This year will mark the second snowboard season in the short life of The Solitary Life. As time marches on, we're getting more and more support from not only the readers, but also the snowboard industry. Which is great! Because without snowboarding, our winters would be hella boring and depressing, to say the very least...
Historically, insofar as skateboarding goes, we've only supported a small handful of companies that we feel really reflect the best that skateboarding has to offer. Generally, we try to support a diverse group of brands that cover the entire spectrum of our pastime. As far as snowboarding goes, we didn't feel any need to deviate from our core mission of supporting only the best that the industry has to offer. The policy seems to be holding water just fine, so why even consider changing it...?
That said, here's the roster of brands that we're supporting this year here at The Solitary Life:
Growing up in Concord, New Hampshire, Burton was always our "homegrown, backyard" company (being located in nearby Burlington, Vermont). Burton was one of the first-ever, fully legit snowboard companies (the other being their west-coast arch-rival, Sims). They've always fully supported snowboarding right from day one, and have consistently made great gear that holds up to the test. Airs, Floaters, Customs, Kings, Mayhems, Supermodels, Deuces... yeah, we've ridden (and loved) them all. This year, we're product-testing the Burton Customs (bindings), a couple more gloves, and hopefully (if we're lucky), those neat new Freestyle One-Up bindings.
5150. Back in the day, one of the coolest snowboard brands. After a few rounds of buyouts, re-positionings, and consolidations, 5150 ended up being the big-box budget brand within the snowboard world. However: They are still one of the most underrated brands out there, given that their Dealers, Movements, and Strokes are always top-notch products at a hell of a steal price. This year, we've scored two new Strokes (in the 161 and 164 sizes), with the new Rad Rock rocker design.
And of course, we also support the hell out of 5150's big brother, Ride. Whereas 5150 is on the "budget" end of the yardstick, Ride generally handles the midrange-to-high-end market. Their Fleetwoods (sadly, gone this year) and Yukons (also gone this year) were legendary around The Solitary Life headquarters. But hopefully the Slackcountry (introduced last year) and the Highlife (brand-new for this year) will fill the voids in our hearts quite nicely.
Lib Technologies. Two words: Jamie Lynn! Fantastic Plastic? Banana Technology? Magne Traction! Whichever two words you choose, Lib Tech has always been one of our favorite snowboard programs, right from Day One. And to make things even better: They're made "Near Canada" (in the USA), and have a perpetually perplexing sense of humor that we really love around here. This year, our big-mountain gun is a Magne-Traction-equipped, 190 cm Skunk Ape.
This year, we're also going to be spending some time spotlighting some of the smaller, "core", made-in-the-states microbrews that we love so much. Keep your eyes peeled for coverage of smaller companies like Smokin', Humanity, Venture, Herr Vaughnster, Winterstick, Never Summer, and more.
As far as boots go, we're pretty committed to the whole Vans deal. Simply the best boots made, as far as we can see. This year, we're revisiting the timeless High Standards before we begin branching out, and checking out other brands next season.
Of course, just like skate, we fully endore and recommend supporting your local, independently-owned snowboard shop. However, if your needs are super-specialized (like ours), or you live in the middle of nowheresville (like we do), we do have two e-tailers that we can highly recommend. Those are The House (www.the-house.com), and Dogfunk (www.dogfunk.com). We've shopped both for years, and they consistently outperform. We love 'em.
Waxing and tuning are serious concerns to serious snowboarders, and we're no different. In the past... like, for the last twenty years... we've exclusively used Swix tools and waxes. Especially their excellent F4 all-temp, all-condition wax.
However, this year, we decided to check out alternatives on both the wax and tool front. With the waxes, of course, we're going to be testing those on an ongoing basis throughout the season. Some of the brands that we're looking at are Magical Go-Go, One Ball Jay, Whacks, Bluebird, Dominator, Toko... the list is pretty much endless, at this point. The wax testing alone pretty much guarantees that we're gonna be on for a solid 45-day season this season. Any less than that, and we would be testing waxes well into next year.
But as far as advertisers go, we decided to support someone a little more close-to-home this year. As in, "Made In America". And, that brand is Hertel. Terry Hertel also happens to believe that they're going to totally dominate in our head-to-head wax-testing, which is a pretty stiff claim that we're just itching to put to the test. Hot Sauce, Racing FC739, and Spring Solution are all in the house, and ready to rip.
For outwear, we generally support two brands that most snowboarders might not immediately think of: Columbia Sportswear, and Under Armour. Our position is that most snowboarding outerwear has gotten too flashy, too expensive, and too hype-and-style driven. Which is fine, as far as it goes. But when you're stuck out in the backcountry waiting to get picked up, or you realize that you have to hike your ass back to civilization? Hype and style aren't gonna save your ass from the elements. Let alone, save your life. Straight-ahead function, thoughtful design, and excellent execution will. That's why we sort of "support the unexpected" on this one. Watch for thorough reviews of both of these lines this season.
And, there ya go! The short-list of snow-brands that we support here at The Solitary Life. We hope that all of this makes your snow-buying a little easier this year. Have fun on the mountain! We'll see ya out there.
