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Powder Board Suggestions!

24K views 92 replies 41 participants last post by  ridinbend 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I come here to ask you guys some suggestions. I'm trying to make a purchase and I figured there would be no where better to ask some board junkies for advice than here.

Weight:200
Height:5'11"

Currently I ride a 156 GNU Park Pickle(twin). I really like this board for riding groomers. I like that with the reverse camber it's almost impossible to catch an edge. One thing I dislike about the board is it's hard to shred through choppy stuff and I find myself getting shot over the bumpy stuff when speed checking. I don't like jibbing it hurts too much now that I'm 30. I really just enjoy shredding and small to medium jumps, and ollieing off every roller I can.

I have done a few back country trips and I had the chance to ride a Burton Fish, and a Burton Mololo. These boards rode so wicked in the powder. I really like the s-rocker. When I do my cat trips they always provide a powder board so I really don't need to buy a strictly powder board. I might buy a fish next year anyways. I know one of these boards would be awesome to own, but I don't think they would fair well on groomers. If I had my choice I'd never ride a groomer again, but lets be realistic. Cat's and Heli's get expensive real quick, and I'm too old and no where good enough to get sponsored lol.

On Jan. 3 I was at Mt. Washington(Vancouver Island) and we got about 40 cm in one day. There was waist deep powder in the drifts. The park pickle held up fine to ride straight through the powder but was too floppy to carve powder in the steep terrain. The whole time I was riding I was thinking I wish I was on a mololo or fish right now. As well after setting my bindings back and setting up directional to do well in the pow, I left it like this the next time I rode groomers. I realized how much more I like riding a directional than a twin.

So I need to find a directional board I can ride on groomers, and will do very well in powder. I need a board that can get me through the choppy shit when I'm heading to the backside on mountains to find the powder stash. I need a board that after I'm done hiking, and riding pow will ride nicely on the groomers and will make groomers still enjoyable. If I can find a board that is great for landing jumps and ollieing mixed in with my requirements all the better. I would like to be able to bring my board to back country too rather than always using there s-rockers. I'd like to try something different for a change. I know I'm asking for a lot in one board but I'm sure there is something out there for me.

I do have a thing for lib-tech's but I'm not opposed to hearing about boards from the smaller custom manufacturers. I know the quality is high with these boards and they are cheaper. I just haven't had the time to put in the kind of research to find a board that would be best suited to my needs.

This is where you guys come in. I know a lot of you guys are so passionate about boarding you know the differences between different manufacturer's models. I'm hoping some of you can make some suggestions and I can further do some research to get me my versatile dream board. Thanks for hearing me out. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
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#4 ·
Salomon Powder Snake, killer board - only $399. It's similar to the Sick Stick but without the bamboo.

Or if you want to get more spendy, try the ride slackcountry. It will plow through anything, and is unbelievable in powder.

Arbor Coda/ElementRX would be killer too. Tons of pop and great in powder.

Something a little more aggressive would be the ride highlife, you can take that board anywhere, it will destroy any terrain you can throw at it. It's super surfy in powder, but real stiff and damp so you can stomp over any mid-day chunder. A similar board would be Jakey B's Ride Berzerker, it's a little more playful, better all around board.

Now only the first two are powder specific boards, the others are great in pow, but will do better when you're not in fresh snow.
 
#6 ·
It sounds to me like you're looking for an all-mountain board that will be really good in pow, not a true powder board. My Charlie Slasher will get me down the hill on a groomer, but it isn't as fun as my Raygun.

I'd look at something like a K2 Turbo Dream. It's similar in shape to my Raygun but a little stiffer and damper, and the flex and lack of dampening are the only things I don't like about the Raygun.
 
#7 ·
Salomon sick stick

-They call this an all mountain to powder snowboard. This board seems like more of a powder board to me so I'm not too interested in it at this point as I need a board for those groomers and choppy stuff.

