An all mountain snowboard is the perfect choice if you enjoy doing a little bit of everything, whether it's tearing up the park, seeking out powder or carving on piste.
If you want to get educated on the basics involved in buying a snowboard check out our brief buyer's guide, otherwise here's our pick of the best all mountain options for the 2020 season.
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Best in test: Capita Super DOA
The multi-camber true twin set up of the Super DOA offers a poppy ride and plenty of all-mountain freestyle-friendly features, with the stability of traditional camber underfoot plus flat to rocker under the contact points for less catchy edges. The 3D Hover Core is fatter through the middle of the board, offering good torsional stiffness for high speed carves and stability on landings, but then thins out at the tip and tail for a little more flex and a lighter weight, making for easy buttering and rotation. The true twin shape makes riding switch a pleasure, and only adds to the playfulness. The only real compromise is a bit of washing out in high speed carves on hardpack or icy pistes, a minor complaint in an otherwise stonking snowboard.
- Best for All-mountain freestyle riders looking for a quiver killer
- Verdict Forgiving and playful but still with a hard-charging bite, this board won’t let you down.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £600
Salomon Assassin Pro
If charging hard all over the mountain is your thing, you should take a closer look at the Salomon Assassin Pro.
Although flex is stiff, it rides softer than the standard hand pump test would suggest, and feels playful and forgiving on the slopes when given the right level of rider input. Hybrid Rock Out camber puts flat between the bindings, camber near the feet and rocker at the tip and tail, giving straight line stability and precision in long and fast carves without rinsing out the fun. There’s loads of pop thanks to carbon inlays and a shaped paulownia wood core.
- Best for Aggressive riders looking for a board to do it all
- Verdict Dependable, solid snowboard that goes fast everywhere but is also heaps of fun.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £560
Nidecker Score
Nidecker’s Score is a refreshingly low priced, entry-level snowboard designed to get you off rental boards and into your first experience of ownership. It displays all the traits of a solid beginner’s snowboard, with soft, easy-going flex, a directional shape and decent edge hold in turns, although it’s a little sketchy at slower speeds. At higher speeds the Score fares better, and as you progress, you’ll find you can start to get the feel for laying down carves on well-maintained pistes. It’s a bit flappy and chattery at speed but that’s to be expected from a soft beginner’s snowboard.
- Best for Beginner piste riders looking to progress
- Verdict Fun and forgiving, with a high-speed sting in its tail - a great progression board.
- Overall rating 7/10
- RRP £285
Best value: Salomon Sight
Rocker/camber/rocker, early rise, directional twin, soft flex - all great attributes for a solid beginner’s all-mountain snowboard. But the Sight also offers stability and edge hold for intermediates, with camber between the bindings adding precision and the quadratic sidecut making for quick turn initiation. The twin shape is great for riding switch and lends itself well to progressing in the park, where there’s a decent amount of pop for boosting off rollers and hitting kickers. If you venture off-piste the Sight floats well, thanks to rocker in the tip and tail. It’s no barnstormer, but for picking off small side stashes it’ll do the job. As expected from a beginner’s board, the extruded base offers easy repairs, if not outright speed.
- Best for Anyone after a good value snowboard for park and piste
- Verdict A great option if you’re just starting to explore the whole of the mountain.
- Overall rating 8/10
- RRP £300
Academy Graduate
Academy’s Graduate series snowboard offers a true all-mountain experience in a traditional camber, directional twin shape. We found the Graduate to have great edge hold right through the turn and were able to throw it around easily at slow and high speeds thanks to quick edge to edge transition. A mid-stiff directional flex helps with high speed control and stability, but the Graduate is still a little chattery through chopped up snow. Above all, this is a snowboard that feels playful, with great pop and stability in landings. The Graduate also floats well, thanks to an early rise nose.
- Best for Boarders who like to charge hard everywhere
- Verdict Solid all-mountain option with hard-charging capability thanks to great edge hold.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £449
Bataleon Goliath
Back for another year, the Bataleon Goliath was clearly built to take on everything the mountain throws at it, no matter what the weather or conditions. 3BT tech flares the nose and tail on the edges for float, edge to edge speed and catchless riding. With a 99% twin shape - with just a slightly longer nose, and camber underfoot - you get plenty of riding possibilities, from fast carving on pistes to floating through powder and popping off hits, all with insane stability and maximum fun. Carbon stringers inside tighten things up nicely without losing that playful feel.
- Best for Intermediates looking for a playful snowboard
- Verdict One of the best quiver-of-one all-mountain snowboards out there - super fun.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £480
Jones Twin Sister
Riders who want a fun all-mountain board will feel right at home with the Twin Sister, which has a playful flex and CamRock profile for a best of both worlds compromise. It’s typically twin tip for easy switch riding but the bindings are set back slightly, letting you float effortlessly and slash off the back foot in the pow for that surfy feel. The profiled core is built up between the feet for added pop. You can really load the Twin Sister up over jumps and off side hits but the tips remain softer for good buttering and jibbing ability. It’s also responsive and offers decent edge hold for hardpack carving. doesn’t punish laziness.
