Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard Review
THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR ALL-MOUNTAIN FUN
Jones has been renowned for making some of the best freeride-inspired snowboards on the market. Jones snowboards have been ridden in some of the most gnarly terrain so when they had the idea to spec up their already popular Mountain Twin snowboard I had to get one.
During this review, I will delve deeper into the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboards performance in Powder, Piste and Park whilst giving further information on its profile and the important specs.
This review is my opinion of the Jones Ultra Twin Snowboard, which I purchased with my own money. If you find the review useful consider purchasing your gear through the affiliate links in the post to support the website and future content.
ABOUT ME
Before jumping into the full review it is worth noting the following information about me as a snowboarder. I am lucky to snowboard a lot but I am not a professional. I have lots of experience riding in all terrain in all conditions and have previous snowboard shop maintenance and retail experience. I use my website to express my opinions on gear and I hope you find them useful when choosing what gear works for you.
WHAT JONES SAY
The Ultra Mountain Twin is a high-powered directional twin freestyle board built for the expert freerider who likes to throw big tricks outside the terrain park. Balanced rocker in the tip and tail deliver serious float in pow, while camber underfoot gives the Ultra Mountain Twin awesome pop and edge hold.
TEST CONDITIONS
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard was my board of choice for the 2023/24 winter season where I snowboarded across the Grand Massif. I chose the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin as I wanted to see if I could cut down my quiver and take only one snowboard to do it all. Throughout the winter I had the full range of conditions from incredible powder, hard icy pistes to spring slush. If you want to check out exactly what I put this board through then head to my Grand Massif Youtube playlist.
BINDINGS
Across the winter I partnered the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin with the following bindings.
Burton Cartels
STANCE
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin has two recommended stance widths; centered and freeride. I rode this board in the freeride stance, slightly set back for the majority of the winter.
BOOTS
I partnered this board with the following boots.
Salomon Echo Dual Boa
Jones Ultra Twin Snowboard
PROFILE
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard has a hybrid CamRock profile that ensures it is a versatile all-mountain snowboard. The hybrid profile of the Ultra Mountain Twin combines camber underfoot with a rocker tip and tail.
BENEFITS
Camber provides a stable ride and pop
Rocker allows for a catch free turn initiation and better float in pow.
COST
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard isn’t cheap and at £629.95 on the Jones website can feel like a massive outlay. I managed to find one in the sales and paid around £400 so it is worth hunting for deals.
CONSTRUCTION
In terms of construction, there are some differences between the Ultra and regular Mountain Twin which account for the extra cost. A major upgrade is the responsive Power Core which is stiffer than the regular Mountain Twin which gives the Ultra a performance lift. The Power Core combines, poplar, bamboo and laulownia to make a durable and lightweight core.
In addition to the Power Core the Ultra Mountain Twin utilises tri-ax glass and Basalt stringers. This helps to deliver an improved responsiveness from the Ultra over the regular Mountain Twin.
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin also has an incredibly fast sintered base which is one of the most high-end bases on the market.
To learn the difference between sintered and extruded bases you can check this article.
PISTE
Whether you are a powder fiend or a park enthusiast you are going to have to ride some pistes along the way. The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin was great on the pistes even on those icy days with hardpack snow.
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin snowboard has a few key features that help it excel on-piste.
The first feature is the camber under the bindings. This is something that I will not compromise on with any of my snowboards, camber underfoot in my view is a necessity. The camber on the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin helps it feel secure in its carves and gives the board a stability that is reassuring.
Secondly, the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin snowboard has Traction Tech. This is similar to Magna traction or Underbite that you will find on Never Summer and Yes Snowboards. Traction Tech essentially adds extra bumps along the boards edge which help your snowboard cut through and grip on harder icier snow. Think about a bread knife and the serrated edge, Traction Tech works in the same way.
Finally, the Flex on the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin makes is stiffer than on the regular Jones Mountain Twin snowboard meaning it feels more stable at higher speeds.
FREESTYLE
I am not an incredible freestyle snowboarder so you can take my advice here with a pinch of salt however I enjoy heading into the park and will hit both rails and jumps.
What I am looking for in a snowboard in terms of freestyle is does it feel fun and whether it has a catch-free feel. The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard delivers in both of these regards.
Let’s start with pop: The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard has a camber under the feet which gives it a snap and pop which is great for boosting of rollers, jumps and side hits.
Edge Catch: The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin has a rocker on both nose and tail which meant it felt really catch-free when doing flatland spins and presses. The board felt smooth and this feeling transferred onto boxes and rails where I never felt like I was going to catch an edge.
Switch Riding: Despite riding the snowboard in the set-back stance for the majority of the winter the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin was super easy to ride switch. This isn’t a surprise for a Directional Twin snowboard but it is good to know it delivers on what is expected.
POWDER
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin exceeded my expectations in terms of powder riding. There was no back leg burn and it seemed to float effortlessly. I’ve ridden directional snowboards that performed worse in deep snow. This was a big surprise for me because I had sized down 3cm compared to my usual directional board length so had expected powder performance to suffer.
The setback stance and rocker in the nose and tail seem to do an amazing job of keeping the board above the snow. My version of the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard was a 156W. The wide version will have helped the powder performance due to an increase in surface area over the regular boards.
CHECK OUT THE POWDER PERFORMANCE IN THE VIDEO BELOW
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Jones Ultra Mountain Twin Snowboard has been one of my all-time favourite snowboards to ride and I truly rate it as a one board to do everything. I was really surprised by just how well the Jones Ultra Mountain Twin performed in powder, especially given that I sized down. There was no back leg burn and it seemed to float effortlessly. I’ve ridden directional snowboards that performed wor
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