Two seasons ago I was in Whistler, British Columbia, and I’d just been gifted a day of heli-skiing. I had my go-to powder board I’d been using for years, but I also had the prototype Jones Hovercraft 2.0, and I could bring only one board aboard the helicopter. The last thing I wanted to do was gamble on an unknown board and waste a rare day of untracked powder, but I took a deep breath and decided to roll the dice on the Jones. Not only was it incredible for that heli day, I didn’t stop riding it for two years straight. I can’t believe how good this board is.
The Hovercraft 2.0 is considered an alternative directional freeride board, meaning it’s really dialed for off-piste action. But it’s no slouch on groomers or steeps, either. The original Hovercraft was released in 2010 as one of Jones' original four snowboards when the company launched. It was such a successful and beloved model that it went effectively untouched for 14 years and remained a top seller the whole time. The Hovercraft 2.0 further refines the design, giving it even more float in powder and adding a lot of sustainability.
Whee, Freshies
Photograph: Brent Rose
The 2.0 has a more pronounced 3D “spoon” shape to the nose, with 12 mm of bevel compared to 7 mm in the original. This has become a standard feature on Jones boards, and I’m a big fan. It’s better at displacing powder, it’s far less catchy than a standard nose, and it doesn’t interrupt your carves on hard-packed snow.
The new board also features significantly more taper than the original, with 17 mm compared to 11.5 mm. That means it gets way skinnier toward the end of the board as compared to the nose. It also added some channels under the tail to help push snow out the back, similar to the bottom contours of some surfboards. The net effect of all this is that it has nearly effortless float, even in the deepest powder.
For context, I’m generally considered an “advanced” snowboarder. I’m 6'1", 170-ish pounds (give or take five), and I tested the 160-cm version of the board. This is a unisex board that comes in a wide range of sizes, and it’s the Big Horn version, which refers to the wider of Jones' snowboards and keeps the toes of my size-11 boots from dragging in the snow. I mostly rode it with Salomon Echo Dual Boa boots ($470) and with the Jones Mercury bindings ($360), which provided excellent leverage for keeping the board on edge.