The best splitboards of 2021

OK, so you can’t get this one in the UK (yet!), but we’ve squeezed it in because it’s just so flippin’ fly. This collab sees BD and Cardiff Snowcraft teaming up for the first time to bring the much-lauded, oh-so-pretty big mountain charging Goat to a whole new audience.

With its 100% carbon fibre construction and lightweight hybrid poplar/paulownia wood core with vertical metal strips for increased dampening, it’s a high-tech work of art that will engage on steep skin tracks and rip it up at high speed on the descent. BD Pro rider Bjorn Leines says it’s the “best board I’ve ever ridden”.

Now to try and get our hands on one…

Pitched at expert riders, this directional big mountain board wants to chase pow (don’t we all?), but thankfully is still built to work in a variety of conditions so you can get after it all season long.

Super versatile, the freeride shape with setback camber is designed to deliver freestyle feels when you’re riding flat but put it on an edge and it’s all-mountain playtime.

Balanced and stable, Burton claim the Split Channel Mount with pre-mounted pucks “is the strongest, fastest, easiest, and most adjustable mounting system ever offered”. Superlatives. We like superlatives…

The award-winning Scapegoat is a lightweight, powder-specific split laden with top G3 tech.

The combination of the hybrid poplar/paulownia wood core and full carbon construction ensure it’s light and responsive when you’re negotiating steep narrow chutes. But when the pow comes to town it’s good to go thanks to the 25mm taper in the tail and rockered tip.

With a full thickness base, textured nylon topsheet and PU sidewalls, it’s built to be busted out in big mountain terrain. Tear it up in the trees or float down those pillows, the Scapegoat will have your back no matter what.

An ultra board for ultra-good riders, the redesigned and renamed artist formerly known as the Carbon Solution combines a directional freeride shape with a stiff flex to deliver a supremely balanced, responsive and stable ride.

New for winter 2021 is an increased taper in the tail for optimum float and a 3D Contour Base 3.0 designed to make turn initiation more intuitive.

Throw in a couple of carbon stringers, a killer whale-esque ash veneer topsheet, Karakoram clips and Inner/Outer Traction Tech for mountain goat-like grip and you’re looking at an absolute bomber of a big mountain board.

Women of winter, this may well be your backcountry weapon of choice.

The directional freeride Solution is Jones’s most versatile split designed to float in the pow, charge over crud, tear up the hardpack and grip like a demon on ice.

Redesigned for winter 2021, this confidence-inspiring, playful board now comes with a new tapered shape for even more float and a 3D Contour Base 3.0 for super-fluid turns. It also comes with a premium Ultra core, flax/basalt power stringers, Karakoram clips, Traction Tech and an ECO-plastic topsheet.

This short’n’stubby fella may look kinda different but by heck, does he rip!

If you’re looking for a partner for multi-day technical trips then you’ll need a longer, thinner pal, but for lift-accessed, sidecountry stash-hunting the wee Bean is a backcountry belter.

The swallow tail and spoon nose are perfect for Japow-style riding with short, flattish approaches and bucket loads of pow and K2’s easy-to-use Splittrack inserts really help keep things secure in the skin track. Oh and kick turns? Yeah… easy. Cult and oh-so cool.

Package includes board, skins, risers, hardware and mounting pucks.

Playful yet precise, the Marauder is a blunt-nosed backcountry split that gets up to get down.

The directional camber baseline means you’ll stay stuck to the skin track when things get steep and the tapered outline is built for dropping backcountry bombs on the descent.

Lays down a pretty performance on the groomers, too.

A mega-value package that includes board, skins, risers, hardware and mounting pucks.

Shaped by Wolfgang Nyvelt, this women’s-specific split comes with a wide tapered pow-focused design for max manoeuvrability and float in the fluff.

The wood core profile has been optimised to deliver skatedeck levels of pop and kick and it comes with custom Pomoca skins too.

SALOMON S/LAB PREMIERE
£1350
SIZES: 159, 165

This top-of-the-line four-part carbon split consists of two pieces that fit in your backpack, so it’s not only lighter on the up, you’ll be able to fit into skier-made skin tracks too – mega win!

Stiff and light, the focus here is on shaving grams for the ascent, meaning it’s best suited to the harness-wearing, AT boot-wearing crew earning technical turns in big mountain terrain.

Price includes custom-cut Pomoca skins and custom crampons.