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Best Freestyle Snowboards For 2020-2021 | Our Pick Of The Top Boards For Park Riding, Jibbing And All-Mountain Freestyle This Winter

Whether you're hitting the jump and rail line or just building your bag of tricks around the mountain, here's our roundup of this season's best freestyle snowboards

The lines between park and all-mountain riding continue to blur, so it can be hard to pin down exactly what makes the best freestyle snowboard. Are you an honorary lifetime member of Laax’s P60 club? Are you the kind of rider who exclusively hits the jib line or street rails? Are you building kickers in the backcountry and gettings your spins on lock miles from the park ropes? Or are you mobbing every sidehit with your riding posse and growing your bag of flat land tricks on the greens and blues?

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. In almost every case, the ingredients that go into building the perfect freestyle deck are often very similar. But final tweaks and finishing touches all add a certain “je ne said quoi” to the snowboard, so there are a handful of key things consider before splurging your hard-earned cash.

“It can be hard to pin down exactly what makes the best freestyle snowboard”

What To Look For When Buying A Freestyle Snowboard

Shape
Backwards, forwards, frontside, backside, regular, hardways, right way up and upside down. Freestyle snowboarding, at its core, is about creativity. Snowboards in this category are almost exclusively true twin shapes, meaning the outline, stance, flex and profile is completely symmetrical if you cut it through the waist. They’re designed to be ridden in switch as easily as regular and feel completely balanced in the air.

Profile
We all know that nothing pops quite like a traditional camber profile, but those of us who’ve put in the hard yards of learning to ride on these boards will undoubtedly be aware of their Achilles heel(edge catches).
Most freestyle decks will strike a balance between sending the rider skywards when it’s time to pop and carving a line up the transition of a pipe wall or kicker, while still keeping the contact areas relatively forgiving and easy to press on.

There’s more than one way to shine a penny, though. Take your pick between camrock, flat and hybrid profiles, or check out some 3D profiles, like Bataleon’s Triple Base Technology.

Buddy up and double down. Freestyle’s better with friends. Riders: Henry Jackson and Fin Bremner (Pic: Ed Blomfield)

Construction
This is where the field starts to really open up. Every snowboard below features a wood core. Some just opt for the ol’ reliable poplar wood, while others look to shave weight, increase pop or add durability by adding lighter, harder and snappier woods.

Then, come the various additives. A freestyle snowboard flex can sit anywhere between 1 and 10 on the flex scale and it really is a case of horses for courses so, whether you’re wanting a big booter booster or a buttery soft jib knife, make sure you do your research. Stiffening up the nose and tail can increase a boards pop, but reinforcing the centre of the snowboard instead keeps the ends more playful for pressing on.

Base
Not just a big factor in determining a board’s price, but also its speed, durability and ease of repairing. Extruded bases are the cheaper option and, although not as fast, will run well if you keep them waxed and are much easier to repair if you catch a loose screw on a box. Sintered bases run faster, and are pretty resistant to knocks and bumps, but amount to around a third of the cost of a snowboard.

“Whether you’re wanting a big booter booster or a buttery soft jib knife, make sure you do your research”

Remember, finding a good freestyle deck is only half (actually, a third) of the battle. You’ll want a well-fitting, comfortable and responsive set of boots and bindings to go with it. Not to mention some comfy threads to complete the look. As ever, a protective lid is a personal choice, but with so many affordable and freestyle specific helmets available this year, there’s really no excuse.

Best Freestyle Snowboards 2020-2021


Rome Artifact Snowboard 2020-2021

Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Men’s Freestyle Snowboard
PRICE: £350 / $400

Rome have completely redesigned and rebuilt their boards, boots and bindings collection from the ground up for 2021. A pretty bold move, for sure (we’re picturing some late nights and Pepe Silvia moments), but it looks to have massively paid off. This season’s snowboard lineup is stacked with newcomers, as well as some reimagined classics. The Artifact maybe encapsulates this best of all. Their original park board gets a complete facelift and stomps right in to claim the Whitelines Choice top spot as the best freestyle snowboard of the year. Pure. Park. Perfection.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Rome Artifact here

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Ride Back Talk Women’s Snowboard 2020-2021

Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Women’s Freestyle Snowboard
PRICE: $470

Coming in hot after receiving critical acclaim its inaugural season the Ride Back Talk is an aggressive freestyle snowboard built for discerning lady shredders. If you’re a hard charging, fierce ripping, balls to the wall kind of girl then the Back Talk is a board that’s gonna keep you on your toes and always have your back. Strap in and let your riding do the talking.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Ride Back Talk here

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Amplid Ticket Twin Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: A price point freestyle snowboard from the masters of premium tech
PRICE: €390

Amplid have, for most of their 15-year history, catered to those with more refined tastes. To those who value the finer things in life. To those who don’t simply equate good value to low-cost. They are, to an extent, the connoisseur’s choice of snowboards. But who says you need to be a world-class sommelier to get completely shit faced off a bottle of Chateau Lafite? Based on their best selling Stereo snowboard, the all-new Ticket Twin ushers in a new era for Amplid – one that combines award-winning construction at a price point to rival the most affordable snowboards on the market.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Amplid Ticket Twin here

