Snowboard Review: Santa Cruz Allstar 20th Anniversary Edition

Riding conditions
I rode the Allstar over 7 days so I was able to take it all over there mountain and see how it handled both ice and powder. It is a 158 ridden with K2 auto bindings and my position was set one back from centre.

Design
The Anniversary edition has a simple but stylish design which is only fully appreciated
 close up. It is easy to customise with your own stickers and the red stands out nicely.

Flex
A medium to stiff flex.

Riding the Pisted runs
The board felt fast on the slope with the new sintered base having a definite advantage over the extruded bases of previous years. It felt quick going edge to edge and was stiff enough to be stable at high speeds. The addition of dampening in the sidewalls under the bindings helped the board to be a bit forgiving on rough terrain as well. The board was also easy to hold through long carves and it popped well from one turn to another.

Riding Powder
The longer nose helps to keep the board afloat but didn’t make it too hard to ride switch through the powder. I was able to cruise comfortably with the board feeling light and easy to make turns. There are plenty of holes to set the bindings even further back, but I still found my almost central stance ok.

Riding on ice
The edge hold did well for some really icy conditions; I only really lost the edge on the steepest parts of the slope.

Riding Switch
Despite being a directional board it still felt easy riding switch with a bit of an adjustment as it rides differently. But the difference is only slight.

Jibbing/Pop
The board poped well on both the nose and the tail as it’s a twin flex board. It felt solid on landings but being on the stiff side wasn’t the easiest board to butter.

Overall impression
The board felt responsive and steady wherever I took it. The pop is good but the board will not be the best for those wanting to concentrate solely on the park. I found the Santa Cruz Allstar great fun to ride. It was good for speed on the piste but I was never hesitant in going down off piste powder runs or going through the trees. It is a fun all mountain board, which I believe it is great value for its low cost.