Review: WHITESPACE Freestyle Shaun White Pro

Context: 

I rode this board on manmade snow at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia, a powder day at Montage Mountain in Pennsylvania, a day at Black Mountain of Maine, and a powder day at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. I rode this board with my Union STR bindings, my ThirtyTwo Lashed boots, and my Vans Hi-Standard DX Linerless boots.

What WHITESPACE says: 

"Designed and tested by Shaun, the Freestyle Shaun White Pro is his most versatile board yet. Delivering effortless precision, this board turns any terrain into your own personal playground. Shaun specified carbon construction from tip to tail, a responsive camber profile, and a high-performance sintered base to tackle any terrain with ease. This all-mountain freestyle board perfectly balances versatility and fun."

What Snowboarder says:

When it came time for me to choose which WHITESPACE board I wanted to try, I went big. A 162 wide Freestyle Pro is nothing short of a beast. It boasts a 127.1 cm effective edge, a 27 cm waist width, and a sidecut radius of 8.4.

Let’s start with perhaps the most obvious fact imaginable, but one that could be overlooked by a buyer: This is a really, really stiff board.

It’s supposed to be. This is the same board ridden by Louie Vito in the FIS halfpipe, and Fynn Bullock and Ian Matteoli on slopestyle courses. You need a stiff board to be able to even attempt the tricks they’re trying out there. My riding style favors something a little on the softer side, though, and I’ve found it hard to ride stiff boards in the past.

I often struggle to spin and hit rails on stiffer boards. This is meant for FIS-sized slopestyle courses, though, so I had zero problems getting sideways on boxes and rails. It took a few tries, but eventually, I was able to lock into nose presses and tail presses. It did take a considerable amount of work though, and I am on the heavier side.

While it took some getting used to, I grew to appreciate how stiff this board is. It offers a sturdy, stable landing coming down from jumps and step-downs, and kept me from getting bucked around by the combination of ice, slush, and powder during a wild weather session at Montage Mountain in mid-January.

The Freestyle Pro does a great job at holding its edge, meaning that once I got used to it, I was laying down carves like it was business as usual. Where this board stood out for me is its responsiveness. With one of the more flexible bindings in my quiver and a relatively soft park boot, I was able to transition from heel edge to toe edge with minimal effort, something that doesn’t often happen with big boards. I can only imagine how quickly I’d be able to maneuver through the trees in New Hampshire had I packed my Union Stratas.

I was most pleasantly surprised by how this board performed in powder. It’s advertised as an all-mountain board, so it was, in theory, all set to handle the 10” of fresh snow at Waterville Valley. I rode it just the same as I did before, without setting my bindings back at all, or adjusting my stance. It floated with ease above fresh stuff both in the trees and to the sides of the trail.

Would this be my go-to board on a powder day? Probably not. But it was the only solid snowboard I had packed for this trip up north, and I’m glad it was.

Let’s talk about graphic. I’m a sucker for a creative graphic, and while it might not be the most adventurous concept, the topsheet features light blue on the tip and tail of the board, which eventually fades into gradient of yellow. It’s a colorway that pops, and considering much of the WHITESPACE lineup features simple black-and-white designs to stay true to the brand’s name, it is a step outside the box that makes the board aesthetically appealing.

The base is not as adventurous, though. It sticks with the simple Oreo cookie concept that is on the base of all of the WHITESPACE boards. The name WHITESPACE represents "blank canvas" or "opportunity" within the market, and I’m sure White wants to maintain that concept throughout the entire lineup. It’s also smart branding, as anytime you see a rider air out of a halfpipe and you see the black-and-white base, you know within a millisecond that the rider is on a WHITESPACE board. With that being said, I am looking forward to the day the base gets a little bit more creative.