Europe was treated to its first on-snow test of 17/18 winter products where retailers, media and brands descended upon an icy cold La Clusaz in France for the action. Despite a slow start to the winter season, testers were greeted on the first morning of testing with up to a metre (in places) of the white stuff, and blue skies. Images by Harry Mitchell Thompson & Clive Ripley.
The brand count was clearly up on previous years, with the centre of the test village now containing a third row of brands instead of the previous two rows.
On chatting with a cross section of retailers, it’s unsurprising that the UK based shops were buoyant, benefiting from a weak pound against the Euro, making it cheaper for those shopping domestically as well as from abroad. Speaking to French retailers the story was a little different, with the poor snow and general market conditions making snowboarding a tough sell.
However, the good snow made for perfect testing conditions and despite the cold, retailers were able to squeeze in three solid days of bluebird snowboard testing before getting back to their stores.
1 La ClusazA fair covering of the white stuffGetting busy as the clouds clear on day 1Pacome Allouis, new to 686686's Stephane Grenet and Brent Sandor Adidas' Philip and PhilipAdidas' Philip Schniedermeier with the ADV Acerred bootAdidas' Philip Schniedermeier with the Civillian jacket with Gonz designAdidas' tour bus driver Philip & Cloak & Dagger's Sam NelsonAmplid's Rich Ewbank with tech-packed Surfari (Inspired by one of Peter Bauer’s early boards at Burton) from the Centrifugal collection. Also the Millisurf, the lightest spliboard on the market.Alex Duborgel showing Arbor's Bryan Iguchi snowboard & Hemlock bindingBurton's Chris Allso with the Free Thinker & Mala Vita binding Burton's Chris Allso with the women's Talent Scout & Lexa bindingCloak & Dagger's Sam Nelson, Surfdome's Tobias Andersson & the Reason Mag's James NorthDakine's EMEA CEO Frank Heissat and PJ RuedaDakine's Team Mission 25L rucksack & Team Fillmore mitt in Louif Paradis colourwayLunch time at DuprazSerge Dupraz & Robert EtienneSerge Dupraz with the D1 5'5 in standard flex Serge Dupraz & a slice of historyHot Snowboards. The evoltuon of snowboarders!Easy Snowboard's Hunter model. From L-R, Maiky Lan, Nico Hide & William MeuraMaite Duport and Electric's Charger XLFlow's Eymeric Ojardias with their Enigma snowboard and NX2 bindingGoodboard's Maik Freise with their Wooden snowboardGreg & Anna from Sputnik & Darren from The Snowboard ShopHanus of HorsefeathersK2's Andy K2's UK distributor Rich Jonas from Prime Agency with the K2 Simple PleasuresBusy tent in the coldUK Shred crewMervin's Julia Mantler & UK distributor Lauren with Gnu's Forest Bailey pro modelMervin's Julia Mantler and Lib Tech's Box Knife model with art work from Jesse Burtner's wifeMervin's Julia Mantler showing the Roxy Torah Bright model with artwork by Corinne WidemanMervin's Julia Mantler with Gnu's BPro for girlsNever Summer's Brand Manager (UK, France & Benelux) with the Maverix Jones' Mind Expander & Dream CatcherNidecker's Rave and Area modelsNow's Veta bindingYES The Greats Uninc & Basic modelsNidecker's Thierry KunzNitro designer, Dominic Fleissner with the new Rambler bindingNitro's Tommy Delago with the Bryan Fox & Austin Smith Squash QuiverNitro's Tommy Delago with the Venture ProRide's UK Sales Agent Matt Burt with the War PigAlexis Romain from Tignes' Black Cats snowboard shop, who also distribute Rome Snowboards in FranceRome's Philip Kämmerer with 2 new boards. The National (cambered) & the Marshall (flat), which replace the Agent, which had been with the brand since its launch. Rossignol's Arnaud Repa with Xavier de Le Rue's Sushi split. Salomon's James Fuller with the Sick Stick from the Hillside ProjectSmith's Sylvain Faivre with the Code helmet (inbuilt MIPS) & the Squad X2 goggle in Louif Paradis colourwaySOURCE cover boy, Neil McNair stoked on Issue 84SOURCE's Clive Ripley & Snow Avant Premiere organiser, Mathieu KurtzRepresenting Stance at La Clusaz, it's Hectic's ManuSurfdome's Tobias Andersson & Sam TaylorSwitchback's Cleay Perham & French team rider, Damien Rousse with Eiki Helgason's pro model board & bindingSwitchback's Cleay Perham & Ollie Plumley from UK distribitor, Prime Agency with Halldor Helgason's pro model Lobster board & Forever bindingThe 2 Wills from The Riders Lounge up top of La ClusazThe Riders Lounge's Will Lenton & Will Radula-Scott with ATB's StuThe Riders Lounge's Will Lenton with Capita's DOA The Riders Lounge's Will Lenton with Travis Rice's Union pro model, the Falcor. A new forged carbon highbackThe Riders Lounge's Will Radula-Scott and Deeluxe's Elias Elhardt's pro model Demons bootThe SIMS Pro for 17/18Tom Wilson-North (Zero G, Chamonix & SOURCE's snowboard contributor) & Mervin's Julia MantlerVolcom's David Bennergui with Bryan Iguchi's TD2 jacket and Slack vestDespomar's Pedro Fernandez, European Brand Manager for VonZipper with the Cleaver goggleVonZipper's Pedro Fernandez and retailers Yannick Will & Andro Albecker from All Rieder in StrasbourgAirport shred with Whitelines' Ed & MikeWhitelines boys
