM

Who Is The Women’s Jones Stratos For?

Its daily driver credentials have been given the thumbs up from pipe-slayer-turned-pow-chaser Elena Hight, but we reckon that any confident rider will find something to like about the Jones Stratos – especially those that lean towards carving and freeriding, but who still want to keep their options open.

Shape, Profile and Sidecut

As the pointy end suggests, the Jones Stratos is happiest when ridden in your natural stance – ideally with a sense of purpose, and not just pootling down the pistes. The directional flex pattern, progressive sidecut and lightly-tapered outline ensure that you can carve for days – and that’s even before you factor in the extra bite you get from the ‘Traction Tech’ irregular sidecut.

The narrow waist keeps it nimble, and it’s not so stiff that you can’t get spontaneous. And while it may be directional, the nose is only a little longer than the tail, so switch landings are very much encouraged.

We therefore can’t fault its suitability to groomers and other firm terrain. Plus on powder days, it has a lot of obvious advantages over the lollipop-stick directional twin style. Like we’ve said, the Jones Stratos caters to a wide variety of riders, and that probably includes you.

“Plus on powder days, it has a lot of obvious advantages over the lollipop-stick directional twin style”

Construction and Materials

Sometimes a women’s version of an established “men’s” board fails to port over all of the top tech. Whether it’s base material or core components, you’ll find corners have been cut. That’s not the case with the women’s Jones Stratos; it’s got literally everything the original has.

The shaping is the same too, both in the freeride-friendly silhouette and the three-dimensional contouring of the nose and tail. It therefore won’t feel squirrely when you’re changing edges, even at Mach 10 – a speed you’ll have no problem reaching thanks to the high-performance sintered base. The heavier bevel at the nose will also help you stay afloat in powder, if you haven’t opted to set your bindings back on the extra ‘Float Pack’ inserts.

All in all, this is a premium deck, and not the cheapest, but you definitely get what you pay for with the Jones Stratos.

“The heavier bevel at the nose will also help you stay afloat in powder, if you haven’t opted to set your bindings back on the extra ‘Float Pack’ inserts”

Roundup

We fell hard for the original Jones Stratos when it first appeared last year, so it was inevitable that it’d be the same story with its sister board – especially given the utterly (and typically) uncompromising approach the brand has taken to adapting it for the women’s line.

We fully expect the Stratos to become as much a fixture in Jones’ female-specific range as the Flagship or Hovercraft, so here’s your chance to get in there first.

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