The Whitelines Choice Awards | Winners Of The Best Snowboard Gear Of The Year - Whitelines Snowboarding

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The Whitelines Choice Awards | Winners Of The Best Snowboard Gear Of The Year

Our hand picked selection of the best of the best snowboard gear for this year

This winter was a bit of an odd one to say the least. Resorts shut early, countries closed their borders, and people were stuck at home instead of getting that sweet spring shred. That being said, with the help of our Whitelines Test Team, we still managed to test hundreds of products and new season gear before Covid hit.

We’ve always marked out 100 products as standing apart from the crowd, covering the whole range of gear from action cams to splitboards, but last year we decided to take it a step further. The Whitelines Choice Awards call out the products we deem to be the absolute pinnacle performers, the tour de forces of snowboarding.

Early season testing on the K2 Alchemist, our pick as the best freeride snowboard for 20/21 (Rider: Rob McCreath / Pic: Ed Blomfield)

The dictionary defines ‘best’ as “that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable”, with that in mind we’ve chosen our favourite products, those which we believe are truly the best in their respective categories.

“The Whitelines Choice Awards call out the products we deem to be the absolute pinnacle performers”

Every Choice winner remains impartial and free from commercial sway. They are unbiased and genuine thoughts from the Whitelines family.


Take a scroll through the list below. If any product catches your eye, click on the links below each description to access the full in-depth review, pics and first-hand rider’s verdicts. Alternatively, you can check out our extensive lists of of the best all-mountain snowboards, freestyle snowboards, freeride snowboards, snowboard boots, snowboard bindings, or snowboard goggles.

The Whitelines Choice Award Winners 2020-2021


Salomon Dancehaul (Unisex) Snowboard 2020-2021

Whitelines Choice Winner: Best All-Mountain Snowboard
PRICE: £400 / $450

Riders looking for something weird and wonderful look no further, this gold breasted disco diva is set to blow your knickers off. Brand spanking new for 2020/21 the Dancehaul is Salomon’s foray into the world of short fatties, and you know what they say… once you go fat, you never go back. This is your new all-terrain cruiser built for blasting on piste, charging through chop and chunder, slashing your way through pristine pockets of powder and even throwing down in the park.

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    • Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Salomon Dancehaul here

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    K2 Alchemist Snowboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Men’s Freeride Snowboard
    PRICE: $700

    The Dictionary defines alchemy as: “A seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination”, and we can’t disagree with its usage here. The K2 Alchemist is a no holds barred, no expense spared piece of kit. Let’s face it, this isn’t just a snowboard, this is a goddam’ feat of engineering. Built for deep days in the backcountry, narrow chutes, and deadly spines, this is where precision meets power, wrapped in the most premium package in their line.

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    • Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 K2 Alchemist here

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    Gnu Barrett Women’s Snowboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Women’s Freeride Snowboard
    PRICE: £500 / €560 / $560

    A re-brand and re-build for the longest-running women’s pro-model snowboard, the Gnu Barrett (formerly B-Pro) beefs up the construction and gives it a more freeride focused shape for this winter. Not only does Barrett Christy have over 25 years of experience snowboarding as well as countless medals in everything from slopestyle to banked slaloms but she is also head of design for Gnu’s women’s snowboards. So, as you would imagine, the board that bears her name aims for the same high standards she did as a rider.

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

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    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.

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    • 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.

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

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    Lobster Cream Snowboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Men’s Newcomer Snowboard
    PRICE: €450

    Here’s the thing with freestyle and freeride categories, they’re a bit like butt cheeks. You can pull them apart all you like, but they’ll always find a way back together. The brand spanking new Lobster Cream snowboard takes a pinch of powder design, with a big slap of freestyle construction and delivers an absolute peach of an all-mountain deck.

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

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    Salomon No Drama Women’s Snowboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Women’s Newcomer Snowboard
    PRICE: £400 / $450

    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…

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

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    Jones Solution Splitboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Men’s Splitboard
    PRICE: £785 / €900 / $900

    Well, Jeremy and the gang have only gone and bloody done it. The completely reworked 2021 Jones Solution splitboard marks a major checkpoint in splitboarding’s ever-evolving construction standards. This time last year we were raving about their split collection but highlighted that the one drawback compared to their solid counterparts in the lack of the 3D Contour Base. Naively, we assumed that “the logistics of ‘spooning’ the nose and tail in a splitboard is probably beyond even the brains of the backcountry boffins at Jones”. How wrong we were.

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    • Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Jones Solution Splitboard here

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    Weston Riva Women’s Splitboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Women’s Splitboard
    PRICE: $900

    You could pretty much count the snowboard brands producing the same number of men’s and women’s products on one glove – and we’d save the biggest finger for Weston. The Colorado-based backcountry powderhounds have an extensive line of both solid and splitboards where the lads and ladies have an equal number of unisex and gender-specific options to choose from.

    Because of this, there’s an abundance of strength in depth for every ability and style of backcountry enthusiast out there. The Riva splitboard is revamped for 2021 and is the most performance focussed splitboard for ladies lining up at the trail and ready for whatever conditions mother nature throws at them.

