The Hovercraft 2.0 features a bit of serration in the edges that Jones calls Traction Tech, which bites into hard snow but somehow doesn’t interrupt carving. I don’t think Traction Tech is quite as reliable as Lib Tech’s Magne-Traction (same concept, but with a few additional bumps), but this board held its edge extremely well in critical terrain.

It's also the best board I’ve ever used in the trees. Despite its width, it turns nimbly in unpacked snow, where those quick directional changes are critically important. In March 2024, I took this board on a road trip through Northern California, Idaho, Montana, and Washington. At some of those stops it hadn’t snowed in days, and everything that was in the open was tracked out, but when I took this board into the trees I was always able to find some pockets of fresh goodies. On those special occasions when I got it into a big, steep snowfield the board had a casual, surfy feel to it. It glides nicely over flat spots, too.

The Hovercraft 2.0 is also arguably the most sustainable snowboard ever produced. It’s the first snowboard made with Jones’ new Re-Up Technology, which upcycles components from used surfboards. Jones found that 95 percent of a snowboard can be recycled, and that’s where t...