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Gear Feature

The Selection 2018 – Our Very Own Snowboard Test

What better way to review boards than by holding our own test week?

Above: Hamish Duncan can still yank one out if called upon. Photo: Ed Blomfield

Return of the Mack – Danny McCormick gives that ‘pow-duh’ thing a try. Front three tail. Photo: Ed blomfield

For years now we’ve schleped around Euro-land to multiple board tests, press trips and trade shows to bring you the very best in quality reviews. Every winter is as much as a blast as it is hard work, but we’ve always wondered if there was a better way.

You see, on a standard test the three of us (plus whoever else from the wider test team is present) will get three or four runs on each board, trying to fit as many different set ups into a day, regardless of conditions. ‘Passionate’ reps often become a factor as well, pushing what they want to sell the most of rather than what might best suit each rider. It works, but there’s room for improvement.

“A whole week set aside for tests, with no time limits to get in the way of getting to know the products”

So what about a whole week set aside for tests, with no time limits to get in the way of getting to know the products? The best and most knowledgeable crew we could find, not made up of pros but riders like you, who know how to review stuff for you, not put on the hard sell.

The Selection was born.

After loading up a van with 2018/19 samples, we headed to our old haunt Avoriaz, staying with our old friends Mountain Mavericks. To say we scored it would be an understatement – the mid-January conditions were some of the deepest we’ve ever seen in France. Pretty much every day came with a fresh dump and mountain reset, so the powder boards in our quiver got a decent workout.

Rest assured everything was put thoroughly through its paces, with 2018/19 boards, bindings and goggles all put under our expert team’s microscopes (check out #theselection2018 for an on-the-ground experience of what went down).

Photo: Ed Blomfield

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