Rossignol Experience Magtek - 2012

Snowboard Review:

The Experience is a beast! Its flex pattern is almost as unique as its shape. Torsion box construction makes the Experience one of the stiffest boards torsionally I have ever ridden which is compounded by a ridiculously firm longitudinal flex at least between the bindings. The Experience’s saving grace is the soft and playful rockered tips, which unlike the marketing spiel says start transitioning from camber to rocker about 10cm from outside the widest inserts, not at the inserts. This helping of rocker means the Experience planes up on-top of any fresh snow at even slow speeds, it also enables the Experience to navigate tight surfy chutes and play within bumpy terrain where flowing riding involving heavy front foot initiation is required. The Experience is a lot more flowing than cambered boards of similar stiffness. Having a softer tail is also incredibly fun, in any depth of soft snow you can get the nose right up out of the snow and power slashy powder wheelies on command… it’s a fun board.

Strangely, you’ll notice the stiffness of the Experience and its Magne Traction edges when you absolutely need it and when you really don’t. Off piste I was riding at its deepest 20cm of fresh powder and at its thinnest 5cm on what can be described as a refrozen base. Coming flying off cliffs, pointing down gullies and touching down on the hard snow, the firm flex from my rear binding to the transition of the effective edge to the tail kick, despite being slightly early rise was stiff enough to set me down and allow me to slam-on the brakes with all my might. Careering into carves with no depth of powder to slow me down or to keep an edge on , the edge hold of the Experience was utterly ruthless , treating the sketchy conditions at worst like most boards would deal with a traverse across an unpisted red run. The Experience grips to a point at which your legs will fail you not the board’s edge hold. Here lies the issue for less experienced riders. I found that when I was carving on flatter terrain that my edge was locked-in for the duration of the turn, there was no skidding a turn because the torsional stiffness and Magne Traction sidecut kept the edge engaged like I was on train rails, and the stiffness of the board between the bindings and lack of any speed to use for powering the board into a tighter radius meant that I was locked into mellow cruisey turns. Also on low gradient slopes with hard packed snow I found turn initiation was pretty slow; the Experience needs to be tipped on a good edge for the early rise tips to engage the sidecut. On anything stepper than a nursery run or cat-track the Experience felt responsive but on the flatter stuff it took a bit of adjusting to.

Everybody knows that the Rossignol Experience is one of, if not the best big mountain snowboard on the market, stability and edge hold at speed are incredible. What I think needs highlighting is that this board is fun and more than capable in tight terrain where it isn’t possible to open up the throttle. To truly get the most out of the experience it needs to be ridden aggressively, for that reason alone I would only recommend the Rossignol Experience to strong riders with powerful legs.

Posted by Rich Ewbank in • Rossignol