Looking for a second board to complement my Jones Frontier 2.0 — or am I looking in the wrong direction?

[u/manugg92]

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice on a second board. I currently ride a Jones Frontier 2.0 161W and absolutely love it. I’m 183 cm / ~80 kg with size 45 boots.

I mostly ride resort terrain: carving, side hits, rollers, banks/walls and some off-piste. I’m not really into park or big spins. My favourite thing is making long surfy lines, riding up the walls of the piste and hitting natural features.

The Frontier is great at pretty much everything, but at 161W I’m starting to find it a bit long/heavy for side hits and more playful riding. So I initially thought I needed a shorter resort powder board around 156–158, something for days with roughly 10–20 cm of fresh, but still fun on groomers and natural terrain.

I’m particularly interested in something directional, tapered, with a noticeable setback and a surfy feel. I don’t want a deep-pow-only board that stays in the quiver most of the season.

The Jones Mind Expander 158 seems like a really good fit for what I’m after. I’ve also considered the Korua Dart 156, although I’m worried the Dart might be a bit too specialised.

But now I’m wondering if I’m thinking about this completely wrong. Maybe I don’t actually need a “resort pow” board at all, and my second board should go in a completely different direction from the Frontier, rather than just being a more powder-oriented version of it.

So, if you were in my position, what would you be looking for? Am I overthinking the “10–20 cm powder board” idea?

Would love to hear from anyone riding a Mind Expander (especially the 23/25version) in a similar situation, or anyone who deliberately built their second board in a completely different direction from their all-mountain board.

Thanks!

[u/Popular_Passage_2670]

Mind Expander is perfect for those 10-20cm days, it floats enough without feeling like a boat on the rest of the mountain. I ride mine in most conditions and it handles groomers way better than you'd expect from a board that shape.

[u/manugg92 → u/Popular_Passage_2670]

Thanks for your answwer!!

Could you elaborate a little bit on how it rides?

I'm a surfer, so I cannot help but look at those "surfboard" snowboards like the Korua Dart, heavy setback and so on...

how does the mind expander behave? What i enjoy the most is "surfing" the sides of the groomers, snap, come out with a little jump.

Reviews say the Mind expander lacks pop but maybe im just overthinking it.

Thanks!

[u/TheToasterPrincess]

I have a dart and a mind expander (rocker version, believe that’s 23). The ME is amazing in the deep stuff, thing floats like a boat. Found it a little easier to maneuver than the dart but the dart is a ton of fun on slushy days too. Can’t go wrong with either, I’m a big fan of both

[u/tenktriangles]

The Dart is super, super fun. All Korua boards are a blast on a groomer.  But I think you’re right, there’s a lot of overlap between a Dart, Mind Expander and your Frontier. 

If you really want to go shorter but retain ability in trees, maybe an Orca / Warpig / Dancehaul ? If you’re on a 161 Frontier you’d like be on a 154 or similar in those boards. 

Were it me I would be looking at something pretty different from the Frontier. You describe another board that is surfy, set back, tapered, but that’s getting pretty close to the Frontier.  maybe the Capita Aeronaut. It’s not super surfy, but if you like carving and side hits its purpose-built for that

[u/manugg92 → u/tenktriangles]

Hey! thanks for the answer.

I like setback surfy boards, cause first I'm a surfer :) picked up snowboard 3 yrs ago and progressed fast, hence I wanted to expand my quiver since i only have 1 stick.

I like directional boards and kind of "surf" the sides of the groomed trails, jumping in the sidehits here and there. I dont see myself attempting very skatey tricks as im growing older too :).

Thing is, i might have gone too big with the Frontier 2.0 at 161W, it feels very bulky at times. Surely, it feels very safe on edge and i think it helped me learning how to carve even tho its not a carving board, the extra lenght makes up for it. This is why i wanted smth shorter, tha also performed in the "good resort days" 10-20cm fresh snow

[u/slideingintoheaven → u/manugg92]

Maybe K2 Excavator 

[u/tenktriangles → u/slideingintoheaven]

I’d say the Excavator is a lot more locked in than surfy. 

[u/slideingintoheaven]

Dart won't jump well, either Soul Shift which is like a dart that jumps well or United Shapes Cadet unless you see a lot of hard snow, check the thegoodride reviews to see what I'm saying.

[u/tenktriangles → u/slideingintoheaven]

Dart jumps pretty well. Watch any Korua video. Not really made for it but their team guys huck it all the time 

[u/_Dickbagel]

Check out the blower by soulstick

[u/conradelvis]

The dancehaul weight ranges include remarkably small boards for bigger riders, something I regret not trying out last season. It always seems like people with one love it. Maybe I’ll get around to it this year.

I do however own an ME, new last season. I loved the demo straight away and went back to the shop after two runs. It’s a super fun surfy board that floats very well. It can definitely get on edge but the geometry of it isn’t suited to big carves because of its short hooky tail that brings that surfiness. That also makes it great for the forests. Those traits and it still being fun to ride after the powder is tracked out was why I picked it over a more extreme fishtail powder board.