Atomic Hatchet - 2012

Snowboard Review:

Over the years I’ve ridden the Hatchet in its many forms at least a dozen times. Last year I took the Hatchet out for a ride on the penultimate day of the board test and was a little disappointed with the way it rode. Not that it was a bad board, far from it, it just didn’t hit the spot for the riding I like to do. Atomics’ move from camber to Pop Rocker in all of their snowboards has been a little lacklustre, well at least in the Hatchet… in the Axium it’s a real plus. I thought I’d give the Hatchet a second chance this year to see if it had improved.

Pop Rocker is a hybrid profile designed to blend the punch of camber with the forgiveness of rocker. The board looks cambered when picked up from the rack but the sweeping early rise kicks are quite unique. As you load the camber, the tips rise further and the contact points shift towards the bindings, mimicking a zero cambered board with reverse camber tips. The issue is, if the nose and tail are designed to flex that easily where is the resistance you need for edge hold in a carve? Well the answer is there isn’t much. Turns melt together without any resistance but as soon as you try to ride the Hatchet aggressively or hold a fast traverse across a bumpy piste the tips get all flappy and you lose any grip from the start and end of the effective edge.

Where the Hatchet does succeed is at being forgiving and playful. You can happily land under-rotated on the nose and tail from a boardslide or a small-ish kicker spin and the Hatchet will pivot you around. Presses are extremely easy although the board does flex most at the tips so they can slip out on rails more easily than on a board that flexes at the waist. It’s also pretty impossible to catch an edge on the Hatchet, for the most part this board is like riding on autopilot.

For the second year I was a little underwhelmed by the Hatchet. It really is a fantastic snowboard for beginners and intermediates who want to start hucking themselves off jumps, testing the waters on rails and dipping a toe into powder riding. The thing is, the Hatchet used to be a bastion for low cost snowboards that delivered performance. Everybody rode one because it was one of the best boards on the market regardless of its miniscule price tag, now it performs to its price tag. Advanced riders will find the Hatchet doesn’t like to be ridden aggressively, particularly on poor snow conditions and will also find the Impact 7000 base doesn’t match up to the speed and acceleration of sintered bases.

Highlights:
Lightweight
Forgiving and progressive ride for inexperienced snowboarders
Fun flex for smaller park features
Nice multilayer graphics
Catch free

Letdowns:
Slow base that doesn’t match up to sintered varieties
Poor edge hold on scetchy snow
Doesn’t respond well to aggressive snowboarding

(Note: in the video review I say that the Hatchet has triaxial glass, this is incorrect it has a biaxial glass)

Posted by Rich Ewbank in • Atomic