Pow board?
I’m debating whether or not to get a pow board. I can ride pow just fine with my 153 T.Rice (maybe set it back a lil if it’s really deep), but I wonder if a dedicated pow board is worth it. I demoed a Prior Khyber (has a 20mm taper), that thing is damn heavy and didn’t really like it on the groomers (I know, it’s not made for groomers but still you gotta ride them once the pow has been tracked out). Anyone here has/rides a dedicated pow board (I know rider has a fish and gamblor love em) or do you guys just set your stance back on those deep days?
you demo’d a khyber, so that means 1 or 2 runs, right? In what sort of conditions?
first time I rode a fish, it was pow on a crust and I got thrown around everywhere (mostly because I wasn’t used to the board).
I have a khyber split and it rides awesome. Yeah, it’s heavier than other boards (it’s an older model) but weight isn’t much of an issue unless you’re boosting out of a pipe or doing big spins in the park. I can’t wait to ride it in pow.
Anyways, the whole concept of a khyber/malolo/charlie slasher type board (20-25mm taper) is a pow board that performs well in resort too. If you have trouble riding one in resort, blame your riding, not the board. Tapered boards are actually easier to turn.
Your trice has c2 which is good in pow. A pow board will help you float more which means you can concentrate less on working to keep the nose up and more on the terrain, and it will also help you if you veer off into a flat spot.
The cool thing about having a pow board in your quiver is that you know, when you reach for it, that it’s going to be an epic day and you’ll be on best board for the conditions. A pow board is usually high spec and you can totally baby it, since it will be in soft snow all of the time. It will last a long time.
The reverse side to that is if the conditions are not epic, you’re going to wish you had your trice.
Granted it was spring conditions that’s why I said it was on groomers. Didn’t get to test it in pow. I’m just wondering does it really make a a lot of difference riding pow on a pow board compared to a regular twin?
the fish was great but in the end I prefered the malolo. The fish makes pow too easy. I think I’ll get a fish again when I’m old and I just want to cruise the pow all mellow. You can charge on it no problem though. I think I like having a tail, but I have had some EPIC days on the fish.
I have ridden the following pow boards:
166 Gentem Slasher
162 & 168 K2 Gyrator
165 Burton Stellar
160 Burton fish (both cambered and s-rocker versions)
156 Burton fish (cambered)
162 Burton Malolo (cambered)
164 Capita Charlie Slasher
160 Fanatic Royal Fish
hmmm, there might be more that I’m forgetting.
Anyways, I traded my last malolo for a Rossignol Experience and I love that for 90% of the conditions. It has a heavily rockered nose then camber, then a high kick on the tail. I know that wherever I end up on the mountain I will be able to kill it. In park it’s not so good (more mentally than anything).
I have a cambered Lib Tech Mullet that I bought in 08 for my season in Fernie. Worth every penny.
I know what you mean about the boards being strange on groomers. They are very ‘turny’ i.e. the slightest hint and they want to j-turn! Still, you get used to it and it’s not an issue when you’re riding natural terrain.
I also have a Trice 53 (Cambered) and a 52 Skateynana. The Trice is my favourite board ever, and the mid-wide element definitely helps in pow. That thing destroys natural terrain, the faster you go the better it gets. That being said, when things get tight, I like a little help. I’ve ridden my skateynana in mid-thigh pow and been okay, mind you that was super-light Utah pow. I haven’t ridden the Mullet in a while now, mostly because I’ve been living on the East Coast of Canada and haven’t had a chance. The one thing I didn’t like about it is the lack of pop in the tail - probably because there aren’t many boards that compare to the Trice in that respect.
If I want to ‘skate the mountain’ on a pow day, I’ll ride the banana. If there are lots of cat-tracks to jump off of and I might take a few laps through the park, the banana is good. If it’s not quite as deep, or there are lots of open bowls where I can ride fast, the Trice is mounted up.
However, if I want to ride steep and deep, and get into the trees, the Mullet is the go-to board. The narrow tail really helps you maneuvre like no twin-shaped board can. Unreal how nimble it is. Plus, about once a day, normally in the afternoon when you should be absolutely knackered, you find yourself leaning FORWARD into a powder turn, smashing through the whiteroom and laughing out loud while thinking “hahaha, it’s so easy it’s not even fair”. The big fat nose also smashes through other peoples tracks and avoids those afternoon tomahawks. Ride a tapered board on a deep day and you’ll be stoked.
Haha holy shit that’s a lot of pow boards. If I were to get a pow board this season the candidates are
1. Charlie Slasher which sadly is still $500 in canada =(
2. Hovercraft
3. Salomon Powder Snake or Sick Stick (I saw a lot of sick sticks in whistler this season).
If I do end up getting the Charlie do you think the 154 is enough considering the setback and taper? I’m 5’5” 150lbs w/out gear
I think the 54 should be fine. I’m pretty much the same stats as you and ride the 56 Mullet and that’s fully cambered. Charlie is flat so they probably work out similar.
