Option : Kevin Sansalone

Review:
For the last 6 years I've followed Option pretty closely. I have always been of the opinion that they make the best boards, an opinion completely proved by this year's Sansalone. Design, construction, quality, and even the graphics are incredible. When I first got the board I had to decide whether to take the plastic off and put bindings on it, or to just hang it on the wall as art. The deep black gloss offset with the timelapse of Whistler Blackcomb is just incredible.

The Sansalone features Option's Power Rail Core is made up of pre-bent birch stringers with a full length aspen core. It uses the Carbontech Plus sandwich construction, which has three layers of pre-tensioned fiberglass and carbon stringers. The V core and booster tail balance the flex pattern but provides more ollieing power in the tail.

This all sounds good on paper, but how does it perform? I had the perfect day to really push this board to its limits. Waking up at Breckenridge with a foot of snow on the ground, we hurried to get out and on the lift. The responsiveness of the board absolutely blew me away. I felt like I could practically go to sleep on the board as it did all the work. It's super fast and very quick into and out of turns, and it practically floats on powder. On our third run I was making a run by the terrain park and noticed a ski patrol guy headed towards the still-closed gate. He opened it and I made first tracks down the park, they had raked the launches and left everything else alone. It was an experience I will never forget, making huge powder turns interspersed with hitting 30-40 foot tables, and landing on virgin snow. The Sansalone handled it perfectly. Super stable in the air, and it made the transition from powder to air effortless. Later in the day, riding on the packed powder the board still hummed along, perfectly content with whatever conditions I was on.