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Jones Storm Chaser 2020-2021 Snowboard Review

  • Price: £525 / $600
  • Category: Freeride/Powder
  • Ability Level: Intermediate, Advanced
  • Size: 142, 147, 152, 157, 160
  • Flex: 7/10
  • Shape: Directional
  • Profile: Surf Rocker
  • Base: Sintered
  • BUY DIRECT FROM JONES SNOWBOARDS

When you compare the Storm Chaser to its Surf Series brother in arms, the Lone Wolf, at first glance they couldn’t be more different. They’re like chalk and cheese, imagine Danny Devito squaring up to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But upon closer inspection you’ll see they’re two different sides of the same beast- a powder hungry beast sniffing out its next meal.

Where the Lone Wolf capitalises on long drawn out turns in wide open spaces, the Storm Chaser is agile and nimble, darting through trees and zipping round obstacles. They both, however, come to life when it’s been spewing, rolling in and out of turns, cruising through undulating pow fields and serving up frosty face shots on a platter.

“They throw everything in their arsenal into the Storm Chaser to ensure it’ll float with the best of them”

Despite its relatively short stature, the Storm Chaser more than makes up for surface area with its positively curvaceous waist width, the 142 boasts a voluptuous 26.5cm measurement. Jones know width alone ain’t gonna cut it, so they throw everything in their arsenal into the Storm Chaser to ensure it’ll float with the best of them.

The big old rockered nose, 2cm taper, 2.2cm setback and swallow tail all work to make sure the Storm Chaser skims across even the deepest snow. The fully rockered profile isn’t ideal for icy hardpack, but if you’re seeking out those conditions on it, you might have chased one too many storms.

“This pocket pistol is standing up against the freeride cannons and packing a serious punch”

Like all Jones snowboards, they Storm Chaser makes sure to tips its hat to sustainability. With recycled components, plant-based resins and environmentally friendly manufacturing Jones are doing their part to preserve our wilderness.

It’s often been said that good things come in small packages, and it most certainly rings true with the Storm Chaser. This is shifting the paradigm of what’s possible on a snowboard, this pocket pistol is standing up against the freeride cannons and packing a serious punch.

Tester’s Verdict 2019/20

Rob McCreathWhitelines

“Is it just coincidence that the surname of the surf shaper who helped design the Storm Chaser contains the word “Christ”, or is this board genuinely a form of divine intervention? Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime. But just give a man a Storm Chaser and he’ll say “to hell with fishing I’m going pow surfing!”

This was one of the boards I was most excited to try out. I’ve ridden a few short and fat decks, but none quite as stubby or chunky as this. It’s reserved for only the deepest of deep days and the surfiest of slashes. Fortunately, I got the Storm Chaser right into its home environment – tight trees runs the morning after a squall had passed through. You beauty.

In these conditions, the board excelled beyond anything I’ve ridden. It’s so easy to pivot under the back foot and put about three turns in the space you’d normally only put in one. There’s about two hand-sized sections of swallowtail behind the rear binding, but it’s enough to wheelie your way through the woods and leave a smokescreen of snow behind you. When it’s cold and bottomless, I defy anyone to have a better time on another board.

“In these conditions, the board excelled beyond anything I’ve ridden. It’s so easy to pivot under the back foot and put about 3 turns in the space you’d normally only put in one”

Then it warmed up. Holy Hell, it warmed up. The snow soon turned heavy, the powder became bumpy and I became the laughing stock of the Espace Killy. In a matter of 45 minutes, the Storm Chaser went from the floater that wouldn’t flush to the phantom jobbie that shot under the surface and out of sight without so much as a trace.

That big wide planing nose is only manoeuvrable when it’s smashing through champagne powder. Anything less and it starts to feel like pushing a shopping trolley over a sand dune. I made it home, switched out the board and returned to something a little better suited to the conditions.

Long story short, it started as the best powder day of my life and soon descended to one of the worst. That’s mainly down to the conditions though. If you’re off to Japan or guaranteed to score sub zeros and several feet of snow, extravagant purchases won’t come much better than this.”