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Bataleon Evil Twin Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Riders who want a legendary park snowboard that performs everywhere on the mountain
PRICE: £420 / $500

Well, would you look at that, the Evil Twin is back in the 100. Is this the Holy Grail of freestyle snowboards? That was certainly the intention from Bataleon, and this one’s been on their roster since day one. On paper, it’s an impressive sounding park board. On snow, it’s Bataleon’s magnum opus. This is the deck that redefined the all-mountain freestyle category and remains one of the best selling snowboards ever.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Bataleon Evil Twin here

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Burton Kilroy 3D Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: A Burton classic with a modern twist
PRICE: £430 / $470

Since their release, the Burton Kilroy collection has gone through more line-up changes than Black Sabbath. Each year the bods at Burton sit down to tweak and poke at the formula, with the nips and tucks producing a pioneering group of snowboards, and if we do say so, never more so than this year. The Kilroy 3D is an innovative all-mountain freestyle deck, that takes features from its Twin sibling and morphs them into a more versatile all-terrain package.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Burton Kilroy 3D here

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Burton Talent Scout Women’s Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Confident freestyle female shredders
PRICE: £450 / $500

The weapon of choice for Anna Gasser, the Burton Talent Scout can take you from your first frontboard all the way up to stomping triple corks. Everything about the Talent Scout has been specifically thought out to make it a premium park destroyer- twin shape, poppy camber profile and tough as old boots. This is for the certified rippers, for whom freestyle isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of life.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Burton Talent Scout here

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Gnu RC C3 Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Fans of the the Gnu Riders Choice and fans of full length cambers
PRICE: £520 / $600

Gnu have taken their all-mountain freestyle snowboard, the Riders Choice, and turned it up to 11 by giving it their aggressive C3 camber profile. The result is the RCC3, a high-performance freestyle board that isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Gnu RC C3 here

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Lobster Stomper Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Riders wanting to get as loose as the Lobster crew in the park and rest of resort
PRICE: €460

The Lobster Stomper went under the knife a bit last season and it’s had another little nip tuck for 2020/21. But rather than the Helgason bros taking a full Bogdanov approach to this season’s facelift, they’ve kept the tweaks subtle enough that the Stomper retains its original all-mountain freestyle nature, albeit with a couple of exciting new features.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Lobster Stomper here

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Nidecker Sensor + Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Going bigger, faster, harder and higher than the OG Sensor
PRICE: £420 / €450 / $470

You’re currently thinking, “Hang on, haven’t we met before?” at the sight of this fresh-out-the-factory for 2021 all-mountain freestyle board, aren’t you. And technically, you’d be right – you’ve seen this shape and tech list in its brother, the Sensor. But get down and dirty into the molecular spec of this charger, and you’ll soon find the superior DNA strain that sets the Sensor Plus apart from its close relative and, ultimately, what cements it to our holy Whitelines 100 list.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Nidecker Sensor + here

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Salomon No Drama Women’s Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Female park riders who want a Huck Knife of their own
PRICE: £400 / $450

BUY DIRECT FROM SURFDOME
Brand new for this season the Salomon No Drama is set to take women’s freestyle riding up a notch. Taking inspiration from Salomon’s award winning Huck Knife, the No Drama is a dynamic and lively snowboard that packs one hell of a punch. In the music industry, Madonna is known ubiquitously as the Queen of Pop, in the snowboard industry, the No Drama is garnering that very name for itself, too. One has won the Whitelines Choice award for ‘Best Newcomer’, and the other has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Stay tuned to find out which is which…

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Salomon No Drama here

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Slash Happy Place Snowboard (Unisex) 2020-2021

Best for: Premium tech at an outrageously good value price
PRICE: €399

The term ‘bang for your buck’ gets thrown around a lot but when you encounter a snowboard like the Slash Happy Place, nothing else quite hits the mark. You’re getting seasoned vet performance and top shelf tech with a baffling entry-level price tag; do yourself a favour and pick one up before Gigi hikes the price. This playful all-mountain freestyle cruiser is primed and ready to take flight.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Slash Happy Place here

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YES. Dicey Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: Any and all aspiring freestyle riders looking to to double their trick back before doubling their corks
PRICE: £379 / $430

When you use the term dicey you’re generally referring to something that’s risky or unpredictable, but the YES. Dicey is absolutely anything but. New for 2020/21, the Dicey is your friendly neighbourhood freestyle snowboard that’ll take you from zero to 360 hero in no time. Those who are looking to dip their toes into the daunting waters of park riding would do well to check out this playful little party stick.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 YES. Dicey here

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YES. Greats Snowboard 2020-2021

Best for: One of the original, and still the best Asym Twin snowboord
PRICE: £479 / $550

Back once again, the YES. Greats comes charging in to reclaim its throne as the mac daddy of the YES. freestyle line. It’s aimed squarely at experienced riders looking to strap into something a little different. If you’re aiming to dominate, both in the park and out on the mountain, then get ready to go full send because the Greats will tick boxes that you didn’t even know you had.

Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 YES. Greats here

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