NevaSummaLuva

My background;
This is my first season with approx 40 days on the snow. East Coast rider, 6ft 160lbs,size 11 boot. I consider myself intermediate skill level. My original board up until now was a 2008 K2 Brigade 158 (full camber).

I just spent 4 days in Killington 3/27/11 - 3/31/11. Conditions - Bluebird, Packed powder/loose granular (no fresh snow in atleast a week)

My g/f had bought me a 2011 Burton custom Flying V 160 for about 2 weeks ago and this is the first time I would be testing it.

For first two days this was the FLying V was the stick I was using. First impressions, coming from a cambered K2 Brigade..... Fast!!! Took me one run to get the feel of the Flying V, but not as different as I had expected despite all the reviews online. Burtons WFO Sintered base is extremely fast. High speed stability was very good, but where this board failed was on icy hardpack. This performed worse than my "beginner" K2 board. I took a nice spill on the ice and lost some confidence and was disappointed, but still had faith in the boards abilities. From then on I was more cautious if I spotted some sketchy snow up ahead. Still poor performance on ice.

The 3rd day I stumbled into a board shop and there was a 2011 Never Summer SL 158 to demo. This was the board I was considering for awhile and did loads of research on. It was freshly waxed and edges were just sharpened. I could hardly wait to hit the mountain. The feel is similiar to the Flying V because they are very similar tech. Burtons base seems alittle faster than NS, and possibly a tiny bit more stable maybe cuz of the length (160 v 158)?. Where the board excelled over the Burton was on icy hard stuff. It was like night and day. This thing gripped like my old cambered board. After the entire day on the mountain in identical conditions, my confidence was back! I went back to the shop and bought the board I loved it so much. Sure the board had some scuffs on the topsheet, but the base and edges were pristine. By the 4th day I was slaying a few black diamonds which I probably wouldnt have even attempted with the Flying V.

If anyone is considering either board, dont hesitate to ask me any questions you may have.

Hope this was helpful

WHOisDAN

I like your username.

Enjoy your Never Summer.

BurtonAvenger

First year rider, 40 days on snow total, and 3 snowboards owned.

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Angry Snowboarder Because someone has to call it how they see it!

SlickmisterN

^lol, my sentiments exactly