We’ve seen some pretty weird, baffling, and often downright unnecessary snowboarding innovations in our time. From LED covered boards, to kneeboards, to motorised snowboards designed to use on the streets.
Long story short, stabs at adding something new to the snowboard market usually ends in ridicule, failure, or both. However, thanks to a new project by eyewear giants Oakley, there’s a new concept in snowboarding that might actually be pretty rad, and completely revolutionary.
Aussie snowboarder and Olympian Scotty James has teamed up with the boffins at a company called We:eX to invent a snowboarding jacket that actually gives the user significantly more air.
“We’re going to make snowboarders fly”
The concept is actually quite simple; if you can ride faster, you can hit features harder. In turn, this added speed becomes added air time. There would be a scientific equation here is any of us had payed more attention in school.
This increased hang-time will be achieved, in theory at least, by adding two turbines into the riders jacket. They’ll kick in when approaching the lip of a jump, giving the boarder a greater trajectory upon takeoff, increasing the amount of time they spend in the air.
Sensors and accelerometers in the jacket will detect then the wearer becomes inverted, so the Flying Suit wont accidentally slam riders into the ground when they go upside down. Reverse thrust generated by the jacket could also be used to soften landings.
With this extra air time, the possibilities of what can be done on snow increase significantly. Quad-corks, anybody?
The Flight Suit sounds a bit like something out of Iron Man. Hell, it looks like something out of Iron Man. If it ever hits the market, Oakley should definitely sell a red and gold colourway.
Will it ever find its way onto the shelves? In all honestly, we doubt it. However, if one ever gets built, we’ll definitely be in the queue to give it a test.
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