Tester’s Verdict 2018/19

Chris MoranHere Be Treasure

“Well! If there was ever a week to test the Jones surf-inspired powder stick, then once-in-a-lifetime Morzine – where literally every home run was blitzed in cold, fresh powder – was it. The Storm Chaser was the first board I set up, and I could have happily ridden it every day of that week. But would it be any good for everyday use?

“This was so, so, so rad”

I’ve tried a fair few powder boards in my time, and this one is pretty far out. Nug-ified (I mean, 147!?) which I love; virtually no tail to speak of, and what stubby bit of board there is behind your back binding is swallow-tailed, meaning, in the deep stuff, you can wheelie it to slow down. This was so, so, so rad. It’s perhaps the one missing dimension in snowboarding that snowboarding needs.

And the spoon nose means you only have to think about turning it and it’ll zip through the trees like you’re a stormtrooper chasing down some Ewoks. Anyway, my review is that this is a great, great board. I’d buy one in a heartbeat. Yes it’s a one-trick pony, but, you know, what a freakin trick!

Do you really need it? Well basically, if you lived in a cabin in the woods, and snow-shoed everywhere, and were allergic to pistes, then this is the board for you. For everyone else, it’s an extreme quiver addition, but a damned sexy one. Stand in a lift queue with it and you’re saying to the world “fuck yeah bitches, I’m about to get shacked”. Unless it’s icy conditions of course, in which case you’re gonna make everyone feel a bit awkward.”

Tester’s Verdict 2018/19

Kieron Black@kieronblackart

“It is unfair and perhaps a little naive to expect a fair, impartial review from me on the Jones Storm Chaser. I was going to love it no matter what. And I did. It is perhaps even more unfair that I got to test it in exactly the conditions it was designed for. Virgin pow and clean corduroy.

This injustice is compounded further by the fact that I’m a surfer and I ride fishes. I shouldn’t be allowed to write this review. But this wouldn’t be the first thing I’ve done which I’m not supposed to do, so here we go.

“I can’t remember exactly what happened or where I was. But I do recall a lot of white room, a lot of choke, a lot of spray. It was insane”

Another tester had managed to snag it the previous day, much to my irritation, and he rode it like he stole it. This inspired but also worried me a little, as the board looked a touch petite under him (someone shorter and lighter than me). I had a genuine concern that it might be way too small for me.

I should learn to chuck it in the fuck-it bucket and worry less. The board was a dream, start to finish. The tail is tiny, hardly there at all, but beautifully formed. And even though I had placed my bindings on the manufacturer’s recommended setting it still drew comment from the crew that that was a ridiculously small amount of tail showing behind my foot. But that wasn’t a problem, at least not for me.

Maybe, like some of the other fishes on the market, the Bataleon Surfer and the K2 Cool Bean for example, the Storm Chaser might have a slight tendency to ‘wheelie out’ when dropping off anything with more than four feet of free-fall to it, but honestly you’re just having way too much fun to care about that.

Seen from afar the board has that 1950’s Flash Gordon Ming the Merciless rocket ship vibe. It wouldn’t have surprised me to see that firecrackle fizz of smoke coming out of the back of it as it cruised across the mountain.

“The board was a dream, start to finish”

In powder I can’t easily describe how much I enjoyed it, probably because I was having so much fun I can’t remember exactly what happened or where I was. But I do recall a lot of white room, a lot of choke, a lot of spray. It was insane. And it was just as good on piste, carving, gliding, slashing, and miraculously, an ability to chop through lumps and crud. How, Jeremy, how?

However, I must give it a healthy less-than-zero rating for switch. Even the Cool Bean has a little bit of switch in it’s game. Not so the Chaser. It just bites in like it’s digging for gold. End of ride.

Who is it for? People who like fun, really. Specifically, pow hounds who also dig a corduroy day. And maybe not the park rats or anyone looking to spin cab off a big kicker. But, yes, pretty much everyone else.”

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