• Price: £435 / €499
• Sizes:153, 157, 161
• Flex: 7
• Profile: Camber
• Shape: Directional
• nidecker.com

UPDATE: Check out our review of the 2018/2019 Nidecker Concept here

With master shaper Thierry Kunz at the helm, and decades of heritage from which to draw, Nidecker’s most recent output has been amongst the most interesting on the market. For 2017/18 they’ve produced a whole mess of boards specifically for carving – but given that they released their first carve-specific stick in the late 1980s, it’s as far from a bandwagon-jump as you can get.

“The stiffness of the Nidecker Concept lends itself to full-throttle charging”

Every inch of the Nidecker Concept betrays the precision Swiss engineering that has gone into the design. The core, for example, features three different types of wood (poplar, paulownia and beech) laid out in a way that makes it strong enough to hold its line at even the highest speeds, but not so heavy that it’s sluggish through the turns.

As well as that, the core is designed to make the edges behave more appropriately as you ride. During a turn they are pushed down into the snow to grip even harder, so you can really give it all you’ve got in each swooping carve.

If things get bumpy, the topsheet soaks up a lot of the unwanted vibrations, smoothening out the ride. The stiffness of the Nidecker Concept lends itself to full-throttle charging, and it’s at those face-melting speeds that you need the most dampening.