I agree, most of it is skill and knowing how to handle any specific pow board. Some if it is also terrain since most our days aren't spent being heli-dropped into AK spines or Chamonix chutes. Then factor in snow quality, like the heavy coastal snowpack we get in the Cascades vs. that soft fluffy champagne shit they get in the Rockies. Take those reviews with a grain of salt too. Everytime you see a worthless site like the goodride review a pow board, they're usually testing it on man-made snow on groomers in Tahoe, or maybe a little dust on crust, so you can pretty much disregard anything those guys say.

 

Yea, type of snow makes a huge difference you're right. This review was off Angry Snowboarder's site. He wasn't the one who rode the board however, but wrote the review. He's a bit of a douche-nozzle from what I've seen on here but is a knowledgable guy when it comes to riding and gear so I trust his review. The Goodride guys are to be taken lightly I agree.

 

The slower you go, the floatier your board has to be to keep afloat. But the faster you go.... the more stable your board has to be so you dont eat it.

Theres a bunch of truly floaty freestyle powder twin-ish boards out there. Burton Trick Pony, TRice, Endeavor Board of Directors, Yes 20/20, etc. etc. They're not very stiff either. You can still go reasonably slow and keep floating on those.....

 

Yep, any board will float if you find steep enough terrain and go fast enough. It's on lower angle stuff where a true powder deck has the biggest impact. Guys like Travis Rice ride twins or directional twins in deep powder because they're throwing a bunch of spins and switch tricks. Most of us aren't doing much if any of that.

Then, there's the fact that guys like Rice and XDR could strap bindings on damn near anything vaguely shaped snowboardish and still ride like a beast.

 

Yep, pretty much. I was up at Whistler last weekend and it was variable conditions. I brought both my ice board and my nice snow board. The ice board is a 155 cambered twin with centered stance (Burton Aftermath) and I was actually fairly impressed at how well it floated when I was hauling balls through wide open powder bowls. It had been a while since I rode it in powder.

My nice snow board is a 157.5 CRC deck also with centered stance (Burton Antler) and I really noticed the extra float in 3 situations: when hitting drops with relatively flat landings, slowly picking my way through unfamiliar trees to avoid cliffs and on gentle slopes. Basically, the situations where it's tough to keep your nose afloat on a cambered deck are where other types of boards can shine. On steep slopes and high speed you can keep just about anything afloat with good technique...

 

Set backstance, camber dominant under foot with an early rise nose that has rocker dominant from the front binding to the tip is probably the best all around board. The tip just cant be too soft. If it is the nose will collapse in choppy powder snow and the nose will bury.

 

Speed will trump all for the conditions most of us ride daily. Head to Japan or get one of the crazy light days in Utah and surface area comes into play way more. I rode a 150 Signal Park Jake OE in CO on a 2 foot day. Set my bindings back and went for it. It was a bitch on my back leg, but go fast enough and I'd stay on top. Riding in CO for 15 years this is the first year I've owned anything bigger than a 154.

So, in average snow if you go fast enough you can make damn near anything float. In PNW poo you sort of can, but the consequences of a brief nose dip are much higher. In Japow the stuff is so low angle you typically can't just rely on speed to stay on top, especially with how light the snow is.

After that you're most contributing factor is nose shape. A great nose shape will make a world of difference in its ability to stay up.

 

Speed will trump all for the conditions most of us ride daily. Head to Japan or get one of the crazy light days in Utah and surface area comes into play way more. I rode a 150 Signal Park Jake OE in CO on a 2 foot day. Set my bindings back and went for it. It was a bitch on my back leg, but go fast enough and I'd stay on top. Riding in CO for 15 years this is the first year I've owned anything bigger than a 154.

So, in average snow if you go fast enough you can make damn near anything float. In PNW poo you sort of can, but the consequences of a brief nose dip are much higher. In Japow the stuff is so low angle you typically can't just rely on speed to stay on top, especially with how light the snow is.

After that you're most contributing factor is nose shape. A great nose shape will make a world of difference in its ability to stay up.

