Jones Aviator 2.0 vs Frontier 2.0: Same Footprint, Opposite Character

Put the Aviator 2.0 and the Frontier 2.0 next to each other on a spec filter and they look like near-twins: an identical 1,140mm of effective edge, sidecut radii a tenth of a metre apart, four millimetres between them underfoot. Then you get to the profile and flex columns and they stop resembling each other entirely. This is a useful pair precisely because the footprint is held roughly constant while the character isn't.

The specs

Spec	Aviator 2.0	Frontier 2.0
Shape	Directional Twin	Directional
Profile	Camber	Hybrid Rocker
Flex (1–10)	8	5
Waist width	242mm	246mm
Sidecut radius	7.1m	7.2m
Effective edge	1,140mm	1,140mm
Core	Boost Surf Core (bamboo, paulownia, poplar) with Koroyd	Master Core (paulownia, poplar)
Layup	Triaxial glass, Bcomp carbon flax stringer	Biaxial glass
Base	Sintered 8000	Sintered 8000
Lengths	147–163cm	150–167cm
List price	$649.95	$529.95

Waist width, sidecut, and effective edge vary with length, so those figures are anchored to each board's shortest published size — 147cm for the Aviator and 150cm for the Frontier. The three-centimetre offset is worth remembering before reading much into a four-millimetre waist difference — and it means the identical 1,140mm edge figures aren't quite the similarity they look like. The Aviator fits that edge length into a 147; the Frontier needs a 150 to get there.

Camber against hybrid rocker is the whole story

Full camber means the board arches away from the snow between the contact points and presses back into it when you weight it. That's what generates pop and what holds an edge on hard snow — the camber is loading the edge into the surface along its whole length. It's also what makes a cambered board unforgiving: catch an edge and there's no rockered section to release you.

Hybrid rocker inverts the middle of that relationship, lifting the contact points so the board initiates turns with less input and is markedly harder to catch. You lose edge hold on ice and you lose pop, and you gain a board that's pleasant at low speed and forgiving when your technique goes.

Add the flex ratings — 8 against 5 — and the divergence compounds. A flex-8 cambered board demands to be driven; it needs speed and rider input to do what it's built for. A flex-5 hybrid rocker board works at half the effort and half the speed. If you want the underlying principles rather than these two specific boards, our guide to rocker, camber and flat profiles covers how each behaves.

What the layup adds

The Aviator's triaxial glass runs fibres in three directions rather than two, which raises torsional stiffness — the board's resistance to twisting when one end is loaded harder than the other. Combined with the carbon flax stringer, that's what lets a stiff cambered board hold an edge through a long, fast turn instead of washing out at the tail.

The Frontier's biaxial layup is the consistent choice for its intended flex. Triaxial glass under a flex-5 board would fight the profile.

The cores differ too: the Aviator's bamboo-poplar-paulownia blend with Koroyd against the Frontier's simpler paulownia-poplar. Denser, more varied wood costs more and damps more.

What the price difference does not buy

Both boards are published with the same Sintered 8000 base.

That matters, because base material is where a lot of buyers assume the money goes. Sintered bases absorb wax and run faster than extruded ones, particularly in cold and in wet spring snow — and Jones has put the same one on both boards. Whatever you're paying the extra $120 for, it isn't glide.

You're paying for camber, triaxial glass, a denser core, and a carbon stringer. Those are real, and they're worth it to the right rider. They're worthless to a rider who won't ride the board hard enough to load them.

Which one

Frontier 2.0 if you're progressing past intermediate, if you ride at moderate speed across the whole mountain, or if your last board punished you every time you got lazy. It also runs longer — up to 167cm against the Aviator's 163 — so taller and heavier riders have more room in this model than in the more expensive one.

Aviator 2.0 if you ride fast, if you want pop off every roller and lip, or if you ride firm snow where full camber's edge hold pays for its unforgiveness. The directional twin shape means it'll still ride switch, which the fully directional Frontier is less happy about.

The honest test is speed. Full camber at flex 8 rewards a rider going fast enough to bend it and punishes one who isn't. If you're not sure which of those you are, the Frontier is the board you'll ride more days.

Profile names and flex ratings are among the most loosely used terms in snowboard marketing, so we publish a value only when independent readings of the manufacturer's own source agree on it. Here's how we match products and verify specs.