Powder Freestyle Board--Never Summer SL??

[SnowBum]

I'm looking to get a powder freestyle board, and a guy at a local shop recommended the Never Summer SL. He said Never Summer has the best stability of all the dual cambers he has ridden, and that the SL has great float in powder and is damp. However, he has not ridden the Heritage.

I consider myself an experienced freerider, weigh 160lbs, and my current powder/freeride board is a 162 GNU Billy Goat with traditional camber. My complaints with this board are that it is too big and heavy to easily spin and whip around in tight spots, and is a PITA to ride switch with in powder. I love camber, and want to keep as much of the stability and dampness of the Billy Goat as I can (it's a beast), but in a smaller package--which is why I'm looking at dual camber. I understand that rocker floats better, but I want stability when things get choppy and I have to carve my way from the lift to the steep and deep.

So for a powder freestyle board that will never see a single box, rail, or jib, but will see a lot of air time and steep and deep powder, should I get the SL or the Heritage? I ride at Kirkwood btw if anyone is familiar with that resort.

Oh and, with either board I am leaning towards the 158--will that size provide comparable float to my 162 regular camber 'Goat?

[grafta]

That board sounds huge for your weight. No wonder you have trouble throwing it around.

Camber/rocker hybrids are the way to go IMHO

I ride a 158 NS evo and it has a ton of float (I weigh about 170lbs) and it's not specifically a pow deck at all.

Don't discount any of the other brands, it often looks horribly like a Neversummer cult around here at times

Sure others will chime in

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by SnowBum

I'm looking to get a powder freestyle board, and a guy at a local shop recommended the Never Summer SL. He said Never Summer has the best stability of all the dual cambers he has ridden, and that the SL has great float in powder and is damp. However, he has not ridden the Heritage.

I consider myself an experienced freerider, weigh 160lbs, and my current powder/freeride board is a 162 GNU Billy Goat with traditional camber. My complaints with this board are that it is too big and heavy to easily spin and whip around in tight spots, and is a PITA to ride switch with in powder. I love camber, and want to keep as much of the stability and dampness of the Billy Goat as I can (it's a beast), but in a smaller package--which is why I'm looking at dual camber. I understand that rocker floats better, but I want stability when things get choppy and I have to carve my way from the lift to the steep and deep.

So for a powder freestyle board that will never see a single box, rail, or jib, but will see a lot of air time and steep and deep powder, should I get the SL or the Heritage? I ride at Kirkwood btw if anyone is familiar with that resort.

Oh and, with either board I am leaning towards the 158--will that size provide comparable float to my 162 regular camber 'Goat?

I spent 8 seasons riding at Kirkwood. Here is me riding a SL 155 down Upper Zachary off of Chair 6 (turned hard right getting of the lift, dropped in pretty close to the lift, drifted to the left a bit, then cut right got some air on the ridge that forms above the trees) and the cut right for big heelside carve.



In my opinion, people who complain that you are going too long with a 158 cm freeride/powder are just skaters kids who pretend to be hardcore riders on the internet. This is me riding a 158 cm board (at only 140 lbs) down the run directly under Chair 4, hitting a snow mound and going over (well almost over as I hit the top of one of them ;P) some buried trees.



Dropping some rocks under Chair 10



This is me riding a 160 cm splitboard over a rock drop at Thunder Saddle.



Anyway, back to the Never Summer SL. I have a 2009 SL 155 at 5'9" 145-150 lbs. While I wouldn't have described the SL as a powder freestyle board. The SL does float in powder (not as much as a dedicated powder board, but just about as good as a twinish board can get) is pretty damp and rides great switch. Here is a video of me video-ing my friend dropping into some powder off the Wave far rider's right from Chair 4. After this I dropped into the powder on my SL to follow him. So you can see the type of powder I'm riding the SL in (if you care he was riding a Burton Custom 156).



However... I actually still do boxes and jumps (more videos of me riding the SL). For riding outside of the park (no boxes), I wish the SL was just a tad bit stiffer between the bindings. For that reason... I suggest getting the Heritage 158 over the SL 158 since it is a half a notch stiffer and two full notches more damp (according to the charts on the Never Summer website). Here is a video me carving on the SL 155 at Squaw:

[Richie67]

I've been eyeing up the Yes Pick Your Line.

[ETM]

[QUOTE=lonerider;538766]I spent 8 seasons riding at Kirkwood. Here is me riding a SL 155 down Upper Zachary off of Chair 6 (dropped in under the lift, drifted to the left a bit, then cut right got some air on the ridge that forms above the trees) and the cut right for big heelside carve.



In my opinion, people who complain that you are going too long with a 158 at 160 lbs just for free-riding are just skaters kids who pretend to be hardcore riders on the internet. This is me riding a 158 cm board down the run directly under Chair 4


Dropping some rocks under Chair 10



This is me riding a 160 cm splitboard over a rock drop at Thunder Saddle.





