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First powder board!

11K views 91 replies 26 participants last post by  basser 
#1 ·
Okay, so this is going to be my second serious season, my sister is going to get me a board for christmas + my birthday. This will be my first powder board as I don't realistically see that much powder living in S. California and don't travel much. I plan to see at the very least 4-5 powder days this season, and I am planning a trip to Japan next year.

I'm 6ft, 220lbs, size 10.5 boots. Home mountain: big bear, plan on ski bumming powder days at Mammoth.
current boards: NS type 2 160, and rome reverb rocker 160

Should I get one of those short and fat powder decks or something more traditional?

Should I forgo the above and get a charger that can work in powder? i.e. a Flight attendant

short and fat: yes optimistic, 420 powder hull, ride warpig, jones hovercraft

normal: capita charlie slasher or warpspeed, yes PYL, NS 25/swift, 167 flight attendant, landlord, PYL

charger: 162w flight attendant, capita mercury or warpseed, jones flagship

I'm probably missing a couple in my list.. and a lot of the boards probably overlap categories.

have at it!
 
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#2 ·
Dupraz D1.

Order it directly from France. You've been on here long enough to know the love for that board! With your stats get the 6.0 or maybe the 5.5+ (you can email the guy - Serge, I believe - and he can help choose which board) and you have a serious powder/big mountain board that still rips the piste. Between that board and your Type Two you essentially have it all covered. Plus it's just a cool board to have and it would make a special gift from your sister!
 
#3 · (Edited)
can't go over $600. I would love to try a 6' but I did hate the 5'5+ (I admit I didn't give it a better chance.) on hardpack and slush. that board kills my legs on long lifts, I can only imagine how heavy the 6' would be, but it's probably worth it more than the 5'5. I've written this multiple times, but I've never been so scared getting off the lift before riding a dupraz. shit goes fast 1 footed.

and that's probably the only board that can't be bought on a discount.
 
#4 ·
When you get into powder, how do you like to ride it?

Given you don't get many powder days, I'd vote for something more versatile, the FA, PYL, Optimistic, Lago Open Road, War Pig, Super 8, Dupraz etc.
 
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#8 ·
truthfully, I have NO IDEA. only pow I got last year were side stashes and the trees. so I was going slow as shit with my rome trying not to hit trees and fallen logs. it felt glorious and I'm eager to have a full pow run. this year I'm going to be driving 6hrs(x2) just to hit it.
 
#5 ·
So picking between freeride, pow, and short fat is tough. They're all multi condition versatile in their own way. And your size plays a factor as well.

All three styles will crush pow.

Freeride boards like the Flagship are gonna be better suited to open steeper terrain or crappy variable conditions.
Pow boards are always gonna float and ride super surfy on harder pack stuff but typically get bucked around a bit in variable conditions.
Short fats are surfy, still floaty, and most can rip groomers. There's little board there so some are a little skippy in variable terrain and overall short fats are just ridden differently than traditional boards. It's a feel thing.

Freeride styles to look at: 165? Flight Attendant, 164 Flagship, 164? Flow Maverick, or a 167 Ride Timeless.

Pow boards: 160 Flow Darwin, Nitro Quiver 164, Burton Fish, Arbor Shreddy or Cosa, Capita Charlie, Jones Hover, Salomon Sick Stick.

Short fats: Ride Warpig Large, Yes 420, Rome Powder St, K2 Cool Bean 150, Salomon Derby.

Some inbetweeners are the Salomon Super 8, Ride Timeless in a 62, K2 Ultradream, Ride Alter Ego, Yes PYL, Rome Sawtooth, or a Flow Solitude.

My personal pick, well I have a Timeless, want a Warpig, have a big Fish, and wish I had an Ego.
 
#6 ·
With the Type Two, though, he doesn't need to be too versatile because that one already covers a broad range of conditions. Whatever you get I'd make sure it is a substantially different ride so either a really solid charging board like a Flagship or a dedicated pow board like a hovercraft, warpig, or some swallowtail.
 
#7 ·
It really depends on how you like to ride. If you are mostly on groomers, trees, blacks, powder. I'd say optimistic. If you are more into the park, including trees, blacks, powder. I'd go w/ the Warpig. The Warpig doesn't have the stiffness of the Optimistic. Which is why I went w/ the Opti (I have no desire for park). Just my opinion based on those two.
 