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    • Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Weston Riva Splitboard here

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    Batleon Stuntwood Kid’s Snowboard 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Kid’s Snowboard
    PRICE: €290 / $300

    So, your kid is already better than you at snowboarding. Chin up, it could be worse, they could be a skier… There’s a strange no man’s land between kiddy snowboards and full-size adult decks, and when your grom has outgrown the former but the latter is still a bit cumbersome and unwieldy they’re often left a bit shortchanged. Enter the brand new Bataleon Stuntwood, the all-mountain freestyle ripper built specifically for the young guns. Drawing much of its DNA from the multi-award-winning Bataleon Evil Twin, the Stuntwood is the ultimate pint-sized party wagon for your prepubescent park rat.

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

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    Rome Libertine Snowboard Boot (Unisex) 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Snowboard Boot
    PRICE: £300

    It’s not uncommon for riders to make their snowboard boot choices based on the lace-up system rather than the fit, flex, or performance of the boot itself. Needless to say, the results aren’t always great and within a matter of hours or days riding you might start to notice niggles. Rome have done away with this part of the decision-making process, offering every snowboard boot in their line available in either men’s or women’s specific fits, with the men getting a choice between boa, hybrid boa and lace configurations. The Libertine stands as one of their most performance focussed and premium models in the redesigned line, ideal for intermediates and up.

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

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    Union Atlas Snowboard Binding 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Men’s Snowboard Bindings
    PRICE: £270 / $330

    Union’s buzzword has always been ‘stronger’, but this season the Atlas is on a whole other level. This is the Atlas you know and love, but it’s come back from summer break with a serious steroid addiction and new Herculean physique. The binder of choice for both Arthur Longo and Kazu Kokubo, the Atlas’ are your big mountain ballbusters.

    Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Union Atlas here

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    Burton Lexa X Women’s Snowboard Binding 2020-2021

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Women’s Snowboard Binding
    PRICE: £260 / $300

    The Burton Lexa has long been heralded as one of the best women’s snowboard bindings ever made. It’s a long-time team and fan favourite, and this year Burton have gone back to the drawing board to release the Lexa X- its supercharged big sister. The Lexa you know and love, with a few choice upgrades to bolster on snow performance and deliver a more aggressive ride.

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    • Selected for the Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Burton Lexa X here

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    Zeal Beacon Goggles 2020-21

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Snowboard Goggles
    PRICE: £215

    What makes the Zeal Beacon so good then? What makes it worthy, not only of inclusion in our Whitelines 100, but as our favourite goggle of the year? Well, to be absolutely fair on it, quite a lot actually. It’s a very good goggle.

    The big standout feature is the groundbreaking, potentially game-changing, Observation Deck Technology. The tilted cylindrical lens allows you to see more of the line below you while simultaneously eliminating glare. Offering unrivalled views of the mountain scene beneath the rider, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why they called it ‘Observation Deck Technology’. As Zeal put it on their website: “Get ready to change your perspective on winter forever.”

    Selected for The Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the 2020-2021 Zeal Beacon Goggles here

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    Patagonia Snowdrifter Jacket

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Backcountry Outerwear
    PRICE: £360

    Patagonia’s Snowdrifter jacket has been a huge favourite amongst the riders who like to spend their time off the beaten path and explore what lies outside the boundaries of the resorts. Designed to tackle anything nature throws your way, the 3L shell is back for its second season with an updated colourway – for both men and women.

    Selected for The Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the Patagonia Snowdrifter Jacket here

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    Patagonia Snowdrifter Bib Pants

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Backcountry Outerwear
    PRICE: £320

    Already proven to be one of the best backcountry-specific pants out there, the Patagonia Snowdrifter bibs haven’t changed much for 20/21 (why change a winning formula).
    Offered in both a women’s and men’s specific fit, these 3L bibs are both lightweight and stretchy, making it easier to hike your way through the backcountry. You won’t feel like you’re carrying any extra weight whilst the stretchy material makes it easier for you to move around (the fabric won’t put any restrictions on your movements).

    Selected for The Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the Patagonia Snowdrifter Bib Pants here

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    Airblaster Erik Leon C.O.R.E Jacket

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Resort Outerwear
    PRICE: £150 / €180/ $150

    In order to try and make snowboarding more inclusive, together with Erik Leon Airblaster is introducing a new line named C.O.R.E for 20/21, which includes the Erik Leon C.O.R.E jacket. The jacket is part of Airblaster’s Freedom series and has got a 10K waterproof and a 10K breathability rating to keep you dry.

    Selected for The Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the Airblaster Erik Leon C.O.R.E Jacket here

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    Airblaster Erik Leon C.O.R.E Pants

    Whitelines Choice Winner: Best Resort Outerwear
    PRICE: £120 / €150 / $120

    Brands are constantly upping their game when it comes to taking on more environmental responsibility, a path Airblaster has chosen to embark upon too. In the production of the Erik Leon pants, 50% recycled content has been used – meaning Airblaster is essentially trying to dress you in second-hand plastic bottles. It may sound trashy but, trust us, Mother Nature will dig your vibe.

    Selected for The Whitelines 100 – take a closer look at the Airblaster Erik Leon C.O.R.E Pants here

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    Topics:

    Airblaster Bataleon burton Buyers Guide 2020/21 Buyers Guide 2020/21 Snowboards capita capita snowboards Gnu Jones Jones Snowboards k2 snowboards lobster snowboards patagonia Ride rome rome SDS Salomon The Whitelines 100 2020/21 The Whitelines 100 2020/21 Bindings The Whitelines 100 2020/21 Boots The Whitelines 100 2020/21 Goggles The Whitelines 100 2020/21 Outerwear The Whitelines 100 2020/21 Snowboards Union Weston Weston Backcountry

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