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Ride Highlife 2014

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  spacemanspiff 
#1 · (Edited)


161cm Board. 6'1 210lb size 10 boot. 10-12 days, ridden all different widths, set backs, and angles. Settled on 22.5 wide, 21, -9. Front binding one ahead of reference, rear on reference. Set back fully when it's deep enough. '13 Burton Genesis.

Rides top of the line, hard charging board. It fits the bill and does it well. Nose rocker until the inserts provides great float, stiff microcamber from insert to insert, and then a smaller stiff rocker on the tail. Great freeride shape.

Groomers - It absolutely rips here, in all conditions. Even on icy days it'll lay down carves with full confidence, plow through chunder no worries, and pop off or over anything you want it to. The rockered nose chatters, but it's so stiff between the bindings that chatter really isn't felt or affects the ride at all. It's damp and stable while still being lively enough to pop from carve to carve or load the tail and boost. It's also super fast, I'm a bit of a speed demon and this board scares me sometimes. There's so much carbon in this board, if you fully load it it'll send you over anything in your path. This is my favourite board for generating air, it's not playful but you can get plenty of hang time for a sweet method!

Powder - Great here, but not excellent. Which could also be down to me being 210lb on a 161... Ideally if I bought this again I'd upsize to the 164. The nose rocker floats effortlessly, and it's also pretty quick edge to edge. We don't have trees here in NZ, but from what I've read, this is a board I'd like to be on going through trees. The only time I encountered any issue in powder was on a super deep and wet (1m storm) day when I got caught out in some low angle areas. Keep the momentum and it planes effortlessly, stumble and get buried, and it was a lot of work to get moving again, resulting in a few short hikes. It's not a surfy ride in powder, but very sure-footed and responsive.

Park - It's a stiff and directional ride, far from being playful. That being said, it's pop off the tail and stability make it a dream on kickers. Like I said above I love throwing grabs on this board, no where near good enough to attempt anything more really. I've managed a few powder butters off the nose, but not something I'd attempt on hard pack. It's possible to ride switch as well, the resort I work at is mostly T-bars, and I always ride the lift switch to rest the front leg, as well as cat tracks. I wouldn't attempt a full run switch because what's the point, but if I were a better rider I wouldn't be afraid of taking off or landing switch.

Overall I'd say this is a great freeride board, I always have a blast riding it and I'm happy to take it anywhere. I got it for a steal second hand so I'm not afraid to ding it up and the base now shows, though also being very tough. There's been a few moments I've thought "Oh fuck, I've ruined it!" only to inspect it and realise a quick P-Tex job will do the trick. If you like going fast on and off piste, railing carves or slashing powder, and popping off anything you can, this board's definitely worth checking out.
 
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#2 ·
I have one of those.
A buddy of mine hated that I wouldn't ride rocks with him.

Whistler has some beauties. There's lots of spots with almost vertical, smooth rock faces to ride down. A few are just nuts, people do em though.

Anyway...
I was given it solely, to beat the shit out of it.
Purposely ride rocks, haha

Quite a few times I thought that last one was the one, only to see minimal scratches.

I'm not Intensionally crack in' the edges of rocks, just ridin' over em & tail tappin' em mostly.

The rocker nose was good in the slop, even takin' it through the park & I'm definitely not a park guy anymore. Hahaha. In 28 years, I don't think I've done that many rails?

It handled the medium size jumps no problem, prolly coulda done the apartment building size ones just fine too? Not me though, haha no fuckin' way.

Actually I didn't know he was gonna just straight out give it too me?
Or I prolly wouldn't have been so hard on it?

Still looks pretty mint,with no major damage, dents or otherwise.
Its for sale, just took pics last night.


TT
 
#4 ·
I've actually replaced this with a Burton Flight Attendant and prefer that for pretty much all types of riding, but I'm still a big fan of the Highlife. It's my rock board now as there's a few good core shots so re-sale value is low, but fun factor of taking it anywhere I want is very high. Can't wait until the season starts up again here in June, hoping for some early pow dumps and I won't have to worry about their not being much of a base.
 
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