“Holy mother of God. TWELVE. HUNDRED. BIG ONES. The only way I could afford this one is if I cancelled the flights and hotel of my next snowboard holiday. And that kind of defeats the point. Anyway, let me try and assess this from the point of view of someone with more money (or even fewer brains) than me:

It’s seriously light, let’s start there. Burton have massively reduced the weight by building the Mystery Landlord around their lightest core and then shaving extra grams with carbon additives just about everywhere. It really is insanely lightweight, but there’s none of the twitchiness you’d expect to find – proper solid when riding on the edge.

No doubt that’s down to the “Mystery Glass”, too. But come on Burton, tell me what it is, don’t just give it an ambiguous name. If I’m going to a restaurant, I’d feel very wary about ordering the “Mystery Seafood Platter”. Even more so if it came in at three times the cost of the other dishes on the menu.

“If the cost phases you, don’t buy it, you’ll be underwhelmed. If £1200 is the scraps at the end of a month’s paycheck, go for it”

All that said, as soon some fresh snow fell and I stuck it in the powder it was a thing of beauty. Darting through the trees felt awesome, and if I miscalculated the line the board would adjust so much more effectively than most other boards… with only a hint of input on my part.

Ollies were solid, switch was doable, but the butters definitely felt like they’d been left in the fridge overnight. It’s a board for someone who wants to stay facing forwards and, ideally, only achieve liftoff when there’s a soft powdery landing underneath.

If I can add one closing comment – getting to test a load of snowboards every winter is a great perk of the job. Naturally, there’s often a bit of buzz and curiosity surrounding the more premium-priced ones. But I genuinely didn’t know the RRP of this thing until well after it had been handed back. I really enjoyed riding it, and it definitely had standout performance in terms of its handling – both on and off the piste. But that price tag is enough to make an onion cry. If the cost phases you, don’t buy it, you’ll be underwhelmed. If £1200 is the scraps at the end of a month’s paycheck, go for it. I imagine you’ll get a Facebook friend request from Jake Burton and a message thanking you for your business if you do.”

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