JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
@MarcD: That’s a sick chute. Hopefully you can get good snow in there. I agree with you, I think a more gradual nose is better at planing pow compared to a high kick nose.
That chute looks crazy!!!!!
Is that the same Damian that used to be on ski.com.au????? The bloke they always gave a hard time!!!!! The guy I thought was the only one that knew what he was on about!!!!! Based in Hakuba yeah?????
My DC’s have the “flat” nose and tail too!!!!! I agree that they work good in powder!!!!!
Image of my new Devun!!!!!
Nice landscape shot too!!!!! 
Yeah, same Damian.
Kuma, that’s a real nice nose your Devun’s got! Great purchase!
Dammit, I was looking forward to a groomer day
Poor Marc. We really feel sorry for you, buddy.
Yeah, my heart bleeds!!!!!
Oh wait a sec, it may be my own vomit!!!!!
.... I’m really enjoying reading this thread! Keep it coming!
If you guys have any questions like board A vs board B, hit me up.
Burton Fish - camber vs. s-rocker?
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Alright, here we go: the Burton Fish review
Camber vs S-rocker, which is better? The short answer is they are both good.
The long answer is there are pros and cons to both. Read on:
The S-rocker fish was introduced in the 2008-2009 season and it came in two flavours: the regular version with throwback Performer graphics, and the high end limited version (the silver fish). Along with the new s-rocker, the fish received a tiny swallow tail, which effectively made it a touch shorter.
The s-rocker means that the board has a softer nose, than it’s cambered older brother, which provides for easier turn initiation. The flip side to this is you lose power at speed, and the nose will crumple where the cambered nose version will hold the breach. We’re talking about excessive speeds here though, so it’s not something regular people need worry about. While the fish can be ridden fast, it won’t ride as fast as other boards because the tail sinks so much.
Weighting the cambered section under the feet will raise the nose on the s-rocker fish which will aid in float (as if you need any more help!) in powder, but even better, will lift the tapered nose out of the way when on hardpack. You will find yourself on a much shorter board, without the big hooky nose. It can be argued that the Fish is more freestyley with the s-rocker. See Stephan Maurer’s video for the type of fun you can have in the park on a fish. When I saw that video, I wasn’t surprised as the s-rocker makes the board ride like a normal freeride board. Riding switch is normal. The only negative I can think of is that you’re on a much shorter board than what you started out on!
Some pics of me on the 09 silver fish ltd:
photo: Patrick Fux/powdermania.com
photo: Patrick Fux/powdermania.com
photo: Patrick Fux/powdermania.com
So yes, I really like s-rocker. But cambered fishes are still amazing. I find that the stiffer nose of the old ones planes much better than the softer s-rockered fishes. In bottomless pow, on the s-rocker I found I was bouncing more - sinking in deeper in turns and popping out with more speed…but getting more faceshots than on a cambered fish. Yes, faceshots do get annoying when they’re every turn! I felt like a skier!
Now back to which would I pick? Well, the older ones can be had for a lot cheaper so that would be a good place to start if you want to get into the Fish powder experience. Or you can jump right in to the newest tech - the flat s-rocker of the 2014 fish (which is still called s-rocker, even though it doesn’t look like an ‘s’ anymore). I think that they all float amazingly and the differences are minimal.
Note that pre-2009, the fish have Burton’s 3D hole pattern, then in 08-09 and 09-10, they have the old channel, then from 2011 on, they have the new channel. The old channel system is a bit of a pain when it comes to bindings, so be warned. Non-Burton bindings have a hard time fitting, but it can be done, if you’re prepared to drill some discs yourself. Newer Burton bindings can be used with an adapter disc, but you will lose all the benefits of the reflex baseplate. I THINK est bindings still work on the old channel, but you will need to check that out at your local shop. Safest thing to do is to get an old pair of est bindings from that era and leave them on the fish for good.
Find shredbed footbeds for your est bindings for bonus points…but I never noticed any extra ‘feel’ in pow, and my feet would hurt when riding it on hardpack. Maybe I just need to harden up…
Sizing. Burton says that you can size down 3 to 6cm. I think that if you size down, you’ll get a manouevrable board with better float than your regular board. You’ll still need to pay attention to keeping your nose up a bit, but not much. It will float like a regular powder board ha ha. However, if you get a similar size to what you ride, the float is insane. It actually makes riding pow too easy. You can take all that energy you were using to staying afloat, and channel it into getting radical. (No more rear leg burn with both sizes though.)
..continued
Why get a fish?
The Fish is such a good powder board. You will float for days. Oh no! a flat patch coming up? No problem, the fish will get you through it. I’ve gotten much better float on my 160 than friends on their 170 Gentems…on days with a meter of new snow overnight and ongoing snowfall throughout the day.
You can strap in on the smallest decline and it will just speed up by itself. You can ride it with your weight evenly spread and wonder what ‘is this rear leg burn you speak of?’
The lack of tail makes it super easy to flip the board around after you’ve crashed and get back up againl In trees, it makes the tightest trees thinner and lets you ride faster.
It’s cruisy and surfy.
Oh, and the best thing is, you can push down on the tail to drop speed - perfect in trees when you don’t have space to throw in a turn.
Why not get a fish?
A short tail means less slashing power. No switch pow riding…can be done but you know what I mean.
It’s cruisy and surfy. When I rode mine, I just enjoyed the ride, and didn’t bother getting freestyley. Switching to a malolo made it more interesting for me. On the other hand, my surfer friend absolutely loves his fish and the surfy-ness is what he likes the best.
So, to each his own.
I put a noboard pad (noboard.ca) on my 2004 fish and used that on deep days. It was sick.
Here are some pics from when I noboarded the local ski jump.
photo: Yuko Durand
photo: Yuko Durand
photo: Yuko Durand
Finally, here’s a rather long vid I made on the noboard. You can really see how the nose of the fish keeps popping up. There was 90cm of new snow on top of pow, and it was snowing hard all day. Just crazy conditions.
Finally, for reference, you can find all the models of the Fish here.
The only ones missing are the 2010 No Fish
and the 2014 model
Thanks Marc.
dude that snow….................wow, just wow!!
That snow!
I found a pic of one of my targets this year: the chute on the left.
It was nice knowing you, Marc!
Is that the same Damian that used to be on ski.com.au????? The bloke they always gave a hard time!!!!!
wasn’t that you, Mizu???
The guy I thought was the only one that knew what he was on about!!!!!
oh, never mind, obviously someone else 
haha
I didn’t say “the guy that they give a hard time to on boardworld.com.au”!!!!!
Oh snap! 50cm of new snow at Happo last night, and it’s dumping now. It’s snowing hard here in Toyama so it must be crazy in Hakuba.
cough cough I think I need to take the day off!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, that’s insane. Can’t wait to see more, love your work! 