My Favorite Board by Michaël Parent

My Favorite Board by Michaël Parent

It was in the fall of 1996, I asked my parents to receive a snowboard for Christmas. I never played Hockey and I finally was living in a city where resorts were near. I also bought my first Transworld Snowboarding magazine at that same time; it was the Buyer’s Guide Issue. I still own it somewhere in my stuff, it has many pages cut and pinned on my bedroom walls. This sport meant more than just slide on fresh snow.

For this 11 years old boy it meant freedom, lifestyle, and infinite fun. So, in November we took the car and started bargaining with the local shops of Quebec City. The final bargain was at Québec Sportif (R.I.P.) for an orange K2 HC 149 cm, with black plastic bindings, and Crank boots for 430$. A great deal at the time since there wasn’t many shops selling snowboard goodies around. I kept this board for 3 years until it got too small for me. I sold it to a friend of a friend for 80$. When I got rid of it I was tired of it and I just wanted a new and better board. Well, that’s another chapter but just to say that I bought a Type A Jeff Pettit 155 cm for 150$. Another great deal.

Let’s get back to my HC from K2. It was a nice little board that was a pure pleasure to ride in resorts as for the many kickers we were building on every slope we could find. I even rocked rails when Resorts started to include them in their snowparks! In fact, my HC was the best board I ever had to do rails. The buttery flex and the detuned edges were great for those frontside boards. I remember how much fun it was to hit jumps and do backside spins and huge methods. it was a freestyle board made with torsion box contructions. Well, at that time our main riding (me and my friends) was freestyle and I didn’t even bother to throw lines or to downhill: the two weaknesses of the board. It was a very soft board and trying to ride the halfpipe wasn’t a success.

Another reason why I got rid of it was also because like any other item of consumption the graphics were bland and at 15 years old image and brand is everything. Moreover, K2 was mainly a ski-related company and I wanted a snowboard made by a snowboard oriented company. Probably lots of riders of this age nowadays think like I did. But everyone has to do his experiences. However, in the near future I would love to find a snowboard that will remind me of my first love, my K2 HC. Even if I love my Burton Supermodel 159 cm, a freestyle board would be interesting for those late season mellow snow quarterpipes and rails sessions!

What was your favourite board? Send your contributions here to be featured on Powder Lines. 300-500 words texts telling us why you liked this board so much. If possible a picture of the board.