So it appears that nobody else bought one of these and I had the fortune to ride mine yesterday without fear of the early season low tide shark teeth.
Conditions: We got two feet of dense to light pow as the temps dropped over night. So the top was dry and soft and deeper down was much more dense, which made for premium conditions. I was probably tenth chair on day 1 of lift access at Mt. Bachelor.
Rider: regular stance, 23.5 width, 18,-18 stance, 11.5 boot and I'm 6'0 215lbs
Visibility was low due to the storm but snow was fresh pow lines everywhere.
I started the morning on my proto and was having fun, but working hard to float as I had it centered with some contact pros. After two laps I felt confident I would not put a fat hole in the new stick. I have 14 cartels to go with the channel.
Experience: I'm sold! Best board I own hands down. And many of you know I love my sick sticks. First thing I noticed was I could feel the camber of the s-rocker under foot, but not like riding a camber plank. I had so much control, and edge to edge was so smooth. Then in pow it just excelled. The taper and tail was my favorite part because of its responsiveness. It was no effort to stay afloat holy shit it was amazing. Day and night compared to the proto. With the cartels I felt like no more which way I twisted, turned, popped, slashed it was able to react under my feet properly. The pop was insane with a shortened camber but amazing edge control even on the pow,but in no way did I ever feel a hint of being locked into an edge. This! Is my new go to everything board. There were not many groomed runs, and if there were, I wasn't riding them because of POW! Best part about the board was the speed and control I had prior to and and while I was hitting the natural features. I love Mt. bachelor.
Shred on. I'm so stoked the winter winter has shown up with such amazing force. Cheers to a winter like this all year!
Yep, didn't need to see your comments/review hahaha
i've been craving this board so bad, with Genesis though... but my wallet can't afford such awesomeness at the moment......
I actually almost got Cartel Ltd's today; couldnt make them fit, so got Drives instead. But EST would make all my troubles dissappear
The JW is way more aggressive in a camber manner if that makes sense. I felt like the FA was way more responsive in the back end of the board. Not as much oriented to a straight line charger instead more of a "surfy" but still camber charge board. I did three total laps and the EE is not that much different but holy cow the board responded so much sharper and came around quick.
Just to note, I had my stance centered on the EE/camber of the flight attendant.
thanks, but it's a bit difficult to visualize. Are you keeping the JW now, and if so, when would you choose one over the other. You may include the sickstick in your answer
edit: just noticed your edit. I guess the turn initiation on the FA is easier due to the s-rocker
My JW now looks like the cloud splitter after my alteration. It's gonna be for deep days from this point on. But yeah, I have a tough decision every day there's powder. Ultimately I wanted something that will pop off features, rail on pow, and still be fast as hell on groomers. The FA does it way better than the JW every could. I think ultimately the responsiveness in tight spots was way better.
Could you see the Flight Attendant and Proto making for a very good 2 board quiver? It's a combo I've been eyeing up as I'm not really interested much in boxes and rails, but love jumps, buttering and general playfulness along with decent all mountain performance of a Proto. And then speed and responsiveness for both groomers and pow of the FA.
I haven't ridden either board, but they seem like a perfect combo for me! Curious if you've ridden a Highlife UL to compare the FA to?
I know nothing about Ride boards but to answer your other question, yeah those two boards are very different and very fun. If I had to reduce my quiver those would be the two that I would keep.
This (Flight Attendant) was the board I was seriously considering over the summer/fall when I was shopping for a new set-up. Although they are not directly comparable feature-for-feature, it came down to the FA and the YES PYL.
I ended up with the PYL, but would consider picking up a used/new old stock FA if one ever came up at a reasonable price.
If I had to numerically rate it I would give it a stiffness of a 7. It is by no means a planky tank but still has the qualities of a stiff camber board. I think the most noticeable thing is the torsional responsiveness I get from having the cartel est on the channel. No other board I own responds how the FA does. It feels like camber but not a big camber. I'm not trying to butter the thing but when it responds to every movement I make without resistance.
Great review...bumping this up since people keep asking about the Flight Attendant without first reading this. I had a similar experience with my 159...get one and you won't be disappointed.
Thanks for the review. I really like what I have been hearing about this board...but what I want to know is why Burton can't offer it up in a 165 or even a 168. They are really slacking on putting out bigger boards these days...the biggest sizes on their boards I would want to buy are all just a little too short for me.
I run cartels in my 162 but my bro runs malavitas on his 159. He's also forty pounds lighter so he doesn't need the stiffness to get the response I want.
Sweet, you said you don't really try to butter the board, does that mean this board would be very difficult to butter for someone just learning how to? Or too aggressive for an intermediate rider? (comfortable on all blues, working on but can manage on single blacks, no double blacks yet). I learned on an old camber Burton Air.
Thinking of picking this up to make a 2 board quiver with my Arbor Element RX. Thinking it will be the board for charging groomers/icier terrain (and pow when there is any in Tahoe) and improving confidence at speed (improving my carving technique/speed).
Thinking it will be the board for charging groomers/icier terrain (and pow when there is any in Tahoe) and improving confidence at speed (improving my carving technique/speed).
This is not the board I take to the hill for doing butters, but everything else you described is about spot on. However there's no reason you shouldn't be able to do anything you want with it.
@ridinbend: Is your Sick Stick the cambered ones or flat to rocker? Can' remember exactly what year they switch but I think 2012 or 2011 and below is cambered (even though the spec and site says otherwise).
100%. Demoed one that is mellow camber 3 or 4 years ago, can't remember. My buddy also sent me a pic of his (I think his his either 2010 or 2011, not sure, all their graphics are similar) and it's full camber. Not flat to rocker as they advertised.
nice review. i've been curious as to how good the flight attendant is. don't really get powder here so i don't have any intentions of buying one but it's good to know that it's a nice board.
Already settled on the Arbor Element RX, which I've taken out a few times and surprisingly love despite it being full rocker (could handle black groomers no problem when I thought it might be washy, guess griptech works). Now looking for a second stiffer mostly/all camber board.. guess the quiver has started . Probably getting the FA or a Rome Mod
I demo'd this board recently in spring like conditions, soft groomers. I found that it was a very rider friendly board, and in the rare case I found a little ice it had good edge hold. Turn initiation was very easy, really a fun board to ride. somebody else said stable and I'd agree with that.
Part of being rider friendly was that it was a little slower edge to edge than some other burton boards that I own. For a 159 it seemed to ride a little bigger. I found that compared to my 163 juice wagon it wasn't quite as quick edge to edge for example, and that the juice wagon was a bit stiffer so would be a little better for carving up groomers. The S rocker probably had something to do with that.
No change to get into any fresh snow with it so I can't comment on the board for what it is probably most intended for, but I can say that its a good board on the groomers.
Your experience is spot on with mine on groomers. But when you get into powder it gets way more responsive edge to edge, super poppy when hitting jumps and natural features. Basically all the good things about it at enhanced in pow. The more I ride it the more I love it. I also agree that it rides bigger than it is. The 162 feels big but when in pow it looses that feeling and has that powder ripping feeling. Cheers.
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