While I wouldn't have described the SL as a powder freestyle board. I have a SL 155 at 145-150 lbs. The SL does float in powder (not as much as a dedicated powder board, but just about as good as a twinish board can get) is pretty damp and rides great switch. Here is a video of me video-ing my friend dropping into some powder off the Wave far rider's right from Chair 4. After this I dropped into the powder on my SL to follow him. So you can see the type of powder


However... I actually still do boxes and jumps (more videos of me riding the SL). For pure-freeriding, I wish the SL was just a tad bit stiffer between the bindings. For that reason... I might suggest getting the Heritage 158 since it is a half a notch stiffer and two full notches more damp (according to the charts on the Never Summer website). Here is me carving on the SL



Shameless motherfucker!

[Nivek]

K2 HAPPY HOUR!!!!!!!!

That's it. Team driven powder twin.

Personally landing on center rocker in powder feels off to me. It sends me weird and I go super tail heavy. Flat makes more sense to me, but that's me I guess.

[ETM]

The SL is ordinary in powder due to the stubby nose it has. I took mine to japan and it sucked badly, waste of baggage weight.

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by ETM

Shameless motherfucker!

Lol... well for powder... you ride in Hokkaido that trumps my Lake Tahoe riding hands down.

For all the photos and videos, I wanted to show the OP the following things:

a) I am very familiar with the resort that the OP goes to.
b) I own the board I'm talking about.
c) I actually know how to use the snowboard I'm talking about to carve, jump, and ride boxes. I'm clearly not the greatest rider you've ever seen, but I'm not pretending to be something I'm not either.

Otherwise I could be like:

Originally Posted by wannaberider

Yo... get the Libtech Skate Banana 140 cm, that thing is crazy awesome butters, lets me land my 900s of of powder kickers super steezy, the bananatech floats more than a regular board so you can go 10cm short, and the edge grip turns ice into powder. Floats awesome too.. used it for the photoshoot that I did that made it into Transworld. Trust me, in 5 years... NO ONE is going to be riding over 145 cm in powder... NO ONE!

A while back, I used to just try and put my advice out there... only to see a lot of people (who I'm sometimes skeptical about) offer what I see are incorrect answers (I mean most of it is a matter of opinion base, but still) and dismissing my opinions. I figured a pictures worth a thousand words... and video is probably worth a thousand pictures (I do apologize to people who see my photo/videos OVER and OVER again... but each time it is a new OP and so I need to post them again for the OP to see).

The big irony is that I have relatively few photos of myself, as I spent most of my time taking photos/videos my friends. Stuff like this back in the day:



Or this video I took more recently.



Half the photos I have of myself are from those "Photos on the Slopes" guys they put on the mountain (hence why it say "Proof" on a bunch of the images I posted). Most of the time none of my friends want to skip a run to take a video or photo of me. Occasionally friend is tired or injured and will once a season offer to take of photo of me riding (instead of the other way around), but then half the time they take a pretty crappy shot. If I'm lucky, I get 1 half-decent photo or video of myself a season (30-35 days). Which makes me wonder... if I can get maybe 1 good photo/video of myself a year... why do some other people never post anything. Do they not have anything to post, or are they not posting for a reason?

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by ETM

The SL is ordinary in powder due to the stubby nose it has. I took mine to japan and it sucked badly, waste of baggage weight.

Like I said (maybe with the wrong emphasis). The SL floats ok in powder - but I haven't ridden any twinish board that does a great job at floating in powder compared to a dedicated powder board like the Burton Fish, Prior Khyber (similar in shape to Malolo), or the Never Summer Summit.

Update what did you mean by stubby nose? I have a 2009 SL and it has a standard nose, which is stubby compared to say big-nose powder board, but it isn't as short as the blunt-tips on say the Proto (I have a 2012 Proto).

However, these park-only kids (it's not like I'm not going to park a lot myself) don't know any better - and there are often at crappy little resorts... not like your Hokkaido.

Back to what board for OP to get:
If you want something more than just ok in powder... Maybe the Pow Stick or Sick Sick (I heard those was a twinish powder freestyle board). However those boards sound kind of crappy for freeriding (to be honest... the Burton Fish was really crappy for freeriding too, the Prior Khyber is so-so, the Summit is ok). I haven't ridden themself and so I can't comment much about them. I saw the title said "Never Summer SL" and I tried to share my experiences with that board to help other people decide.

Nivek is suggested a K2 Happy Hour (maybe that?)

[Supra]

Originally Posted by lonerider

why do some other people never post anything. Do they not have anything to post, or are they not posting for a reason?

well, even though the OP is asking about Never Summer's, it seems that it's ok to suggest other boards.
My vote is for the Burton Sherlock. It's the ultimate powder freestyle board.