#51 ·
I second this, wholeheartedly. You will not get more bang for your buck than a Fullbag. I would suggest the Hammerhead 181, but you can roll with the 171 too, if you're scared of length (don't be - more nose = more float...plus, you're a big guy, you should be able to muscle that shit around easily)

I am pretty well bang on for your height and weight (I'm 5'11 and presently 225 lbs), and I am in love with my Fullbag Hammerhead 181. The thing is a blast and rides WAY shorter than you would think. I also have a Type Two (mine's a 161 X), and I would can switch from that to my Hammerhead without feeling like I'm stepping out of a Miata and into a cube van. It has a really tight sidecut through the nose, so it turns in fast - much faster than my A-Frame 167w despite being much longer and having much more effective edge. Mig's geometry is really killer. I can't recommend it enough, and your dollar goes so far up here - you'll probably never find a better deal.
 
#10 ·
Okay, so this is going to be my second serious season, my sister is going to get me a board for christmas + my birthday. This will be my first powder board as I don't realistically see that much powder living in S. California and don't travel much. I plan to see at the very least 4-5 powder days this season, and I am planning a trip to Japan next year.
For a versatile, excellent pow board, that still rides more than fine on groomers, I would personally recommend a Burton Fish 161. I have ridden various versions of this board from 156 - 161 over the past 10 years and I love them. Camber, flat rockers ya de ya, its just a fun board to ride.

I rode a 4/20 last year, wasnt too in to it, maybe I didnt give it enough time.

Thats my 2c, for whats it worth, i'm 210lbs, 6ft, 36, normal length board would be something in the 160-165 range.
 
#13 ·
Probably not big enough for Jae. Add a 163 Gate Keeper to the list though, a bit more powder focused than the FA, but will still kill groomers.
 
#15 ·
I'm 6'4" 220lbs 11 size foot, I don't like the 420 on anything but deep snow it sucks for resort riding and when its chopped up i've never been bucked around so much in my life. I had the 148 and 152. I'm about to get a 20/20 in a trade tomorrow but I assume I won't like it either, I think the powder hull 420 might be sweet though. Another couple fun boards in pow are the spring break slush slasher, nitro nuat, nitro cannon, and nitro pow. Also springbreak line is sick the powder wolf is rad I have treehunter but want the wolf. You can get a last powder pill for about 500 bucks they are sick.
 
#18 ·
I think you should try to demo as many as you can, to see what works for you best. You are looking at a very broad range of shapes, and it will be next to impossible to pick the right gem based solely on reviews and recommendations. May be narrow down to a handful of candidates, but then you gotta ride them.

May be ask for a gift certificate from your sister so you can pick your stick at your own pace and buy later? Your type two will hold you over fine until you find its perfect stable mate.
 
#20 ·
Go big, not small.

You already have a type 2, it handles a lot of varied conditions.

But it doesn't truly slay powder.
Some of you might think it does?

You guys, haha, don't have a clue.:dry:


Super fast & powder slaying, aren't the type 2's speciality.

So go bigger.
That covers the speed aspect.


& there's something to be said about riding
ON TOP OF THE POWDER.

Rather than riding in the powder.

Until you've ridden something big & stopped somewhere in the middle of a deep pow run.

When you stop, you stay on top of the snow.

Everyone else with a tiny pow board, will sink when they stop.

When you're all standing there & you notice yourself standing 2 feet higher than everyone else.

You'll know what I'm talking about.


TT
 
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#23 ·
What TT is saying above me applies to North America, buuuut...

In my experience a big old pow deck isn't what you want in Japan. Depends how much time you plan on spending there I guess. But you wanna be as nimble as possible - change directions real quick and swing through trees and bounce off and over stuff rather than open up big surfy turns like you would wanna do most places in North America. You also have to deal with a lot of groomers and traversing across stuff to get to the goods so you want a board that doesn't become a chore to get around on. Unless it's puking all day the best runs are tracked out by lunch at which point you don't need to worry so much about floating, just charging.

I really wanna try a Warpig in Japan this time and if I find one I'll probably buy it. Of all the short fat boards it seems like the one to pick. Although you're just off the end of the weight recommendation for the large so I dunno. I haven't read all the sizing charts for your other considerations but basically what I'm saying is if you get the choice between a shorter board that works well, and a longer board that works well, lean towards the shorter one. Not as extreme as a 420. But somewhere down that spectrum like the hovercraft or something where the shape assists more than just pure length.

