Off piste - board of choice?

Posted: 30 July 2011 02:55 AM

Hiya people. What with all the sales going on I thought I would see if I could grab an off-piste specific board for much cheapness…. probably all gone by the time I get round to it but never mind.

Anyways. Thoughts? Bloke in Ellis Brigham in Glasgow suggested the Yes - Dude board. Which for £250 seems good value but I’m not into John Lennon so the design irks me.

Currently I ride a 2008 Ride Concept UL. I like the board but it gives me some back leg bother in deep poo-der. A wee bitty stiff and no rocker ya see.

Look forward to your replies; be kind, I’m a newbie ha ha!

Cambo

Posted: 31 July 2011 08:47 AM

You probably won’t find one because they sell like warm hotdogs.. but the K2 Turbodream would be a perfect choice!
Other than that, check out some Jones boards, you may find one of those left in some store..

Posted: 02 August 2011 03:09 AM

Thanks for the info Zoryfl! Could I take up some more of your time please?

There are a couple of sites selling the K2 Turbodream. Harder to find a Jones Flagship it seems. Was also thinking about the Ride Slackcountry but again, costly. Out of the three, which is superior? And for that matter, what size of board for powder would work well for a 5’10’‘, 82kg size 9 (UK) foot bloke like myself?

Cheers again!

Posted: 02 August 2011 04:47 AM

ooo yeah, and whilst I’m taking up your time…. is there a lot of difference between the 10/11 and the 11/12 Turbo Dreams? :)

Posted: 03 August 2011 06:04 PM

Pretty much no difference between the 10/11 and 11/12 Turbo Dreams.

If you want a hard charging off-piste board I’d vote the Jones Flagship.

Posted: 05 August 2011 03:38 PM

Tried to find a Flagship but if they are out there then it’s beyond my internet trawling skills. So, I got a Turbo Dream as a back up choice. £266 from Snow and Rock. Off to get some Flux TT30 bindings to put on it for £120; everyone seems to love those. So all in all I’m pretty happy for less than four hundred notes!

Thank you for the information and assistance.

Also, for anyone else reading this, there were a couple of 2010/11 K2 Slayblades available at good prices too. (in the UK)

Roll on Whistler next March!!

Cambo

Posted: 10 August 2011 12:19 AM

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but Rich/Zoryfl have you tried Capita’s Charlie Slasher at all?

I’m after getting a powder board - and one that can handle hard packed pistes when going from off-piste to piste and so so on - and been considering this, the BSOD (been told that it has a surprising amount of float), the Hovercraft and the Burton Barracuda or Fish.  Of all of them, I’ve been tempted by the Barracuda (mix of the Malolo and Supermodel or so the bumpf says) and appreciate your views if you’ve ridden any of them.

Posted: 10 August 2011 09:01 AM

Yeah the new Capita BSOD has camber between the feet and then rockered tips, it’s pretty much like the Rossignol One Amptek and for a fairly conventionally shaped board, these board float really well and still have enough balls for slashes and cut backs. The Charlie Slasher is tapered and uses a profile much like the new APO Spray which is flat from the tail to just past the front binding and then rockered in the remainder of the nose. Basically this board will float like a dream in powder but might not perform as well as a cambered board on piste. The Baracuda has camber between the feet and very slightly in the tail and the nose is early rise, personally I belive this is the best way of profiling a tapered board. For one a tapered board floats much easier than a standard directional board, it takes very little effort to keep the nose out of the pow, and when you are on ice and hard piste the camber is great for grip and precision edge control. The Atomic Banger is another great example which costs a lot less than the Barracuda and is compatible with bindings other than Burton ICS. The benefit of riding a standard directional reverse camber or hybrid board in powder (like the Turbo Dream or the BSOD) is that they are much more forgiving and require less effort, you can also land them switch. However, there’s nothing like cranking turns on a cambered tapered board and if you’re not riding bottomless powder the camber in the tail is pretty usefull for riding-out bumpy, shallow lines and for sticking tail heavy landings off drops. I also like to have differences between my boards so that there’s minimal overlap. The question is whether you add to your quiver with a more all-mountain board or a freeride/pow specific board.

Rich

Posted: 10 August 2011 09:03 AM

Oh and the Hovercraft is supposed to be amazing for piste and pow, check out Neil McNab’s review.

It’s a pocket rocket by all accounts… I’m guessing switch riding is out of the question though.

Posted: 10 August 2011 05:47 PM

Cheers for the replies, Rich.

I’ve already got a couple of cambered boards - one for all mountain cruising, one a bit snappier if i ever grow a set and start hitting jumps - and a short rockered board for park and general mucking about (which is also handy in pow) so was looking for a freeride/pow board, but one that wasn’t too much of a chore navigating groomed runs.

Thanks for the extra suggestions.

Posted: 19 August 2011 04:42 AM

Since I’m contrary, and since I’ve spotted a 2011 159 BSOD that’s the route I’m headed for, particularly as I’m not one who will spend huge amounts of time in waist deep pow and will mainly be resort riding with a few off-piste excursions.

Thanks for the advice again.