K2 Gyrator

-This board looks like a lot of fun, but I'm skeptical of how well it's going to work for carving in powder. My current board is a reverse camber, and I am looking for something with a blend. I really like the 1" stance setback on this board.

Burton Nug

-Way to small for me

Jones Hovercraft

-This board looks like a dream to ride in the back country. I'm very skeptical about using a design like this on a resort on any other day then an epic powder day.

Salomon Powder Snake

-Wow a board built for powder and park? Interesting. Anyone ride this on groomers?

Ride Slackcountry

-I'm very interested in this board. It has a 3/4" setback. It has highrize(slightly higher rocker in the nose than the tail and nearly flat under foot). I am really trying to find a board with some camber in it as well but this board has piqued my interest.

Arbor Coda

-Wow this board looks awesome and I know a small shop near me carries arbor. Thanks for recommending it. If they made this in a directional I'd be all over this. I guess I could ride it back on the holes but would it perform as well as a true directional?

Ride Berzerker

-I'm very interested in this board. Jake Blauvelt is one of my favorite riders. Featuring rocker in the nose and a level micro-camber zone extending under the feet and through the tail, the new Hybrid All Mountain shape provides the perfect blend to charge it all. Has anyone rode this in the powder and on groomers?

Ride Highlife UL Snowboard

-This board is very similar to the berzerker and it's 60 more. The specs are very similar. It's around 50 more than the berzerker

K2 Turbo dream.

-This board looks like alot of fun. It has a lot of pop and is directional. The only thing I don't like is there is no camber in it. I bet this would be fun on a resort. Has anyone rode this backcountry? How did it perform?

Libtech La Nina MC

-There description says "The La Niña is a directional shape banana in the front, rocker between your feet and camber (C1) in the back design with Magne-Traction. Matt rides a lot of resort accessible steep pow terrain and the often brutal, to the point of comedy, terrain necessary to get in and out of the pow stashes and then hits every jib or cat track hit on the way back to the lift."

Has anyone tried this board? It does look interesting. By there description it does sound like what I need, however I don't trust the marketers that write this shit!

So far I'm the most interested in:
Arbor Coda(Would love this in a directional)
Ride Berzerker
Ride Highlife UL
Libtech La Nina

It would be nice if I could hear first hand accounts of how these ride. I'm off to do some more interest. Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread so far.
 
#10 · (Edited)
K2 Gyrator

-This board looks like a lot of fun, but I'm skeptical of how well it's going to work for carving in powder. My current board is a reverse camber, and I am looking for something with a blend. I really like the 1" stance setback on this board.

K2 Turbo dream.

-This board looks like alot of fun. It has a lot of pop and is directional. The only thing I don't like is there is no camber in it. I bet this would be fun on a resort. Has anyone rode this backcountry? How did it perform?
The Gyrator is considerably rated at the top of of PURE pow boards , probably not ideal for groomers but regardless a really really bad ass aboard.

The K2 TurboDream is the board they modeled their Panoramic backcountry Split board off of , it's like an "all mountain powder board" , I'm 5'11, weigh 185Lbs, ride the 157 wide and leave everyone behind on POW days except those that have dedicated powder boards. It has reverse camber up from and a very small amount in back.

I would also 2nd the pow snake especially at that price and trust me you WANT reverse camber or flat camber for a pow stick.
 
#11 ·
K2 Gyrator

-This board looks like a lot of fun, but I'm skeptical of how well it's going to work for carving in powder. My current board is a reverse camber, and I am looking for something with a blend. I really like the 1" stance setback on this board.

Speaking from experience here.

If you are only going to ride one board and it doesn't dump every time you ride.
Then a Gyrator shouldn't be your first choice.

I've ridden it on non-pow days and it isn't very fun.

This board is a pure pow board.
I don't ride my Gyrator unless there is at least 6" of new snow.

