Niseko’s revolutionary snowboard makers, Gentemstick, recently displayed their lineup of über-boards at the ISPO in Munich, regarded as the world’s largest winter sports exhibition.
The Gentemstick booth and the eccentric style of the boards created quite a stir in the show. Founder Taro Tamai attended the exhibition and noted that in particular Scandinavian visitors showed great interest in the boards and the snow-surfing philosophy that they are based on.
Snowboarding legend Jeremy Jones was also spotted taking a keen interest in the Gentemstick booth. Tamai-san is confident this could be the start of a growing international interest in not only the boards, but also snow-surfing which he hopes will change the way snowboards are ridden.
Gentemstick’s philosophy is to bring snowboarding back to its surfing roots, and next year’s line-up has just been announced. If you love to ride powder, don’t often ride switch and want the thrill of accelerating out of your turns, these are the boards for you. The new sub-brand “Taro Tamai Snow Surf design” (TTSS) are all made with a bamboo top sheet, and most have deep swallow tails, an extra wide body and pointed nose. They are quickly gaining popularity along with the newer shorter and more economical sub brand “The Snowsurf”.
While the prices start at ¥108,150 for the 152cm Momentum and top-out at a jawdropping ¥170,100 for the 186cm Impossible, there are a growing number of devotees who are more than willing to pay the asking price to own what may well be the finest snowboards in the world.