54 charlie would be perfect for you. You’ll love it. $500 canadian to $400 us…. that’s a fair price
Haha holy shit that’s a lot of pow boards. If I were to get a pow board this season the candidates are
1. Charlie Slasher which sadly is still $500 in canada =(
2. Hovercraft
3. Salomon Powder Snake or Sick Stick (I saw a lot of sick sticks in whistler this season).If I do end up getting the Charlie do you think the 154 is enough considering the setback and taper? I’m 5’5” 150lbs w/out gear
3. Never tried the Powder Snake, but spent a few hours in Whistler (pow and groomed) on a Sick Stick, and never felt comfortable. If I was stuck without a board to ride and was offered one to ride for free, I’d pay to rent something else instead.
2. The Hovercraft, like the Fish, is only ‘adequate’ fr anything but pow.
1. The Charlie KILLS IT! Sooooooooo much better than my Malolo (which I sold to buy my Charlie). It’s all about the tail - you can set your stance forward (to be more centred) for regular resort days and still have heaps of fun. Carves like a dream on groomed, and charges through Spring slush and crud. I’m a lot bigger than you, and my 158 was the perfect choice for what I wanted - the board pick for a pow day, that you’re still happy to ride when everything’s tracked out. A 154 would do the same for you.
I found that while the malolo and charlie slasher rode differently, I didn’t find one to be better than the other. They’re both good pow boards. The Charlie is cheaper and is wider. If you have big feet then the Charlie is a no brainer…unless you consider the new La Nina by Lib Tech…and the malolo is gone for 2012, replaced by the Barracuda (which has less taper (15mm) and a whole new rocker/camber pattern. I think it’s wider than the malolo too
Yea but isn’t CAD is the same now as USD? Have you tried the La Nina gamblor? the profile looks a bit weird, camber at the back -> banana -> flat
@chucky: I’ve read reviews saying that the hovercraft is also good for groomers and railing turns also Jeremy Jones and Forrest Shearer seems to like it on hardpack.
Fingers crossed I’ll be able to buy a pow board (since I really want to get me a new laptop).
All the boards mentioned will perform well in pow. All the boards mentioned will perform adequately on hardpack. However, only railing turns on hardpack gets a bit old after a while, and that’s when you really appreciate the fact that Charlie’s actually got a (regular sized) tail. Set your bindings forward a tad, and you get a ride more similar to a regular (ie. not pow specific) board. It may be purely a mental thing, but riding switch is heaps more comfortable when your board’s got a tail. If I could ride untracked all day I’d choose a Fish or Hovercraft, but unfortunately, that’s just not the reality for most of us.
No, I haven’t tried the La Nina or the snow mullet it replaces either. Watching the Lib c1 explanation, it seems that there is quite a kick on the nose, so I think it’s only flat when you weight your front foot. Basically the same deal as Burton’s s-rocker.
A friend of a friend got the hovercraft last year but found it super stiff and sold it off. When JJ came to Hakuba last winter, he rode all the gnarly lines (think major exposure) on the hovercraft split.
I am not sold on the Jones boards yet though. When I rode the flagship last year I was glad I hadn’t bought it. It rode great but the chatter was insane. When you got up to speed on the steeps it was good, but just getting around the mountain just made my feet sore. The rossi experience is soooo much better imo. Anyways, back to the hovercraft…if you step back and think about it, why do you want to get it? I will guess it’s just because of two things: 1) Jeremy Jones and his hype and 2) beautiful graphics. This doesn’t say anything about how it rides though. If it was me I would wait until I could demo one before buying.
Note: now that the fish has s-rocker, it rides groomers no problem whatsoever. Same with the malolo/barracuda/charlie slasher. When you weight the s-rocker the nose kicks up and has no contact with the snow. It just feels like you’re riding a shorter board.
Chucky, the malolo has a regular-sized tail, same as the charlie. Well, the charlie has a little more kick I think.
162 malolo nose width:310.2mm tail width:290.2mm
164 charlie nose width: 311mm tail width: 291mm
161 barracuda nose width: 306mm tail width: 291mm
Haha true, just seeing Jones’ and their riders videos and the hype I guess + the beautiful graphics. I almost bought the Rossi experience this summer when going to a shop, but decided to hold back and save the money instead. I did try the Rossi One Magtek though (I know not a pow board) and it is sick. It rides so good, I couldn’t believe it after all this hate on Rossignol by a lot of people (which I don’t understand why). So I can imagine that the experience will also ride good.
Chucky, the malolo has a regular-sized tail, same as the charlie. Well, the charlie has a little more kick I think.
162 malolo nose width:310.2mm tail width:290.2mm
164 charlie nose width: 311mm tail width: 291mm
161 barracuda nose width: 306mm tail width: 291mm
That’s nose/tail width, not length. My Charlie has a much longer tail than my Malolo had. Or, to put it another way, the stance isn’t as set back - it’s by no means ‘centred’, but a lot less ‘directional’.