However, if it does snow. This board is very lively, quick to turn, and does this awesome porpoise thing.
If you push the nose under it will pop back up and if you do it in succession into turns you can start hopping in and out of the pow a lot like a dolphin in the water.

:D
 
#14 · (Edited)
Skimmed the thread.

I've ridden the 1st Gen Burton Fish, Osin 4807, Prior Khyber, and recently the Never Summer Summit 160. I really like the Summit 160, it is surprisingly good on man-made snow groomers and hardpack here Lake Tahoe (i.e. I had a lot of fun carving it on groomer slopes). Edgehold on scrapped-hard man-made is decent, but not great (far better than the Burton Fish)... so if you planning on using the board to freeride when there is true ice... you might want something with more grip.

Board was really fun even in the "snowcone snow" made from people scrapping off the top snow (again this is man-made since until this week Tahoe was bone-dry) run and gathers in 3-4 inch deep piles on the edges of the trail and near bumps. The board has become my default freeride board at the moment (obviously it is good in powder).

BTW, I'm pretty sure Arbor Coda is directional. I scouted out the Sick Stick and Pow Snake and hope to try them in the future.
 
#15 ·
I spent the last five days at mt baker in pow. I ride got a Charlie Slasher and rode it yesterday and today. Definetly recomend it. Fast, super float, and powers straight through the sketchy tracked out crap.

The most common boards i saw on the pow days were lib tech la Nina's/snow mullets, Jones flagship, ride slackcountry.

For my money the carlie Slasher seemed best and after riding it on fresh deep pow and tracked out crap and in trees and hauling ass on groomers; you get a ton of board for 400 bucks. The only faults I could find with it is that it doesn't hold the best carving edge ever but is still good and carves smoothly.:thumbsdown:
 
#20 ·
I think what you need is a cambered allmountain board with rockered nose. It handles like a regular board but has extra float for the deep stuff. They are perfect for what you have said you want to do.
Boards in this category are:
Jones Flagship
Rossignol Experience
Ride Berzerker

Tapered boards like the burton malolo, barracuda, capita charlie slasher are hybrids but they are boards that I would rather have on a powder day than on a groomer day. All are fine in the backcountry (but I find the charlie slasher to be 1) too wide underfoot and 2)not a fan of the flat camber under the back foot).
Full-on powder boards like those mentioned already (fish, gyrator, etc) are not so well-performing on groomers. Especially the gyrator. Not recommended for all-conditions riding. The Hovercraft is similar to the fish but is quite stiff. This takes away some of the fun factor, but lets you get your carve on, and is more versatile for backcountry riding.

Another idea is the Burton Sherlock. It's a hybrid rocker (rocker with camber under the feet) with side effects tech on the nose and tail which provide extra float. It's basically a twin built for pow. I find it carves well and the other weekend in nipple deep pow it floated fine, with a centred stance. I think it will perform a bit better than your gnu, but I guess it's prob too close, unless you sized up. It rides short btw.
So anyways, flagship (check for defects first), Experience (awesome board, better than the flagship) or Berzerker are my recommendations.
 
#21 ·
sorry to bump an old thread, but I wanted to deposit my $.02...

I picked up a 2009 Gyrator and finally got the opportunity to ride it this past weekend. It was full of awesome sauce in the pow pow. We had 18" of new up here in Washington and this board was super fun to ride. I have to say that this board was much better on the groomers than I was expecting. I rode a Gnu Riders Choice for a couple years and currently have a Nitro Team Gullwing and Capita Ultrafear. I think riding on the reverse camber boards helped me understand how to ride the Gyrator. I actually felt pretty stable on it straightlining some groomed and choppy sections. Carving on it was also pretty good.

My point is that its relative to your experience. I can imagine that anyone coming from a regular cambered board would think its not stable at all. Maybe even someone coming from a hybrid camber board.

