Immediate feedback from those testers who had a chance to ride the Paradigma complimented its carving, and its textbook directional all-mountain shape has plenty of edge to get to grips with icy conditions. We were half expecting the grip of the Paradigma to be disappointing because of its hybrid camber, but this board actually runs on rails.
For this season Amplid have added a tip-to-tail carbon stringer band to the underside of the Paradigma, giving more stiffness between the feet and pop in the tips than last year's model.
The Paradigma is well equipped for powder days with a slight stance setback, a longer nose kick and, of course, the hybrid camber. All this make for a very easy and agile snowboard to score fresh lines with. While the board has ample pop and rebound, it does lack the substantial dampening and stability of some of its heavier competitors like the Never Summer Cobra.
We found that serious big-mountain terrain might overstretch the Paradigma's capabilities. In other words, if you're poaching couloirs in Chamonix you might be outgunned.
In the park, the directional nature of the Paradigma meant our testers were less than enthusiastic about lapping the jibs, but were happy to ride the jumps and attempt some airs out of the pipe. It will satisfy the occasional park rider but this isn't the board's forte.
We'd put the Amplid Paradigma in the camp of the resort slayer; the kind of rider that spends their day catching air off cat-tracks, seeking-out any remnants of powder and cutting deep carves into packed pistes. As an all-mountain run-around this is a class act.
