What happens when you combine 6 feet of snow in 5 days at a place as legendary as Jackson Hole, with a bunch of ripping snowboarders and a tent full of snowboards to try? The Jackson Hole Shaper Summit is just that sort of event.
Gary Hansen Exiting the Whiteroom on a Never Summer Swift at the Jackson Hole Shaper Summit
Formally known as the JH PowWow the JH Shaper Summit is an annual snowboard test that focuses on riding powderboards and freeride snowboard shapes. The valuable and honest feedback the testers known as Mountain Warriors give is in turn shared with the boards designers and brands.
The only hiccup with testing boards in a format like this is Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is a burly mountain. When the snow’s super deep and untracked you can get away with riding a board with a huge tail or some funky surf inspired shape.
However, when the snow starts to gets tracked it’s much easier and safer to pick a snowboard that will offer a more familiar feel. In my case, that’s more of a twin tip, directional board to be able to handle riding Jackson Hole Mountain Resort from the top to bottom across a variety of terrain and snow conditions.
Below are photos of the snowboards I rode at the Jackson Hole Shaper Summit. Full test results will be available online at – http://shapersummit.com/
2020 Rossignol Sashimi Snowboard
2020 Telos Back/Slash Snowboard
2020 Winterstick Rob Kingwill ARK Snowboard
Rob’s Winterstick Pro Model Snowboard was my personal favorite riding the mountain top to bottom
2020 Notice Smashghost Snowboard
2020 Never Summer Dipstick
2020 Cardiff Snowcraft Swell Snowboard
Looking for more 2020 snowboards? Check out the photos of my coverage from the Outdoor Retailer trade show where I got photos of most of the 2020 snowboards at the show. Want to geek out on boots too? We put together a list of 2020 snowboard boots.
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Great write up as always! How was the Telos in the deep conditions? Did you have opportunity to ride Cardiff’s Powgoda as well? Great event!
Justin, Looks like we have a Cardiff Powgoda Splitboard heading our way for testing. Super pumped. The solid version was hands down one of the most popular snowboards at the event. These boards have a really unique look, design and feel I ended up on their Swell instead. The Telos boards were fun, a little wide underfoot on the size I took but blasted through powder with ease. And they got some darn fine looking splits as well. I will post a link up to the review when they go live on the shaper site. Thanks for the comment.
Hey Mike,
The Powgoda solid was popular last year too!
Thanks for the feedback!
Look forward to hearing thoughts on the split
Hi Mike,
Is that Telos Back Slash marketed as a pow board? Does it float better than some of the bigger pow shapes you tested? Looking for a board for Japan
Justin,
The Telos indeed is for smashing powder. Would work great in JP. 148 and 153 sizes seem small, but the board rides big.
Thanks for the feedback. On initial appearance it looks like it would ride pow well but not superbly. Obviously it’s design in the specs makes it a Powder warrior