I need a good powder board!
Posted: 29 September 2010 03:54 PM
Sup everyone, Its going to be my first time riding powder, I’m going to Park City, Utah. I was wondering what board I should get for powder and something that will last me quite a while and not fall apart on me in the near future. I understand there are eco friendly boards which are real tight!! But are they durable? The boards that have caught my eye are the Burton Sherlock, Arbor Element, Rossingol Mag one, and Lib tech TRS ripper. These boards have had great reviews but i need to narrow it down to one that will be best for me. I am kinda leaning towards the Burton Sherlock but I was wondering what your opinions are!!!
Posted: 29 September 2010 04:57 PM
Rich will help you better on this one. But could you post your stats? How you ride, beginner or advanced, height, weight, boot size?
Posted: 29 September 2010 05:05 PM
I am an advanced rider, ride is goofy, height is 5’9”, weight is 185 and boot size is 10.5
Thanks guys!!!!
Posted: 30 September 2010 11:41 PM
Sorry for the delay John, I’ve just got a new computer, so I’ve been playing about with it all day.
So you’re after a powder board. I’ve got a couple of questions for you before I can suggest a suitable deck:
* What’s you riding ability? Are you a confident advanced freeride who like deep and steep terrain, or are you just getting to grips with freeriding, hitting the meadows, venturing into the trees and finding the odd rock to air off?
* Although you’re looking for a powder specific board, will this board be confined to powder days? Or will you be using your new purchase on icy hard pack piste days? Basically will this board be a specialist weapon being added to a quiver?
* Will you be doing any freestyling with the board other than the occasional grab? Will you need to ride it switch or are you happy for it to dominate in one direction?
* Where you ride this board, is the terrain steep like AK and Chamonix or flatter like Aspen?
* What’s your budget?
Rich
Posted: 01 October 2010 09:39 PM
I am a confident steep powder freerider and will definetly only be used in powder, i can ride switch but i think a directional would be best for big mountain riding and my price range is from 400-500
Posted: 01 October 2010 10:05 PM
If it’s just for freeriding have you considered the Rossi Experience? The ultimate big mountain board. I believe this seasons board isn’t any different to last seasons so you could pick-up an amazing bargain.
http://www.snowboard-review.com/snowboard_reviews/review/Experience/
Posted: 02 October 2010 02:42 PM
Hi John,
Tom’s suggestion of the Rossi Experience is a good shout for big mountain freeriding. To add to that, I rode the Jones Flagship which is like an identical twin to the Experience from ex Rossignol rider Jeremy Jones, it was absolutely awsome, carved like it was on rails and in powder was agile and effortless.
Here are some other boards you should check out:
Compatriot Outra Vez - Small brand Compatriot refine their shapes around Jackson Hole, where the terrain is steep and deep. This is their Mid-wide directional board for freeriding everything. Nice graphic, quality spec and the plus that you won’t see many of the around.
Nitro Pantera - Not too disimilar to the Outra Vez, just with a little bit of taper. A freeride animal for freeriders who take as much enjoyment from ripping the pistes as they do freeriding. You can always upgrade to the LX for more stiffness.
Bataleon Undisputed - A suprisingly agile board considering it’s stuffness. Stable at great speeds and carves like a knife edge. The secret is the tripple base tech, it makes a stiff and long board with quite a shallow sidecut, suprisingly agile. Just don’t expect to get a stone grind easily. One of my mates used to work in a ski hire shop, someone bought in a Bataleon, he hadn’t seen one before and tried to grind the base flat. We found it funny, the owner didn’t!
Endeavor Next Series - Designed for the steeps of Whistler. A hard charger with a bit of versatility for Backcountry freeriding, but really at home aiming straight and gunning.
Atomic Banger - So the next two boards are more powder focused. THis board can be picked up seriously cheaply, the shape is 20mm tapered with a pressure loaded rocker in the nose. It grips hard in carves and floats like it’s got a swimming bands on. If you intend to ride powder and piste, this board rips… not so great on hardpack and choppy ice, as the nose chatters a little.
Arbor Abacus - Similar shape to the Banger, designed for steeps and especially trees where tight powerful carves and slashes need to mix with agility and great float. The wood topsheet has to be seen to be believed… very tasty!
Rich
Posted: 04 October 2010 02:06 AM
Cool, I will definitely check those out! Thanks for the recommendations. As for the eco-friendly boards/green boards do you think those are good durable boards??
Posted: 04 October 2010 11:40 PM
For sure, in most cases it’s things like sustainably farmed wood cores and recycled bases that go into making greener snowboards, there’s no real difference in the quality of the material, it just costs the manufacturer a lot more produce them (their profit margins :) ) Lib tech are using greener resins that aren’t oil based, I definitely think they’d have second thoughts if their warranty rates went up. With regard to plant fibre laminates like Hemp they work well too, they’re just a little bit damper than glass fibres. A lot of brands are also starting to use basalt fibres, by all accounts these fibres are even more durable than glass. Green / sustainable snowboard manufacture is definitely the best way to go about making snowboards.
Posted: 15 October 2010 05:27 PM
Hey Rich,
Is there a difference between the 2010 and 2010 Banger?
Thanks!
Posted: 15 October 2010 06:06 PM
Shape and construction wise, I believe they are identical. There’s a cool see-though base section on this years and the cool rainbow base, apart from that I think it’s the same snowboard.
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