anyone who's been on a magnetraction board knows it's not a gimmick. on powder and crud it rides like normal, but on hardpack and ice it grips and lets you really carve into turns without worrying about slipping out losing your edge. it doesn't interfere with anything, it simply gives you added stability and control when you need it.

i personally have been riding Mervin boards (Lib Tech / GNU) for years, and this year I'm riding the GNU Rider's Choice banana-traction. I'll honestly never go back to normal cambered, non-magnetraction boards. it's the first snowboard-specific tech to really make sense and improve how the snowboard performs. and lib tech / gnu do it better than everyone else.

and next year they've got another new design (taken from their ski line- which NeverSummer ripped off this year) which takes a banana reverse camber between the feet and adds a small amount of regular camber at the nose and tail for added pop and control. i rode neversummer's version of this design this year and hated it (compared to my gnu), but i'm thinking Mervin took their time and got it right. T.Rice, Dark Series, Temple Cummins, B-pro all have this new tech next year. Mervin are true innovators.

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The yellow areas represent the thinnest points, which are also the same spots where the board flexes up. Its kinda like a sine wave with a really really small amplitude.

There are 2 issues I have with the banana board:

1. Blam said its easier to carve, but going from "carve to care" is harder.....to me that defeats the point. So you can make one carve easily, but not a successive one? Doesn't make much sense. Especially considering that when you ride down a steep incline you are "carving" the entire time - usually in long drawn out carves. You want either your frontside or backside edge carving at all times to keep traction. Otherwise you will gain too much speed and (possibly) lose control and wipe out. Depending on the steepness, this will either not hurt, or it will feel like you were just hit by a car, or somewhere in between.

2. Magne-traction is stupid. Snowboard edges are smooth to cut thru the snow easy. Its a snowboard, not an ICEboard. The "steak knife" cut of the banana board is probably excellent for when you slide out on a patch of ice, but how often does that happen? If it happens a lot, find a new slope to board. Or maybe a whole new mountain, because the grounds crew isnt doing a good job of maintaining the slopes. The magne-traction is just going to cause extra unnecessary friction in the snow, IMO. The sharp edge on a traditional board is carving into the snow to provide the traction, the edges are smooth so you can steer.

But then again, I have never ridden one of these banana type boards. I shouldn't knock it before I try it, but it just seems like a marketing gimmick to me.

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