Snow Avant Premiere - Snowboard Test

A visit to the "Snow Avant Premiere " Snowboard test in January 2012 was a real treat and to test some of the 2013 snowboards before they have even been shown at ISPO, the International Sports exhibition, was a great privilege. 

The event was open to both the French and UK dealers and was held in La Clusaz  France, chosen because it's only 1 hour from Geneva airport  by taxi, so retailers from all over France and the UK could fly in, see and test the new 2013 Kit and meet the importers and pro riders from the brands they were interested in and get back to work a couple of days later. The organisation was great and for us the whole thing worked like clockwork, with the added bonus of a couple of days riding on new 2013 boards and bindings in good snow conditions and even rarer, good weather conditions.The whole test venue was set up at the Le Falme lift above La Clusaz, with all the major brands having a presence in the tented village. No messing about with these guys, everyone had to have a security barcode, which felt a bit like I was some stock item on the shelves in a supermarket, but allowed you to take out on test any of the new boards and then when you retuned the equipment, you were zapped back into the compound.This way, nothing could go "walk about" and if a board wasn't returned, they knew who to go to to get it back. 

The whole test was superbly done and the organisers even laid on a basic high carb lunch on site, so that you didn't have to go out to the local mountain bars and restaurants and lose time waiting to be served. Great idea, great organisation, can't praise them enough and they eeven organised good snow conditions and blue sky days as well.We will be back next year for sure.

Boards of note for 2013.

Arbor RX Element
Nitro Blacklight Gulwing
Ride Highlife
Ride Beserker
K2 Slayblade
Capita Normal Snowboard