Note: I'm only like 150 lbs so it's possible that my preference of what works good isn't what works good for you and vice versa.
 
#29 ·
Not to hijack the thread, but I was curious what kind of pow board is the least physically exhausting to ride? One of my work buddies has cardio that is currently pretty bad (but improving), he's a little overweight (he and his wife had a kid last year so it's understandable) and he's a soon-to-be-ex smoker. Are the swallow tails the least draining on the legs (and lungs?). I managed to convince him and his wife to head up with me and my gf and now he's looking at pow boards. His skill level is pretty high - he went to college in Colorado and boarded a ton, but that was a decade ago. I think the bigger issue is his fitness level...

My gut says that I should point him towards an oversized board but then that might be heavier to really move it around too... any thoughts?
 
#31 ·
WHy make a new thread when there's a perfectly good one right here? Waste not, want not 0:)

So what's a good damp (for when it gets choppy/cruddy) swallowtail that can hold a decent edge on a groomed run in between hitting the bowls in mammoth?
 
#37 ·
I've owned or own a bunch of these decks on the list - Hovy, FA, Flag, PYL and a few of the others(been riding since 2000) -- I have also had other powder oriented decks - con artist , shreddy krueger, rome notch, supermodel x, malolo.

Would choose the b fish if I had to choose one, especially if you're a new pow guy/rider.

--- always have one in the quiver and break it out on days 6+

It's one of the most fun, surfy pow decks you can own...unsinkable, slays tight trees and is easy to ride with a nice mid flex. its especially good on low angle pow where others bog down.

The old version that was camber with S rocker is better on hardpack when the pow is tracked but I have the current flat fish(shark from last year)and its so much fun slashing around on groomers.

Fish is just a classic deck that makes riding deep snow effortless -- and it's an investment as you'll have it for years.
 
#38 ·
The birdman is a pretty easy board to ride.

All this talk about big boards being to hard to throw around makes me laugh.

The difference is really quite minimal.
Your not on a Tanker 200!!!

This past weekend it was sooo deep, my D+ wasn't cutting it.

The alpine wasn't open, so there wasn't enough steeps.

had to lean back a tonne just because the snow was so deep.

Not because the front end was sinking, because the whole board was under, up to my knees.

Creating lots of drag.
Made it super hard to turn or even build up some speed.

It was literally over my head deep, totally bottomless.

Fish aren't that good in snow that deep.

After the second day, I needed something better.

Found a birdman 170 HP on craigslist.
$300 for a ridden once HP ain't too bad.
Even better if you're a ******.
So I posted it up on Facebook.
Within minutes someone wanted me to get it for them.

It was so much easier to manage than the D+

Trying to turn the D+ while the WHOLE thing was under a foot & half of powder, not easy.

Birdman with its full rocker was much easier to turn.

Small boards like the fish are only good up to the 2 foot deep mark.

Deeper than that & you are buried past your knees.
It's insanely hard to turn a board that's 2 feet below the surface


TT
 
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#44 ·
From Salomon the Super 8 is a much better pick. Backseat camber and long flat nose, wide chasis but just right torsionally that you don't feel it. For powder I'd definitely rate it above the Flight Attendant, there's just so much surface area I couldn't sink it in all the flat spots I've taken it in, and there's a lot at sunshine. Stashes no one touches because they're worried they'll get stuck. Bomb fast into them and carry a bit of speed, lay some squiggleys, cruise out back to the groomer.

When I'm home ill put up a pic for comparison, the wide FA would probably be too much board to handle at lower speeds and on hardpack.
 
#54 ·
You really have to decide if you want a nearly pure pow stick or something more versatile. The FA would be a fun board, but I don't think it complements your TT all that well. On the spectrum of play --> piste --> pow you will have two boards that overlap significantly in the middle, but neither really hits the end. If you want a pow stick as you suggest, go for it and get something awesome that truly covers the pow end!

The Lifer looks awesome.
 
#60 ·
All awesome options as well. I am sitting on a brand new Fissile waiting for snow. I went for a Fissile over a Dupraz because I could get it custom narrowed for my little feet. I did strongly debate the Khyber as well, but I felt like it was generally more like other directional twins (such as the much-discussed Flight Attendant) and I wanted something more unique. I'm sure Jae has read MotoGP's love on the Fissile for Whistler pow, but if Jae didn't like the D1 he may not like the similar design of the Fissile.

Fun to think about spending other people's money!
 
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