The Details:

Gigi Rüf may be all about the steep and deep, but he knows that’s not for everyone. Besides, even the most crazed backcountry hellman likes to loosen up in the park or on the piste every so often. For those reasons, he created the Slash Happy Place.

The board is completely flat right under each foot, with a mellow camber section between the two and a more pronounced rise towards the extremities. The idea is that you’ll have a stable base for setting and then executing ollies, plus camber for extra pop and edge hold, but with playful rocker sections at the nose and tail for presses.

Carbon stringers laid in an ‘X’ shape under each foot increase the pop without overly increasing the end-to-end stiffness, and the gripping power of the sidecut is enhanced by a small protrusion halfway along each edge.

It won’t have quite the same Eurocarveability as a classic camber board, but the trade-off is that the profile of the Happy Place is way more fun to mess around on.

Take this to the park or the streets and you’ll find it to be light yet solid, forgiving yet precise. In short, the best of both worlds. And unlike a lot of boards in its price range, the Slash Happy Place has a sintered base that’s ideal for bombing the groomers.