The annual SUK board test took place from the 19th to the 26th of June in the resort of Tignes.  There was quite a heavy presence of TSA staff, fourteen in all from various shops, all out to try the new boards and be enticed by the new products and ideas floating around.  As in previous years everyone was expecting super warm weather so we all packed light only to be confronted by a cloudy, cold and wet resort when we rolled up on Saturday evening, but as always rain in the resort spells good fortune for what might be happening up on the glacier.

Sunday dawned with lots of cloud and lack of visibility, the funicular wasn’t running as Tignes had a giant power cut but by ten electricity had been restored so everyone could get up the hill to get some riding in.  All of the kit had to be dragged up on chairlifts and cats as the funicular people couldn’t get their train to work because of ‘technical problems’ (it didn’t run all week!) but by mid day everything was up at the restaurant and ready to go.  The fact that no one could see anything didn’t really seem to matter but as the Grande Motte glacier closes at one it was a pretty short day of testing.

Monday was one of those days that makes the laborious work of board testing a little bit better, bluebird skies and a good foot of fresh to be tracked.  Many boards were put through their paces and the conditions were perfect to find out the strengths and weaknesses of all of them.  The Custom X seemed to be a winner with all that tested it coming back with big grins on their faces and it was hard to spot a TSA rider with anything other than ROME or CAPITA under their feet. All in all it was a great day, a day when you sack off the park and go and do some proper snowboarding.

The weather didn’t last though, Tuesday was a mixture of sun and cloud making it hard to fully enjoy the new kit though a fair amount of testing was done with people having a good go on Sims and Volkl.  Stand out boards were the Sims Oath, which at two hundred and eighty quid is an absolute steal and if you’re in the market for a first board that’s going to rock your world then the Sims Impulse at £269.99 (with bindings!) is a must.  They do a women’s version as well called the Citrine, which also got good reviews.

Tuesday night saw us take on the Red Lion pub en masse to watch England play Croatia and win so everyone went to bed in high spirits ready for Wednesday… but then we woke up to rain, rain and yet more rain so everyone got wet and then spent most of the day drinking hot chocolate waiting for the weather to break.

The last day of riding saw our prayers answered and our final runs were spent under sun and blue skies with all the TSA crew desperately running around trying to find boards that no one had tested, or trying to wrestle the Palmer Crown off anyone that had one (apparently it's THAT good), then it was back down to Tignes le Lac for a quick football match that ended in disaster due to a very nice guy called Zammo falling on the pitch and breaking his ankle and all his ligaments (get well soon).  The bad news didn’t stop there though as our last night was spent watching England go out of Euro 2004, which left everyone feeling a bit lost and disheartened.  But all good things end eventually and so that was that.  A big thank you should go out to all the staff that took part especially Chris from Castleford and Sue from Manchester who took the time to ride loads of boards and do their homework.  A big shout out should also go to Snowboard UK editor-in-chief Tom Copsey who made the whole thing possible so cheers mate [& colleagues] – its hard work but someone has to do it.

Mark Baldy Oldham 2004