My opinion about some freeride sticks and longboards

Post by **Felix** » Wednesday 23 January 2008, 16:31

After having spent the weekend ad Davos Pischa at the 2. European Freeride Test Days, I thought I just let you know about how I found the snowboards tested. All personal opinion. Josef from LTB (Nickname Großvater) was so kind to pick me up and drop me off at Frankfurt. I already wrote this in a german forum, but thought some english-speakers might be interestet too after having found the time to translate.

The freeride test days have been an awesome event. Great boards to ride, great people around (imagine loads of freeriders who just absolutely charge it down), and quite nice area too, though off course I prefer places like Krippenstein for freeriding. 683m vert is just a bit too small.

Conditions: 10-15cm of new snow on a harsh layer of old snow. At steep sections in the forest often the old snow wasn’t tracked out yet and still rather soft. Often varying from deeper snow to rather hard snow. Slopes in perfect conditions, rather on the soft side of course. Cold nights, and temps of around 5° at top station during the day, all sunny of course. Normally went down a nice red slope with many possibilities to take of over rollers etc (around 25%), then wide open freeride section (around 25%), and a steeper forest section of around 25°-40° with about 300m vert leading to a open run out back to the bottom station. Total 683m vert. Snow softened during Satturday and became very very heavy. On Sunday first very hard and frozen off-piste to become very nice by about 10 a.m and slushy and heavy from 12. a.m onwards.

Me: Riding all boards 25°/0°, around 55-59cm stance, my weight is around 72-75kg, and 179cm height. Bindings usually set all the way back as I love to put pressure on my front leg on turn initiation just like racing. Therefore a good powder board needs loads of flotation to not sink in.

Boards tested:
1. Powderequipment/Jester (custombuilt in a small manufactory in Konstanz), rode 180cm and 190cm, Shape like on a Powderequipment type B. (I think they will be presented at the upcoming Ispo), 08/09 model? Specs Board type B: The customs had a clear topsheet and came uncoloured to save weight. Carbon/Wood core. Only around 2.8kg for a 190cm board which is absolutely astonishing. (Shape is very similar to the Jester Element but not the same)

Board Type B: Nose 34cm, Tail 17cm. Setback (guess around 5-8cm).
length 170: Radius 8m: effective edge 121cm, 2,9kg, 304,250,286
length 180: Radius 8m: effective edge 131cm, 3kg, 316/254/300
Länge 180W: Radius 9m, e. edge 131cm, Gewicht 3,2kg, 324/268/308
Länge 190: Radius 9m, e.edge 141cm, Gewicht 3,2gk, 318/253/304 –

Impressions: Wow what a powder weapon, that huge nose will not sink at all. Gives more uplift off-piste than any non-swallowtail snowboard I’ve ridden so far (both in 180 and 190cm). On slope the board could be a bit damper on high-speed carving. For lower speed carving is no prob at all. Offpiste the huge nose just stays on top of everything and tracked out powder becomes real fun, cause it’s hard to note. Carving in powder and cut-backs work amazingly good. One allways knows how far one can pressure the nose for carving in powder. Inside tight forest runs, the low weight and huge setback means that jump turns on steeper sections feel like being on a 20cm shorter pintail. Furthermore the shape of this board make it really fast on wet, heavy and deep snow. The 190 and 180 rode very similar. The bigger taper on the 180 ment that it floated about as good as the 190 and the 180 was stable enough at all speeds I could through at it in powder (max speed I reached in powder was around 80km/h after GPS analysis).

2. Tanker 200 – model 08/09 (?), 315,255,292, Setback 5cm, Radius 12.5m (theese are the old specs, I’m pretty sure I was riding a 08/09 model though): Great board for highspeed powder and chopped up snow. Runs downs like a tanker on slope with wide turns. Wants to be ridden with power and speed otherwise it might feel a bit too long. Still o.k. in tight trees, though shorter boardss are better for that. Great flotation, though no way near the Powderequipments.

3. LTB Classic Long 190M standard edition (soft flex) (build at a small manufactory in Neuss), Noselenght 25cm, Tail 21cm, Radius 9.3m (316,254,304), Setback 6cm, Stance 52-64cm:
Best softbootboard I’ve ridden so far on slope. That edge just sticks to the snow like glue. Rails down on carving like no other. The short radius and for such a length soft flex makes it feel a lot shorter than my old tanker I had just ridden before. Very damp but still lively. Off piste it doesn’t float as good as the new tanker or the Powderequipment but off course 190cm and relatively long nose and setback still means that you don’t have to shift your weight to the backfoot. For doing carves with lot of front foot pressure in powder attention is needed however. I sometimes managed to get the nose stuck in the heavy snow, but that happened to mee on the tanker as well.

4. LTB Classic Long 190M special edition extra hard (they had a special edition medium as well)): I found it too hard, both for off-piste as well as on-piste. Probabely more for bigger riders. The stiff flex made it float a bit worse than the softer standard edition.

5. Never Summer Summit 167 (Made in U.S.A.): Great funboard. Easy to ride on slope and while drifting high speed doesn’t matter that much. For railing down carves short effective edge length ment no high edge angles with confidence once going a bit faster. Not worse than big-brand freestyle/freeride boards though. It excells in the forest, Jumpturns at steeper sections are what this board does best but also rather high speed for deep forest and this board will just give you the feeling that no matter what gets into your way you can instantly change direction and avoid it. Busting through crust or tracked out offpiste it does allright in terms of float, but stability is off course an issue with its short length. I took the 167 because the distributor for NS in Switzerland recommended it to me over the 172.