- Best for Progressing intermediates who love carving
- Verdict An all-round fun snowboard for powder, carving and hitting kickers.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £415
Never Summer Proto Type II
We rate the Proto Type Two for stability in difficult conditions. It’s known for being a fairly damp board, and this plays out on the slopes, with a super smooth ride at speed but sometimes at the expense of a bit of character. The Proto Type Two doesn’t demand massive rider input, but if you like to charge hard, it gives a bit back and absolutely lays trenches in the snow in fast carve turns, with the asymmetrical shape inspiring confidence. Plenty of pop and that dampening and stability make it good off kickers, but it doesn’t fare so well buttering, where you have to press beyond the transition points to avoid hooking up.
- Best for Charging hard in all conditions
- Verdict A great board for piste charging, powder hunting and sending it off kickers.
- Overall rating 8/10
- RRP £600
Yes Hel Yes
The Hel Yes fuses everything that’s great about all-mountain riding into a quiver-of-one snowboard. It’s a slightly aggressive board to ride despite being mid flex, so is best suited to intermediate to advanced riders who will be able to get the best out of it. A CamRock profile places camber between the inserts and a little early rise rocker at the nose and tail - a great blend of control, playfulness and float. Super quick edge to edge and stable through chopped up snow, the Yes Hel Yes is a really great board for someone who’s likely to encounter changeable conditions.
- Best for Not limiting or pidgeonholing your riding
- Verdict Blends the best of all-mountain into one board, with very few compromises.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £439
West la Hache
Premium Swiss brand West are back for another year with their bestseller, the La Hache. They’ve stuck to their solid all-mountain principles, with a twin tip design and directional flex for easy switch riding. Camber underfoot allows for good drive through and pop out of the turn. Carbon stringers add to the pop factor and a mid-stiff flex makes for a very stable board in all conditions that is also quick edge to edge. We didn’t experience any washing out no matter how hard we pushed the La Hache or how bad the conditions were, and if you want to slow things down it’s also pretty playful.
- Best for Those looking for great all-round performance
- Verdict A solid, stable and capable all-mountain intermediate snowboard.
- Overall rating 9/10
- RRP £599
All mountain snowboard buyer's guide
When it comes to choosing the right all mountain board to suit your needs there are a few basic things to keep in mind.......
What flex should I go for?
Getting this part right is vital. Generally the stiffer the snowboard the more aggressive your riding style will need to be to get the most out of it, but it will pay you back with speed, control and precision. Softer snowboards tend to be more playful, anything from a 6 flex and below will likely be better for buttering and jibbing and will be more forgiving of lazy riding but won't have the precision and control of a stiffer board and might start to get chattery at speed.
Directional, directional twin or twin?
Directional, directional twin or twin are your three main shape options when it comes to snowboards and you'll find all of these in the all mountain category. A directional snowboard usually has a longer nose than tail and a set back stance as well as a varied sidecut down the length, this is designed for great carving and potentially easier float in powder but is going to be less versatile as it essentially prefers going forwards in the direction intended. Freeride orientated all mountain snowboards also use taper - with a wider nose than tail helping the nose float up in powder.
A directional twin will, somewhat confusingly have most of the elements of a twin but one or two things that aren't true twin. Usually they will either have a twin shape but asymetrical flex pattern i.e. stiffer tail than nose OR a directional shape and symetrical flex pattern i.e. the same flex in the nose as the tail. The style of the directional twin will often be dictated by what the snowboard is designed to favour - park or carving and powder.
Brands like Bataleon have also started introducing 99% twins where everything is twin apart from a very slightly longer nose.
Rocker, camber or hybrid?
Very few true camber or true rocker boards still exist, with most having some element of hybrid - mixing rocker and camber across the profile of the snowboard. The places that have rocker and those that have camber (and sometimes flat) are tuned by the manufacturer to offer a certain type of ride - whether that's catch free and playful or hard charging and precise. Generally rocker (a convex shape when you look at the snowboard side on) is known for being playful, forgiving and catch free as well as offering massive float in powder. Camber (a concave shape as you look at the snowboard side on) is known for having lots of pop and energy between turns and for jumps, great edge hold for carving and a precise, stable feel.
One of the most versatile and popular profiles for an all mountain snowboard is CamRock which places camber in the middle section of the snowboard for energy and stability and rocker towards the tips for catch free riding and float in the deep stuff.
Erm, I'm confused
To be fair, so are we. Snowboard manufacturers are constantly evolving designs and changing the goalposts and buying a snowboard is no longer as simple as deciding between rocker and camber. This makes it ever more important to carefully read the manufacturers description and if at all possible go to a demo day and test some of the snowboards for yourself to see which works for your riding style.
Learning the differences between shapes and profiles and how they affect the ride is also a great way to understand what kind of snowboard might suit your particular flavour of shred.
