Get on Board: 2009 Board Test

If I had to pick one board that surprised me the most it would be the Arbor Eden. This board is new to their line and meant to be a price point board but it was my sleeper hit of the demo. You'd never guess it only cost $380. It was really fast but still poppy and fun. My only complaint was that was bit unstable in the chop.

Atomic isn’t a company you hear about much. They don’t spend much on advertising, and well, they are known more for their ski products. I’m really glad I gave them a chance this season, though, because it was a delightful surprise. These boards are fun and fast! The Fallen Angel is a women’s version of the Hatchet, which is a men’s park-ish board. I think it’s an all-mountain slayer. It has a unique torsional flex that allows you to really power through turns and stay upright in some hairy situations, and the pop allows you to just fly over jumps. Did I mention it’s fast? Because it is.  It’s a board meant for action, be it in the park, over groomers, or in the trees. I would consider this a “daily driver” board (at a great price!) that I would like to add to my arsenal.

The Blender is Burton's new flat camber board. Instead of being convex or concave under your feet, it's completely neutral. I was eager to try this out to see what it meant for my riding! I found out that it really helped eliminate a lot of chatter when riding fast, and that the board felt quite stable in all conditions. It was nice and light as well, making it easy to maneuver. I was hoping that like other rocker boards, it would be really easy to pop, but I didn't find it any easier than regular cambered boards of a similar stiffness. This board is right at home in Burton's all-mountain freestyle lineup, and does most things very well. Would I ride it everywhere? Yes. Would it be my park or powder weapon of choice? No. I've gotten too specific over the years to have one board do it all anymore.

I’d never really ridden the regular Feelgood before and wanted to give it a try. I was used to the more aggressive feel of the Feelgood ES, and as a result, found this a bit lackluster. It seemed like this board was trying hard to do so many things, that it came up short at pretty much everything but riding groomers. It sank in the powder, and didn’t have really snappy pop for park, but it was stable underfoot for on-trail action.  I think this is a good progression board for the rider who is looking to upgrade the quality of their daily riding board.

I think it's great that companies are putting out freeride boards for women so I looked forward to trying out this board. In the powder and going fast on groomers this board was everything you'd want - fast, responsive, stable. Out of that arena it was a little disappointing as it felt rather lifeless.

This is DC’s first season as a board manufacturer. When I went to the tent, there were quite a few men’s boards to choose from, and ONE women’s specific deck. That alone kind of disappointed me. I was hearing nice murmurs about the line from others, so I gave the BFF a spin. I think the “one women’s board” was pretty indicative of what I got-it almost seemed like the board was an afterthought to the line. It gave me a “thwap” when landing, and it didn’t stand up to the chatter. I just kind of bounced around on it. Usually on a soft board like this, you will find a star feature, like great pressability, but unfortunately, this board let me down again. It was an effort to ride it, and there are just too many choices for me to settle for something mediocre.

I am in love with this board. Last year, the K2 VaVaVoom impressed me with its pure fun approach to board design, but left me wanting something that I could really destroy the whole hill with. Well, the Fling is that board. It is purely joyful to ride – puts a grin on my face just thinking about it! With its pressable flex, super snappy pop, and great all-mountain stability, anyone is bound to have a great time on this board. Favorite board of the year.

This length would be on the low end of what I'd normally ride so I was pleasantly surprised at how great it was in powder.  I had no problem charging on it either. Everywhere I went I felt totally stable and chatter free.  It's a stiffer board which means it lacked a little pop and playfulness, but if you like to ride fast and hard I don't think you could go wrong on this board.

You will notice that Lorene and I both rode this board, with slightly differing opinions. As well we should, as we are dramatically different sized riders (I’m 4’11”, she’s 5’7” – as for weights – you’ll never get that out of me!) The Canvas was designed like the Ride Society scaled down for women. I was excited to try it, since I liked the Society, but thought it was just too big. As with all of the Ride Slimewall boards, it was extremely damp and stable. I liked the snap it had pretty well, too. For an all mountain board, the flex was adequate. I probably wouldn’t make it a park board, but it’s great for all-mountain freestyle.

This board really put the freestyle into all mountain freestyle. It was really fun to ride and looks really cool.  I loved the pop and playfulness of this board.  Jumping off the little hits off the sides of the trail were effortless and I loved that it's a twin. However it wasn't the most stable board I'd been on, so it wouldn't be my choice for charging on.

The Fever has really come up in the world. I wasn’t wowed by it last year, but this year, it has a new engine! Even at a 143, it had great lift through powder due to its scoopy shape. Its “pop rods” make it unique, too, and really do seem to add that extra bit of snap for getting over jumps. Again, with Ride boards, I love how damp they feel when riding through chattery stuff. I took this board all over the hill, and across a half-mile cat track (ugh!), and it didn’t fail me at all. I never wished it was “more” of something. It was the little engine that could!

If you are the other side of the coin from a Canvas rider, you'll probably love the Promise. It's fast and stable where the Canvas was lacking but it was still fun and poppy.  It's exactly what I want for the days I am all over the mountain.  It was great in the powder, fun for dorking off on the side of the trails and was still fun taking laps through the mini park.

The first thing I noticed about the Blue was how much pop it had. I found it really fun and playful. However riding through the chop I felt like I was getting thrown around a bit and didn't like the lack of stability. This might have also been due to the fact I was riding a 151, which probably to short for me.  It was somewhere in the middle flexwise.  Overall I think at the right length it would be a fun board that really would be good to ride on the whole mountain.

The Vinyl took to high speeds really well. That’s something I've always thought Rome has excelled at. I also think that this is a board that would benefit from a “breaking-in” period, which I don’t particularly care for. I like a board to ride how I want it right out of the wrapper. The flex and pop on this board didn’t quite wow me, but that also could be because I’m kind of small. A larger rider might find the flex to be great. If I was a teacher, I’d give it a B.

The Roxy Eminence is the board that Torah Bright rides and with Magnetraction is one of the more teched out boards for women.  I never really got to put the magnetraction to the test as I was riding mainly in powder. Poor me, I know. This board performed well in the powder and was stable and fast.  It had good responsiveness but I wasn't wowed by the pop or playfulness.  Overall I thought it was a good freeride board and probably great if you ride a lot of ice where you'll make use of the magnetraction.

This was an extremely lightweight board, which is great for smaller riders like me, that don’t want to heft around a heavy piece all day. It felt stable in the powder, too, with good float. I liked how snappy it was, despite being quite stiff. It was responsive, but a little chattery at high speeds. A nice board for the all-mountain rider.

I picked the perfect day to demo this board. There was nearly two feet of powder on the mountain. The Sick Stick is a shaped powder board and it made riding powder effortless. It floated and slashed and made fun powder riding even more fun. To top it off this board was light and snappy and even on groomers it was fast and playful.  My only wish for this board was to make it in a slight shorter length as sometimes I felt like it would be a smidge too long to ride in trees.