Tom Sims was a skateboard champion who introduced street skaters’ creativity to snowboarding. Riders today treat mountains the same way that Z Boys treated Santa Monica’s backyard pools. Side hit (slash), ollie, spin, butter, straight line. That’s why this year’s soft snow (then sunshine) and Powder Mountain’s playful terrain were the perfect combo for splitboard testing. Spending most of their time on the Paradise lift lapping PowMow’s hidden cliffs, our snowboard crew sought out every drop, steep, rollover and gap they could find, channeling that skate-inspired lineage to find each board’s limits and strengths. Though these splitboards are meant for the skintrack—and we took them beyond the rope line, too—they carry that history and purpose. Rest assured that the boards featured in these reviews are meant to slash and butter or ollie all over your favorite mountain playground. —Tom Hallberg
Arbor Veda
arborcollective.com | $750 | N/A | 152, 156, 159, 162W
The only thing rarer than the women’s pro model split is the women’s pro model split available in men’s sizing. The Veda, architected by Arbor’s Marie-France Roy, dissolves gender by being…
