“This is a board for going fast. In some ways, it is tempting to end the review there, because that pretty much sums it up.

This is a board for two very specific scenarios:

1. Tanking it as fast as you can, down a freshly groomed red run, laying out massive Eurocarves and eating raw red meat at the same time
2. Tanking it as fast as you can, down a steep powder field, laying out massive rooster tails and eating raw red meat at the same time

“I found it quite hard work when trying to duck in and out of trees… but once it got out into the open it was a dream”

I actually tested it on a sort-of powder day, when about 15cm had fallen on top of some fairly bumpy off-piste terrain. I found it quite hard work when trying to duck in and out of trees – at times it felt like I was really wrestling with the board – but once it got out into the open it was a dream.

If you want to go at face-melting speeds and have a board to match your beard, this is it.”

“‘The purest form of gliding’ is how Serge Dupraz describes his range, and you can’t really take that away from him. These things are pure, untouched by modern styles or attitudes. Ideally it would come in just the one colourway – British racing green, the only graphic a number picked out in an oval of white. The boards’ aesthetic owes more to classic-era J-Class Yacht racing than it does to the modern mountain experience.

“Piste-cruisers will love it (as long as they’re the wind-in-the-hair, punters-as-speed-bumps type), and for the steep and deep days it’s a no-brainer”

And I really liked it. The first thing you notice (and we’re talking side-of-a-building billboard ‘notice’ rather than a back page in the local newspaper) is the speed. It’s fast. Level-up fast. Smashed clavicle, concussion fast. Passing a piste fence or a forest, you feel more like a dog sticking his head out of a car window on an A-road than you do a snowboarder.

This is due in no small part to the generous dimensions on this stick but to me it never felt oversized, at least in the open – just quick (think I mentioned that) and responsive. However this did become something of a drawback in the trees, where all that insta-speed and extra length meant you would quite often find yourself trying to do the snowboard equivalent of a parallel park at Mach 9. There are better boards out there for the foresters.

But I would have this board, for sure. It’s pretty, fun, and comes in at a decent price point for something with such a classic feel. Piste-cruisers will love it (as long as they’re the wind-in-the-hair, punters-as-speed-bumps type), and for the steep and deep days it’s a no-brainer.

But if you’re a fiend for the forests or the kind of rider who regularly finds himself scrubbing off speed uncomfortably close to a ski-school crocodile, then don’t get this one.”

[monetizer101 search=’dupraz d1 5′]