6. Arbor Abacus 164, Pintailboard (Made by GST in Austria???): Nice allround pintailboard. I liked it better than mainstream pintails like Burton Fish or Maolo (but it is some time since I’ve used them). Very easy to ride, but I think the Never Summer Summit was better at everything.
Onpiste mediocre performance. I liked the Summit better on piste. Good float off course.

7. Arbor A-Frame 170: The only board that I expected to ride a lot better. Offpiste it behaved like a submarine, with the nose just digging to the ground. Definitely no pow board. Onpiste I can’t remember anything special.

8. My old Tanker 200 (02/03), with broken edge, completely beat-up.: For riding powder it’s still allright, though could float a bit better. Going through tracked powder still good to excellent. On piste it just feels beat-up. Neither lively nor damp. Still a great allround board though, that is good at everything but going slow or carving on piste.

Conclusion:

Best board off piste: Powderequipment. Not doubts. Rides as great as a Swallowtail.
Best board on piste: LTB 190M, never ridden such a good board for softboot carving, imagine it beingt great for BX too, and ist not bad in powder either.
Best board for hard crust or tracked out powder and high speed: Tanker 200
Best board in Forest: Never Summer Summit

I’ld love to have the LTB 190 with the 34cm shovel of the Powderequipment, which would make the LTB a 200. Anyhow next year LTB as well as Powderequipment will produce 210cm long sticks. Probabley will get either of the above LTB190 or Powderequipment 180 next year. (Maybe Powderequipment 190 if they widen and soften the shovel (and make the shovel even longer, like 36-37cm ). No tanker cause I already have one, though a Never Summer Summit would suit my collection great too, especially as I love riding through denser forest and steep chutes.

Post by **Felix** » Wednesday 23 January 2008, 16:34

Oh don't ask for other manufacturers. I didn't try the boards of Amplid or the Voelkl Selecta and neither Dupraz nor Pogo showed up, but I would have loved to give the D1++ or the Pogo Shaman a ride too.

Post by **tigger** » Sunday 3 February 2008, 18:41

hey everybody, i just came back from 3 vallees where i spend 4 days on my new dupraz D1++. unfortunately i had to spend 99% of my riding onpiste due to the lack of fresh powder. but it worked brilliant on the slopes as well. it rides very easy when you are cruising, you dont feel the lenght of 178cm at all. when you push it hard with your weight back the grip is enorm and much better than you would imagin it from 122 eff. edge. it took some time to get used to the feeling of the tapered tail and the different weight distribution while carving, but after some runs you get used to it and you can carve it really hard even on very hard/icy snow. of course the huge nose isnt really damp at highspeed on a bumpy slope, but thats not what it was build for, the nose will give you a big smile from the first meter in powder, it floats like nothing else i know. i rode it with soft plastic plates and a soft raichle sb 123, this felt like a perfect setup on this board to me. cant wait to take it out to some open powderfields. a board i can really recomment, its beautyful, well made, and makes the girls wanna ride the chairlift with you.....
cheers

Post by **raphael** » Monday 4 February 2008, 9:41

Swallowtail boards is the way to go.

Post by **nils** » Monday 4 February 2008, 11:18

I was saturday at Méribel in the 25 cm new powder... rode my amok 196cm with plates as usual.. base was icy bumps etc and i could just, as usual, fly over all that crappy base like on air

.. the so long experience and endless hours of powder riding that kafi has is really into those boards's flex and shape... and ST really outrun anything.. they have to be tested against symetrical freeride boards of similar length of course...
comparing a fish or a D1 to a 196cm ST is not very efficient...comparing it to a tanker is better, but they are still very different concepts...

Anyway: if you can afford a Swellpanik ( bargain regarding the quality, experience and craftmanship), do it! Amok has been replaced by the MetaBaron 192cm for more efficiency in crud and bad snows...

Nils

Post by **Felix** » Monday 4 February 2008, 11:26

Yeah I would love to have a Swallowtail!

Scoring testrides of swallows is pretty difficult in the eastern alps however. Basically there is only Pogo which focusses on the eastern alps to sell boards that produces ST.

Swell Panik would be on top of my list!
However while scoring a cheap longboard is sometimes possible (my tanker set me back 40€ plus 20€ shipping) its very difficult for longer ST. The Jester/Powderequipment however really surprised me, I would need to test it against good swallows on the same day.

Post by **tigger** » Monday 4 February 2008, 11:33

man nils, we could have met, this saturday was one of the days that will stay in my memory for ever, we went to the cime de caron and suddently we were above the clouds in the bright sun. i got goosbumps in this magic moment. the top of the montblanc came out of a lake of clouds, and the orelle valley was sunny with only very vew people.

Post by **raphael** » Monday 4 February 2008, 12:03

Tigger >
I'm jealous ...

Felix wrote:The Jester/Powderequipment however really surprised me, I would need to test it against good swallows on the same day.

Next time we meet you can try my Rossignol.

... by the way, i'm sure they sell in Österreich.