About me
- I started snowboarding in 1998
- I have carved in Quebec and now in Lake Tahoe
- 165cm and 60kg (5'5 & 130 lbs)
- Bindings angles 55/50
- Northwave boots
- Head (ex Blax Stealth) bindings
First impressions
I was right away at ease on the Swoard 161M thanks to its light weight and stability. It also provides a "thin" and accurate feeling after a few carves.
Carving
The board stability provides a huge confidence booster before executing a carve. The Swoard can be described as a high performance carving deck with a fantastic ease of use. The edge-to-edge is very quick thanks to its "springy" nature of the board. In Tahoe, it's rare to see ice so I can't comment about the 161M performances on icy conditions. I love the flex of this board which is perfect for my little 130lbs. I love softer boards but they are usually associated with high speed instability. Luckily, this is not the case of the Swoard !! Is the secret in that ATC ?
All-Mountain deck
The 161M lightweight and width allows it to float on powder. Those characteristics also make the board very easy to use. At first, I had reservation about riding fakie with a square tail board but this is actually not an issue at all once I got used to it. I tried the Swoard with little jumps, soft snow, a bit of powder etc...it's a great all-round board !!
Bottom Line
- Perfect combo with no compromise between flex and torsional stiffness.
- High performance carving board yet very easy to use
- Great all-round deck.
Watch out, the first time you ride this board, you are going to have so much fun that you can't stop laughing !
But don't worry, the Swoard is easy to get used to and makes EC fun !
This is a pix of the Swoard 161M on soft sticky snow
Peter Vu
Olaf 
