French company Drupaz Snowboards took inspiration from the original snowboard shape to create a board that enables you to literally surf on snow. The Drupaz D1 snowboard offers a highly stable and powerful ride for all levels and style of riders.
Drupaz wanted to move away from modern snowboards which demand a certain riding technique in order to achieve good grip. Since a snowboard nose tends to push down in deep snow, you are forced to make an exaggerated shift to your back foot. When leaning back, you then create a breaking effect in the tail, skipping instead of surfing through the snow.
The Drupaz D1 snowboard shape supposedly works well in all snow types, for all riders, with all types of bindings or boots. The length of the effective biting edge behind the back foot has been increased and the curvature pronounced at the back of the board. Together with added stiffness in the tail, the snowboard continually stays in balance.
The tip of the snowboard nose tapers upwards to avoid pushing the snow and an increased front and back width pops the board up onto the surface, much like a waterski or surfboard. Your stance is set forward and the length of the effective edge is short in proportion to the whole board, maintaining edge pressure and eliminating any torsion problems.
The Drupaz D1 snowboards come in two sizes and three different levels of flex. The boards retail for €499-€549 and can be ordered from the company website.