“This short and fat board goes as fast as the fattest kid at fat camp when there is real bacon for breakfast rather than that shit turkey bacon. I tried my best to boot out on this board while carving down the slopes and didn’t even come close. An absolute hard charge board built to bomb down the piste and plow through and crud or death cookies in its way.

 “I tried my best to boot out on this board while carving down the slopes and didn’t even come close”

And don’t let me forget about the powder. Being so short and fat this board lets you float like you’re smelling pie in a Saturday morning cartoon. I can see why they called it the optimistic because once you start riding this board you are going to see any type of terrain in front of you and have the feeling and power to be able to slay it.”

“Sometimes the stars just align, so a huge thanks to whatever celestial foreplay occured to let the YES Optimistic fall into my hands on the first day of The Whitelines Selection, with two feet of fresh spread over an uncharacteristically quiet Avoriaz. Perfect conditions to take out my favourite kind of snowboard (pow boards that are big on width, short on length), so from the off it was already more than the double positive promised by the name.

It didn’t disappoint. The big nose gives an absolute shitload of float, making it one of those boards where you can actively lean on the front foot in deep snow, creating a solid platform for sticking drops and absolutely railing turns. It’s so big in fact that I quickly moved the bindings all the way forward bar one hole to get more from the tail without sacrificing a jot of control up front.

“One of those boards where you can actively lean on the front foot in deep snow, creating a solid platform for sticking drops and absolutely railing turns”

The ‘Underbite’ works too. I’ve ridden a few boards (which shall go unnamed) where the opposite tech was trialled – bumps in the edge on the contacts points – and they were a total shit-fight on piste, putting me off anything other than smooth radii. My faith has been restored – having that extra drive between your feet really helps set an edge and makes transitioning from powder to piste and back again an experience in its own right. Face shot, blam, back to hardpack, then arc back around again without losing speed to pop that next side hit.

Admittedly the conditions were perfect that week, but there have been few boards that have simply shined quite as much as the Optimistic. I wasn’t alone in my assessment – during that test week, it was one of only a few boards that were out every single day. If you’ve lusted after a 420 for years but held back because you wanted something a bit more versatile, here’s your answer.”

[monetizer101 search=’Yes Optimistic 2020′]