- Sizes: 158
- Flex: 7
- Profile: CamRock
- Shape: Directional Twin
- Price: £1,399 / €1,600
- BUY DIRECT FROM JONES
Naturally, the big talking point on the Jones Project X is the price. Go on, have another look. We double-checked. It’s correct. Undoubtedly, this is a luxury that few riders are willing to splurge on but it’s worth knowing what goes on with the crème de la crème of snowboard construction as there’s every chance we’ll all be riding that technology in a handful of years.
Let’s start by debunking a couple of myths. Firstly, the board’s flex is rated as a seven out of ten. That’s one more than the Frontier; one less than the Flagship, and the same as Mountain Twin. It’s also a directional twin shape, with pockets of rocker on either side of the Power Camber profile. As far as Jones snowboards go, outlines don’t come much more conventional than this.
“Undoubtedly, this is a luxury that few riders are willing to splurge on, but it’s worth knowing what goes on with crème de la crème of snowboard construction”
[monetizer101 search=’Jones Project X’]
This is very much a board built for the resort. If you’re looking to empty your pension pot on a powder powerhouse, this ain’t it. That said, it does deliver genuinely mind-blowing technology and performance that some may use to justify that price tag.
The Project X gets the full “Ultra Construction” treatment. There are 2 layers of TeXtreme Carbon (a material more commonly found at the Tour de France and America’s Cup) that reduces the board’s weight by around 20-30% and will deliver a level of response and precision that’s virtually unrecognisable in a snowboard.
New for this year, is the ULTRA Base. ULTRA is spelt entirely in capital letters, so you know it’s good. It absorbs around 25% more wax than a premium sintered base, and glides faster, for longer, in all conditions.
While the board is clearly a carbon killer, Jones have stayed loyal to their sustainability principles, using recycled metal edges, their all-new Super Sap Bio Resin, an Eco-Plastic Topsheet and their sustainably sourced Ultra Core (the lightest one available from Jones). It feels a bit like pissing into a forest fire in the hopes of extinguishing the blaze, but kudos to Jones for keeping things green where they can.
This is pure unrivalled precision, performance and power at a hell of a price point. But one that, all things considered, is maybe, almost justified.