Shay’s Best of 09-10

Now that the 09-10 season has come to an end (with the exception of this summer at Mt Hood) I figured it was finally time to bring back the best of 09-10.  The best of list is my way of commending boards I enjoyed riding this year, it’s not a board test but just a two thumbs up kind of list.

For the 2009-2010 season I ended up riding over 70 snowboards, 64 of which were made into reviews.  Of those 64 snowboards, 15 were women’s boards and 49 were men’s boards.  I ended up riding 15 different bindings, 9 of which were women’s and 6 were men’s bindings.  The majority of the gear reviewed was done during demo days around Colorado.

These boards came from the 2009-2010 snowboard reviews section on my blog which goes more in-depth on each review.

[singlepic id=9028 w=300 h=300 float=]

I originally published the best of 09-10 in November but wanted to re-touch on this list, some stayed the same but there were some changes to the list.

All-around Board

Men’s: The Indoor Survival still remains the do-it all board for 09-10 for handling everywhere on the mountain.

Women’s: The Never Summer Lotus-R is still the board out of my collection that when I can only bring one board on a trip, thats the board I bring.

Honorable Mention: Rome Pusher 1985 for men and K2 Eco Pop for women.

Graphics

Men’s: Burton Malolo for the basic white topsheet with the tiny surfer dude influence on the snowboard.

Women’s: The Capita Midnight women’s snowboard graphics were done by Tj Schneider and show a drawn out girl with bloody knees and tears but a heart right in the center. It’s one of my favorite women’s graphics.

Honorable Mentions: Bataleon Riot for men and Stepchild Mustache rider for women (even though I didn’t ride it, I wish the sizes allowed me too).

Aggressive/Freeride

Men’s: I was gonna keep this at the GNU Billy Goat but the Lib Tech Banana Magic was a more favorite freeride board this year.

Women’s: Roxy Envi BTX was a women’s freeride dream board, could handle powder and yet give a girl something to charge with so she can keep up with the boys.

Honorable Mentions: Bataleon Enemy for men and Arbor Push for women.

Fun

Men’s: Capita Ultrafear FK still wins hands down, the sierrascope came in a close second for honorable mention though.

Women’s: Smokin Vixen DTX, won me over with how much fun this board is and just a overall good board for women.

Honorable Mentions: Capita Sierrascope for men and Burton Lipstick for women

Progression

Men’s: Ride Crush for being an overall easy ride without being too much to adjust to from camber to reverse camber or rocker.

Women’s: Ride Compact, same as the ride crush. All around easy ride for women to get onto and a board you can keep around regardless of where you ride.

Honorable Mentions: None at this time.

Favorite Men’s strap bindings

The Union Forces/Force SL’s are the favorite bindings, I was completely happy with both models for varying riding and they are still my top binding to ride all the time.

Favorite Women’s strap bindings

Burton Lexa’s are always a favorite, consistently good on the mountain and offer women a really comfortable progressive binding.

Favorite easy access bindings

The K2 Auto Agogo ended up being my favorite easy access binding this year, with the auto system that tightens the toe strap as I crank down the ankle strap…I loved how it worked, rode and hope to own them next year.