Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25044
- IN THE KNOW WITH BOARDS + SNOW_ TEXT: KATHLEEN GASPERINI PHOTO: CHRIS BRUNKHART • .... Most snowboarders pop on a lift and freeride down the mountain on one of two styles of boards: directional boards with shorter, stiffer tails for going forward. and twin tips. which basically have identical nose and tail shapes for going in either direction. A combo, called ___ __________ _____ .... � ...... directional twin tips-which you'll find in the Salomon Blue 152. K2 He and F R E E RI D I N G -- -- ---------------- Fatbob-provide directional control for riding forward, but with twin-tip action to �allow riders to go backwards (called a fakie). �@]Q@m@1lil and i8)l\JlIFU@1lil may be the hottest freeriding boards on the market this season, Salomon purchased Bonfire in 1995, which gives the company the experience of veteran snowboard people. This past season they put out their first line of directional twin-tipped boards. Pro ri ders Michele Taggart and Jason Ford are among its new team of riders, and their styles are ideal for Salomon's all-mountain boards, Burton, the perennial industry leader in snowboard technology, incorporates its Super Fly Core " construction (they make wood core boards 45 percent lighter and provide capped sidewalls-a glass wrapping that protects the core and keeps the flexing of the board smooth) in most of its freeriding boards, including the Johan 62, Supermodel Seri�s. Rippey 56 and the Freedom 51 . K2's Zeppelm .(featuring a twin tip) and the infamous Eldorado (a direc- • . , " ' •• �, •• l.. ,,,:...: ... ..... '' ' ��,. ,: . ., ' .• ;,j,� .. '. .' '. -: � . " tional board) ' are also among the top freeriding boards. The Zeppelin is cool not just because oI its name, but because it features K2's torsion fork technology-a fork that flexes the board's sheath beginning just outside the feet and extending toward the board's contact points to boost energy for ollies and re-entries. The biggest. most bad-ass freeriding board this ., � �'� ,�.��.�;.f.,..� .;' ;:'7:*, ' -::. ·f" .'i . season is Nitro's Powder Gun 195. This beefy board has a cap construction along with a cool, retro swallow-tail (split in the back) for smooth ri des in steep powder. As Nitro sales manager Kirk Zack puts it. "The . Powder Gun is one of those boards you definitely want in your quiver: BURTON: 800-881 -3 138; BONFIRE/SALOMON: 800- 948-3 196: K2: 800-972-4038: NITRO: 541 -386-4006.