Gnu Ladies Choice Review

To really find out which snowboards are the best, we purchased all the most promising models available and tested them out head-to-head. We took these boards all over the mountain in different types of snow conditions and rated their performance in five different categories — edge hold, playfulness, pop and jumping, stability at higher speeds, and performance in powder.

Performance Comparison

Edge Hold

Regarding edge hold, the Ladies Choice is one of the best you can get. We rode this board in all types of snow, both off and on-piste, to see if this board ever lost an edge or washed out from under us. Our edge hold tests account for 25% of the board's score.

The Ladies Choice has Magne-traction edges, meaning they are serrated — similar to a steak knife. These knife-like edges really bite into all sorts of snow — even the icy patches.

This increases the effective edge length and gives you phenomenal edge hold in all conditions, even when riding steep icy sections. This board never slipped or washed out on us, giving us complete confidence when carving at high speeds or on steep icy terrain.

Powder Performance

Next, we evaluated this board's performance in deep snow, which constitutes 20% of its final score. To rate this, we rode this board all over the mountain after big storms, taking notes on how it handled and how it floated. It did very well, but it wasn't the absolute best.

This board is a blast to ride in the pow, but as mentioned above, it wasn't our absolute favorite, and we would pick a few other boards over it for the deepest days. However, all of the boards that outperformed the Ladies Choice in the deep snow have a ton of very powder-specific features, such as a directional shape, a fishtail, or a really long nose with a very setback stance. These boards might outperform the Ladies Choice on the deepest days, but their powder-specific design features end up being detrimental when riding other terrain or playing in the park. For being such a versatile and well-rounded board, we were amazed at just how well the Ladies Choice floated and handled in the freshies. It has an astounding amount of float for being essentially a twin board with a centered stance.

Stability

This next metric is for anyone looking for a board to rip the groomers. Stability accounts for 20% of the total score and is based on the board's performance when we really opened up the throttle. The Ladies Choice did very well, earning one of the top scores of the entire group.

We were quite surprised at how stable this board felt at speed, given its medium flex and a relatively softer ride. Our first impression of this board was certainly not that it was going to be an excellent carving board, but our initial impressions turned out to be completely wrong once we got this snowboard up to higher speeds and started doing turns.

This board's C2 Rocker profile makes it great for carving and gives it a really strong and stable feel, even on uneven terrain. We did occasionally notice a little bit of chatter, but the Ladies Choice's flex and profile seem to absorb it.

Playfulness

While the Ladies Choice might not have been the best at powder, it truly excels when it comes to playfulness. It's an absolute blast to ride, which similarly accounts for 20% of its final score.

The lightweight balsa/aspen/paulownia core gives the Ladies Choice a super fun and poppy ride. It has a medium flex and is one of the most fun boards that we have seen so far in the park and on natural features. Its camber-rocker-camber profile makes it particularly fun in the park, and it's great for rails and jibbing.

Pop and Jumping

For our last set of tests, we compared and scored how well each snowboard is at jumps and how much pop it has when you are trying to take off. These tests are responsible for the remaining 15% of the overall score for each all-mountain snowboard, with the Ladies Choice delivering a phenomenal performance.

This is one of the best freestyle/park boards that we have tested, which is slightly surprising given its fantastic edge hold and excellent performance in powder. While other boards can outperform the Ladies Choice in specific riding areas, none can match the overall versatility of this board. The giant swallowtail board may give you slightly more float in powder, but good luck taking that on rails. We thoroughly appreciated that this board's design is a fantastic option for ladies who want to spend equal time shredding the trees and hitting the park and spend their days roaming the entire mountain. It has tons of pop — enough to launch you when doing an ollie. We thought it was the best board of the bunch for riding switch, and it stomps the landings exceptionally well.

Value

While this is one of the best boards you can get, it is also a decent value. It's an expensive purchase, but it has a fairly average price tag considering it's a top-tier all-mountain snowboard.

Conclusion

All in all, it is hard to go wrong with the Ladies Choice by Gnu. It's Jamie Anderson's signature model and excelled across the board in our rating metrics. It's super stable, crushes it in the park, and has plenty of pop, all while being a blast to ride in powder. We had a blast riding the Ladies Choice in all sorts of terrain. However, this board is a true twin freestyle board, making it an awesome park board. It's also great for groomed terrain and in the trees, but it just can't quite match the float of powder-specific boards in the deepest snowfalls. If you truly want a quiver killing all-mountain snowboard that covers the park and is designed with a ladies' riding style in mind, you would be incredibly hard-pressed to find a better one than the Ladies Choice.