What is a good nose shape/flex for heavy PNW snow in your opinion?

I demo’d a Dupraz DI 5’2” and liked it enough in powder to buy one. However I think it was a lighter powder day than we often get and I have since had the nose stick in like a dart and catapult me a couple times.

It’s most sketchy when I bomb something fresh to get speed and transition into someones track at the runout of a bowl or something. Like the big nose is clumsy and going slightly off track can easily plant it. It feels like a stronger nose would bust through better.

At first I was sold on the shape being unsinkable but now I wonder if it’s a double edged sword. Do you think the shape is not ideal, or is stiffness the issue?

The thing is it’s pretty enjoyable and in particular easy to turn sharp at low speeds in steeper technical sub-alpine terrain that is common in the PNW, so I’d be worried about losing that if I went to the stiffer carbon model. A lot of the terrain I explore has mandatory sections that are still outside my skill level, and I feel like it kind of lets me cheat a bit to get through those.

That, and I worry about carbon being too bouncy / too much energy return and punishing in shitty / bumpy snow by like 11am on heavier pnw powder days. The one carbon board I’ve ridden for a while is great on groomers and hero snow but I just feel like that energy return is not enough of a benefit to outweigh how fatiguing it is when things get bumpy, which is most of the time at our resorts in WA. But maybe that has more to do with other aspects of that board and the carbon is a red herring.

 

The 5'2" is the women's version. Likely narrower, softer and shorter than what most guys would need to be riding...

 

No it is not. 5’2 N (for narrow) is the women’s version. Unhelpful reply either way.

 

Hmmm... I'd say there are three speed stages; too slow to float, right. But on the upper speeds, there's not only "go fast and any board will float", but also a "too fast to float enough for that deck".
I've tried several all mtn boards which were fine in our "inbetween" snow (cold, not overly wet, but also not super fluffy) at rather medium speed, fun to ride, float was ok, but when riding them high speed (like straight line to gather speed for a big turn), the nose would dip and I do tomahawks.
Thus, IMO, not only at slow speed/low angle, but also at high speed, surface - be it length or width - and most of all, a big rockered nose which stays up FOR CERTAIN is key to not risks such nose dips.

Edit: I can do such "dive into a line full throttle" without ank risk of dipping the nose with my Flagship 154 (even with the similar shaped Solution 152; both have the necessary big nose), Hovercraft 150 (big nose and surface being quite wide), also with Lady West 156 (not as big a nose, but the length, some taper, and a pronounced middle rocker manage for the same "nose up" effect), but also with my directional camber, which has only a small amount of rockered nose, pretty all mtn profile mounted without any setback, just because it's a 156 and I'm only 125lbs . Very different profiles, but the combination of length, width, profile lets all of them handle fast point it lines.

So... check what size boards at what weight do those guys on twins you mention ride.

 

On some of the mid rocker boards you can safely ride twin in powder, it's what they're made for. Camber usually needs to be ridden setback unless you want a workout. A long soft camber board is great in low angle powder up to a certain point, but can get unstable at higher speeds. With full rocker boards or tail rocker you just have to figure it out. Too far back on the tail and it bends too easily, but some don't have enough stance range to worry about that. There are a few full camber boards with longer tips that float above as well, and you can ride them twin no problem. The XV board has tons of speedbumbs along the edges, so can hook up and buck you in deep heavy snow or crust, won't matter in dry light powder. It's also stiff, so you don't sink into that float position without some speed or weight advantage.

 

I really like taper in powder- a lot. Taper combined with setback really help things get floating at any speed. Twins don't have that going on at all. You can set them back, but that kinda looses the whole twin thing. Best bet there is a twin with rocker like Rip was saying. My friend happily rode rocker twins as pow boards exclusively for years, and finally got an actual pow board with setback, taper, and flat to rocker... He'll never go back to the rocker twins now except for freestyle sessions, but they served him well in pow for years. He keeps saying how much easier it is to control his speed.