Freeride board for small girl

Posted: 11 December 2011 10:21 PM

Hi everyone

I’m looking for a new snowboard. I currently ride a ride compact 139. I don’t really like this board as it chatters at speed and it doesn’t have good edge hold.

I’m small (5ft) and very light which limits the boards I can ride - I’m looking for something up to 141.

I ride mostly piste and sidecountry, I hardly ever venture into the park. I do a bit of tree skiing so being able to turn well in all snow is a plus. I like to ride fairly fast and carve. I often get to ride deep pow so performance here is a plus.

I need a board that can handle deep pow, that can turn easily and has excellent edge control.

So far I narrowed it down to salomon lark or the ride farah -these seem to be the only more aggressive all all mountain/freeride boards under 142.

Can anyone help me out with comparisons of these boards? I’m not sure Ill be able to demo because ski shops rarely have hire boards in my size.

Posted: 12 December 2011 07:36 PM

Hi Budgies

You’ve picked the dual camber profile boards, which is exactly what I would have done in your place. My experience of Ride boards is that the sidecuts of their women’s boards tend to be pretty similar, so you may find that the Farah doesn’t hold an edge as much as you want it to. I rode a Lark from a couple of years back, and from memory it felt a bit softer than the description said, but it’s probably changed since then.

If you want really tight edge control maybe also try one of the Roxy boards as they have Magnetraction and it really helps with grip in icy conditions - you’d be looking at anything with the C2 profile. You can also try the Gnu women’s range of boards if you like the sound of Magnetraction - the B Pro would probably be the one to look at for you.

It would also be worth looking at the Burton Feelgood Flying V. I can attest to the performance of the board -  it’s light, on the stiff side and able to handle pretty much everything. It carves really well, and edge hold is great. Having the ICS system will be an advantage on powder days as you’ll be able to set your stance back a bit so the nose stays out of the snow. Not that you can’t do that on all other boards too, but the ICS means that you can take it a bit further back than a normal board if you needed to do it. The good news is that it goes down to a 140 too.

Posted: 13 December 2011 03:54 AM

Thanks Snowkat!

Unfortunately the gnu and roxy boards are too big for me,they start around 146.

I had looked at the burton feelgood flyingv but its got some mixed reviews. Some say the edge hold isn’t great, and that it is a bit squirily at speed. What’s your view? Is the 2012 better? Is this more park than freeride?

What about the regular burton feelgood? Is this a full camber board? I do like the hybrids.

I really like burton boards so I’m really keen to get your thoughts on these. I dont really want to get another ride, but will do if it’s the best board in my size.

Posted: 13 December 2011 08:26 PM

Hi - I have the 144 camber version of the Feelgood from a few years back. I’ve never had an issue with edge hold on the board (aside from sheet ice, which is going to be an issue no matter what you ride). I do like to lay my boards on edge, and the Feelgood was more stable than 90% of the other boards I’ve ridden that are in the same category.
It’s definitely not a pure park board as it’s a directional shape, but it is twin flex, so you should be able to ride it OK switch if you need to. That said, I’ve used mine in the park on jumps, and it’s nice and stable on the landings.
It’s not the stiffest women’s board you can buy, but it responds well in all sorts of piste conditions and should Burton ever come up with a graphic I like, I’ll be buying another one.

All that aside, if you buy the camber version, you may find yourself having to work really hard on powder days. When riding a camber board in pow, you’re supposed to size up from your normal board size so that you don’t plant your nose in the snow and go head over heels because your back leg has burned out - hence where the hybrid camber comes in as it lifts the nose for you.

Regarding the edge hold on the flying V, the only experience I have of this is my boyfriend’s Custom Flying V from last year - it was the same as the Feelgood Flying V at the time, and although it was awesome in the pow (we had a 4’ day while he was riding it), he won’t ride it at any other time due to the lack of edge hold.

From most of the rocker boards I’ve ridden, they do tend to be a bit more unstable at speed than a cambered board. Completely flat boards are a good mix of both, and the replacement I bought for my Feelgood was a K2 EcoPop, which is flat between the bindings and a tiny bit of rocker just outside. It’s a bit stiffer than the Burton but again, is super-stable at speed, but I’ve only had it out on a glacier over the summer, so haven’t had much of a chance to figure out it’s personality yet!

If you have the money, you could always consider buying a specific board for powder days - especially if you get deep powder as it’s less likely that you’re going to be able to buy a board that does both well. I’ve just done exactly that as I had to ride my normal camber board on the above 4’ pow which was a huge amount of effort, and not something I want to have to do for a second time. It means I’ll be taking at least one other board wherever I go, but at least I know I’ll have something I’m going to enjoy riding and that won’t cripple my back leg!