Board: Snowboard Review

Size: 158

Camber Option: Cruise Camber. Mellow camber with a bit of rocker in the nose.

Bindings: Rome Black Label

Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy

Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10

My Weight: 200lbs

Resort: Copper Mountain

Conditions: Overcast skies, blowing snow, pow, pockets of blue skies, wind loaded pow, perfect corduroy, chop, chunder, and just about every condition you can imagine.

Flex: This boards stiffer than you would think for an all mountain board. It has a slightly directional flex to it with some key defined flex points. You notice that the nose is softer and it will progressively stiffen up to the tail. Outside the front insert and inside the rear insert is where you’ll find those clearly defined flex points. The torsional flex is there and very noticeable.

Stability: This board is super stable. The only chatter you get is in the nose and that’s when you’re charging through a bombed out chunder field of doom. Otherwise you get very little vibrations underfoot and it just plows through everything in its path.

Ollies: This board has some snap but you have to really load up the camber and roll back on the tail to get it to engage. When it does you’ll pop, but it never feels super mind blowing but more like a board you’ve ridden for a while and are comfortable with how much effort it takes to load it up. The short of it is be calculated with how you pop off anything.

Pop On Jumps: The stiffness of this board really helps it be at home on jumps. It just wants to let the lip throw it and stomp the landing. It’s not the most mind blowing thing when it comes to engaging the pop off the lip but it has more than enough to get it done.

Butterability: This is where it sorely lacks. You really have to work to butter this board whether on the nose or tail. The fact it even has a micro rocker in the nose doesn’t really add too much benefit to this. You’re going to be muscling this board and just sitting on the outside of your bindings putting your weight into the press.

Jibbing: This is not a fun board to jib with. Go fast, muscle it hard, and prepare for the weakest presses of your life. It’s just not designed to excel here. Sure it’ll press but it’s a challenge. You’re more or less doing 50-50’s on everything. When you go sideways there’s a little flex in the center that will give it some bend on a feature but once again prepare yourself for working hard for it.

Carving: Now this is where this board stands out. It’s got an aggressive edge to edge transmission that bites hard and leaves a trench without even trying. This board wants to be on edge. When you’re driving a hard carve that rear flex point right inside the rear binding comes into play and acts like a turbo boost. You can just apex the carve so much more aggressively with very minimal ankle movement from the rear foot. If you want to lay a trench lay one, if you don’t want to lay a trench well you’re still laying one. Short tight quick turns or long hard drawn out ones, it’s got you covered.

Rider in Mind: All mountain guy that borders more on the freeride side of things.

Personal Thoughts: This board is a stiffer all mountain board which makes it more versatile for charging hard and pushing through chop and chunder. It lacks more in the freestyle department but that’s not a bad thing as it more than makes up for it in the carving and freeriding aspect. That clear defined flex point under the back foot helps change the dynamic of how this thing turns and that changes the possibilities of what you can achieve with it.

Comparable Boards: Jones Ultra Mountain Twin, Ride Berzerker, Capita Kazu

Binding Recommendations: Union Atlas Pro, Jones Apollo, Ride A-9