2024 Snowboard Trends:
Retro Shapes for a New Generation
By: Danielle Vilaplana, Product Content Writer | March 7, 2023
Is it 2023 or 1993? You’d be forgiven your confusion, given the lineup of throwback camber shapes for 2023/2024. But look closer and you’ll see modern touches that distinguish these boards from the unforgiving rides of our founders. 3D bases provide killer off-piste performance and twin profiles with pulled back contact points blend freeride and freestyle mindsets.
We spent some time with the most influential brands in the business to find out what inspired these throwback shapes and what these 2023/2024 snowboard trends mean. Read on to see what you can expect in 2023/2024 from top snowboarding brands like Lib Tech, K2, Nitro, Bataleon, and more.
3D Base Technology
Call it a 3D base, spooned-out nose, 3D Surf Tech, or 3BT™ - whatever the name, there’s no denying the tech is revolutionary. Bataleon snowboards have dominated the game for 20 years but other brands have caught on in the past few seasons.
If you haven’t had a chance to hop on a 3D rig, here’s the gist: uplifted side bases at the nose and tail make for easier turn initiation, float in powder, and chunder-crushability. Different brands have different bevels and no one does it like Bataleon (the Sidekick™ uplifted contacts are patented tech), but the basic principle remains the same: snow deflection is key here.
While the word “surfy” is overused, it certainly applies to the looser feel of 3D boards. There may be a learning curve, as the uplifted edges can feel unstable to those used to traditional bases, but there’s a lot to love once you figure it out. At the same time, the quicker, smoother turn initiation may be easier for beginner riders to pick up, making it a technology that appeals to a broad spectrum of riders.
Bataleon offers three levels of 3BT™ for different applications, and the new Bataleon x Beyond Medals board takes a mellower approach for better all-mountain performance. Other brands spooned out just the nose on their new and current players - you’ll see it on the new Lib Tech Steely D and the revamped Lib Tech Ejack Knife, among others.
Will we see more updates of our beloved classics with 3D technology? Time will tell. K2 plans on keeping the tech within their highest end boards, which only includes the Antidote and the Alchemist at this time. But several Arbor boards now sport 3D bases and the 22/23 Nitro Quiver Slash got a spoon-nose facelift, so our gut says to keep watching.
Floaty Nose + Freestyle
So you want a snappy camber freestyle board that also drifts through powder? Sounds a little audacious, but a lot of industry folks were thinking the same thing.
If you take ample rocker out of the picture, the key to float is pulled back contact points that create a longer nose. But the 2024 boards diverge from the setback, swallow-tailed rigs of yesteryear and stick to their freestyle guns. Powder performance is key, but so is the ability to ride switch and express yourself.
Remember that Bataleon x Beyond Medals board? Yeah, it’s that on trend. In addition to the 3D base, it also has the extra nose and directional twin shape to add spicier air time to freeride missions. Nitro strikes both trends too with the Alternator, a combination of the Mountain and Team Pro. The spoon nose deflects powder and the respectable tail is ready to reverse, with an overall feel of youthful shenanigans all over the mountain.
Lib Tech can hang but they also know you don’t always get what you want beyond the ropes. Maybe the wind blew away the powder or a gnarly crust is hiding just under that fresh snow; whatever the conditions, the new Lib Tech Rig provides the Magnetraction to get you through it and the long nose, directional twin shape to goof through the deeper days.
“Backcountry” is a hot word that gets thrown around a lot but we’re going to call it what it is: sidecountry. Most riders will use these rigs to combine the worlds of lift-access freeride and freestyle through the gates, where the snow is deep and the crowds start to thin. These boards can butter and huck in-bounds, but they’re truly made for reformed park rats with deep pow aspirations.
The 2023/2024 snowboards are doing more than simply chasing the 1990s/Y2K zeitgeist. While marketing execs try to simulate the early days of DSLR and soft good designers attempt to harness nostalgia, these boards really get to the ethos of snowboarding. Once upon a time snowboarders weren’t allowed in resorts and camber was all we knew; the difference this time is choice.
You can chug a Red Bull, point your nose down, and watch the GoPro footage later, or you can go back to the counterculture, skater roots of it all. This isn’t just a symptom of the 90s resurgence, and it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that so many brands produced such similar boards. From Drink Water to Beyond Medals, the creativity and individualism has been simmering under the surface and it’s beginning to show its mettle.