Snowboard line for 2011 unveiled in Manchester

Airhole have launched a new range of their patented do-rags

We’ve just got back from Manchester where the UK snowboard industry has been showcasing all their new products for the 2010-2011 winter season.

In a strategic change of tack Slide, which is the biggest UK wintersports trade show for retailers and distributors, took place this last week.

It means that for the first time in years we have had the lucky opportunity to catch a glimpse of next year’s hot products before they’re even unveiled at ISPO in Munich next week.

Even though not all of the brands actually attend Slide itself, Manchester has become a hot-spot for catching up with everyone as they tout the new lines to the shops and retailers for next season.

We only had time to grab a snap-shot of everything that was on offer, but will be continuing to drop more pictures and information after we’ve seen it all at ISPO.

Watch out as well for the Spring Edition of Fall-Line which will showcase the latest product.

Trends are not obvious with new snowboard product but it’s fair to say that almost every brand is now offering some form of reverse camber – even Head who had resisted until this season have a selections of snowboards featuring reverse camber; they even have a pow board that consists of a regular camber tail section changing to reverse camber front end, so if you get one for Christmas, don’t worry, it’s not broken!

Capita have four specific types of reverse camber on offer. Most brands like Rome will be offering traditional or reverse camber on a number of their lines.

Forum and StepChild have been tinkering with lairy graphics and Forum have also brought out some new base profiles on their Andreas Wiig signature stick.

Technology is all the rage with Head introducing KERS technology, no it’s not reserved just for petrol heads. Rather than creating an electrical charge the energy harnessed is kinetic energy with potential, or something… I’m sure we learnt about this in GCSE physics.

Forum are reaping the success of the flexing binding insert disc, and Union, SP and K2 are all enjoying the success of super light, technical high-end bindings. Check the price points though.

Again the green handbag is being slung around to differing levels of relevance. K2 have introduced a snowboard featuring an all-Bamboo core, The FastPlant. Not only does it potentially have some green credentials (I’m not actually sure on the current status of Bamboo as green technology but it does grow fast, aka the name). Importantly though the grain of the bamboo is flipped on it’s side creating a far stronger but still evenly flexing freestyle stick that comes with a whopping five-year garantuee! Never Summer you have been challenged.

Westbeach and Analog have tonnes of cool looking swag getting ready to line the shelves.

Westbeach have now brought into production their KAB (Keep a breast) range of clothes that will be contributing to breast cancer charities.

If you want to know more about what’s happening next year stay tuned for more info, more pics and, crucially, some prices. Or if you want to take a gander at some snowboards you can actually buy today, hit the Document Gear finder.