TESTER’S VERDICT:
Ed Blomfield – Whitelines

“While swallowtails and pointy noses have become all the rage of late, genuinely radical leaps in snowboard design are harder to come by. This, though, is a twin tip like no other.

The factory YES use has experience manufacturing watersports equipment, and indeed the 20/20 looks more wakeboard than snowboard, but boy does it work!

On powder it seems to hover across the surface like a magic carpet, with minimal speed required and zero leg burn, and unlike so many other quiver sticks it’s easy to ride backwards – in fact this is the first board I’ve ever tried that made switch riding on powder faces just as easy as on piste.

“On powder it seems to hover across the surface like a magic carpet, with minimal speed required and zero leg burn”

Whether it’s the 3D scoop acting as a kind of powder hyrdrofoil or simply the huge surface area I’m not sure, but the 20/20 also threw out some of the most extreme roosters I’ve ever seen – there is literally snow spraying forwards as you surf down the fall line and face shots are a regular occurrence.

Granted, it’s not as comfortable on the groomers as YES’ other popular fat board, the 420 (it invites you to butter more than carve) but it has more than enough edge hold to get you safely under the ropes from the top of the lift – which, let’s be honest, is where you’ll be looking to spend your time on this thing.

Should you take the plunge, expect plenty of mates to beg for a go; there were literally folk fighting over the demo model at the board test.”