Here's my recommendation if you haven't already figured something out. You've already got the Park Pickle that you can use on not so deep days. Just because its a park board doesn't mean you can only ride it in the park. I think you should keep that board and also pick up a dedicated pow board. Its a pretty awesome experience to ride and float with little effort in the deep stuff.

-joel
 
#22 · (Edited)
Hey guys,

I'm looking to replace my Slackcountry which died a bad death due to a rock a couple weeks ago.

I was looking at the Sick Stick, K2 Gyrator, and another Slack. I'm leaning toward not considering the Sick Stick as I've read some durability issues due to the bamboo construction not lasting very long (though the ride is supposedly incredible). Any comments on this would be helpful.

So looking at the K2 gyrator vs the Slack - they seem to be the same shape. I saw references to both having reverse camber, but the shape seems simple: Flat between the bindings and rocker at tips. Am I misunderstanding this? If this is correct, I'm guessing these ride very similar? While Slackcountry has the higher price, it seems the Gyrator has a pretty legendary following for pow heads.

One thing I noticed while riding my old Slack around - I believe the extreme rocker on both ends of the board makes it a bit squirly on groomers - my ass end had a tendency to slide out if I didn't concentrate on holding a line. I am guessing this is true of many pow boards.

And did K2 stop making the Gyrator? I don't see it listed on the website anymore.
 
#27 ·
One thing I noticed while riding my old Slack around - I believe the extreme rocker on both ends of the board makes it a bit squirly on groomers - my ass end had a tendency to slide out if I didn't concentrate on holding a line. I am guessing this is true of many pow boards.
While there's lots of variables I think you're right about having lots of reverse camber between your back foot and the tail making it washout. Like Supra, I'd recommend starting to look at something either flat or cambered in the back. Charlie, Barracuda, Family Tree boards, Hovercraft, etc. It's worth noting that even with the massive nose, the Hovercraft is only set 20mm back. Even the small tail should have plenty of contact with the snow.
 
#24 ·
you're recommending your billy goat when you yourself are getting another board as a pow board? that's inspiring!


Anyways, I'd say try a different board as it sounds the slack wasn't absolutely perfect for you. Maybe a board with just nose rocker would address your 'too-loose' tail?
Check out the Capita Charlie Slasher/Burton Barracuda or for a cambered pow board, the burton juice wagon or cheetah are options too.
Boards like the fish and hovercraft have little tail which some people don't like (like me!).
I'm surprised too that the gyrator is gone!
 
#31 ·
Wangta have you looked the the new lib c1 profile with rocker in the nose and camber throughth e tail? It looks like a really promising profile for a do everything pow board for those that don't have a dedicated pow board.

Timmy is that the one you just picked up in like new condition? How are you liki??ng the hefes?
 
#34 ·
Wangta have you looked the the new lib c1 profile with rocker in the nose and camber throughth e tail? It looks like a really promising profile for a do everything pow board for those that don't have a dedicated pow board.

Timmy is that the one you just picked up in like new condition? How are you liki??ng the hefes?
Not that new, been around for ~1.5 years now...
 
#40 ·
Research is key here. For powder boards, the main objective is to keep the board afloat--keeping tip up. First thing I would look at is make sure the tail is skinnier than the tip. if the tail and tip are same width--its not a powder board. Most powder boards are about 2 centimeters more narrow. The idea is to make the back end sink a bit. Plus camber boards don't do quite as well as hybrids. Hybrids do better in powder.

As long as the board has these 2 features, it will make a good powder board. You can find boards that do powder and all mountain very well.

So when doing your research look for those 2 key things.
 
#50 · (Edited)
The Burton Cloudsplitter please. A camber board with a swallowtail feature. Basically the best of both worlds. Excellent edge control in the groomers and float in the pow. New this year.
Check it out here, page 21:

zuzupopo / Catalogues - Burton - Hardgoods
Ha!
Its a supermodel swallowtail lol
Burton is thinking outside the box, then building a 158 only WTF?
 
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