All mountain board for a big guy

Posted: 15 October 2011 10:00 PM

Hi there snowboard reviewers!

I’m happy there’s this advice section on your forum cause I’m really stuck in my choice. I wish I could test the boards I’ve been looking at, but that’s not possible unfortunately, so I hope that from your experiences I can find some guidance in choosing a board.

Let me introduce myself: I’m quite a big guy at over 6’4” and 210 lbs and have been snowboarding for 5 years now (about 50 days experience). In those years I’ve always been renting a set (wide boards 162-165). Lately rented just board and bindings as I bought myself a pair of Burton Imperial boots, size 12. Even though these are “shrinkage” boots, I guess I’ll still need a wide board.

As for my riding locations, abilities and style, this is the deal: I’m from Europe and usually go boarding in the Alpes and occasionally in Scandinavia. When I started, I got the vibe real quickly and progressed real fast. Lately I have the feeling I’m kind of leveling out when it comes to skill. Mainly I guess because I’m not trying too much new things (which I might want to change, but more on that later).

I guess my riding style is All-mountain (some freestyle, some freeride). What we usually do with friends is go down. Go down fast :-) Both on groomed (often hard) pistes as off-piste in pow. I like jumps, jibbing and playing around on the hill but almost always with natural “objects” I encounter. I’ve not really been in the park that much nor between trees and in cliff drops. Not planning on being in the park more in the future, but I would like to get more into the freestyle tricks all over the mountain (playing around). And maybe I’ll try backcountry descents. When I’m riding I like either being on my edge very much, almost carving each turn or just going flat, easy and relaxed while doing some playing around.
What I’m not so good at are icy patches and riding fake is a lot less good for me than when riding normal. For those reasons I was looking for boards with good edge hold and near twin shape.

So the boards that have caught my eye, with my biggest concern for each, are (no particualr order):
- Rome Agent Rocker Wide 162 (Enough edge hold?)
- Rossignol One MW 161 (Too stiff?)
- Capita Totally FK’n Awesome 161 (Too much camber between the feet?)
- GNU Rider’s Choice Wide 162 (Too much park oriented?)
- Lib Tech Skunk Apes (Too much of a powder board?)

What would you advice me? And how do u feel about the concerns I have? And what about One vs Angus or TFKnA vs Black Snowboard Of Death?

As for binding I’m considering the Ride 390 Boss or Union Force (or maybe Atlas). Any thoughts on those?

I’d appreciate it if you could share your experience to help me make my choice.
Thank you in advance for your time!

BR, take care,

J.

Posted: 16 October 2011 02:23 PM

Howdee, thanks for posting such an informative background it makes helping you a lot easier.

Firstly I’ll address your concerns:

- Rome Agent Rocker Wide 162 (Enough edge hold?) - Yes I rckon that the Agent would have enough edge hold although there are better options out there with ragards to grip on hards snow.

- Rossignol One MW 161 (Too stiff?) - You’re 6’4” and 210lbs, there is absolutely no way that this board will be too stiff for you. My concern would be that it isn’t long enough for you.

- Capita Totally FK’n Awesome 161 (Too much camber between the feet?) - I’m afraid I haven’t ridden Capita’s All-Mountain FK profile with camber between the feet and a rockered nose and tail. My experience of riding boards with this profile is that a decent amount of camber prevents the board from pivoting about the centre and as a result feel a bit more planted.

- GNU Rider’s Choice Wide 162 (Too much park oriented?) - Well it is a park oriented board but I gather it’s pretty versatile, particularly with the C2 BTX profile. I would probably go for this over the Agent Rocker.

- Lib Tech Skunk Apes (Too much of a powder board?) - I think these are just all0-mountain boards for men of your size. The wide waist on them obviously makes them float extremely well.

What would you advice me? And how do u feel about the concerns I have? And what about One vs Angus or TFKnA vs Black Snowboard Of Death? - To be honest you’ve done your research. All of these boards are suitable although some are certainly more all-mountain. My only though is that I think you might be looking at board that are a bit too short for balls-out all mountain riding. I think something around the 164 mark is probably going to be a better fit.

As for binding I’m considering the Ride 390 Boss or Union Force (or maybe Atlas). Any thoughts on those? - Bindings… both are good. Can’t really call it to be honest. I know a lot of people that ride Rome bindings and swear by them.

I hope that helps.

Rich

Posted: 16 October 2011 07:04 PM

Hi there Rich,

Thank you for all the info and the super fast reply! You’re absolutely right about the size. When I started looking, I was going for a 163 or even 164, but there’s very little choice of boards in this range. Of the ones I’ve listed only the Skunk Ape is in 165 and the Black Snowboard of Death I was considering is also 165. But then again, maybe 165 is a bit too much if I want to play around?

Do you know of any other options?

Cheers,
j.