damian 0 Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 I have only ever owned one board, and it was second hand. One day I will have three boards but in the meantime dreaming will do. What would you like to own? I would like to have the reason to own a long cruisy split swallow tail for low angle powder, a split khyber for powder trees and a stiff board for steep hard pack gullies etc. Open powder: Prior swallow tail around 175 Volkl Selecta (perhaps a bit stiff) Mixed powder, trees etc: Prior kyber Burton Malolo Burton Fish Big steep and difficult, not much powder, rocky and narrow Something stiff, a little wide (?????) Riding the lifts, turning on groomers, trying to spin more etc Burton Custom Any old board that suits your style? Pipe ? Miscellaneous: rails, park etc ? ps - the Volkl Selecta is a beautiful board to hold. I imagine it would be ok for nanoboarding(?) as well. The deck grip is like a skateboard deck. This put me off from a hiking perspective and any prolonged friction with the deck would do damage to your gear. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 The Selecta is beautiful looking thing. I was well tempted to get one, but it would have cost double what I paid for the Khyber. I saw a couple of ex-demo Selectas on Ebay but they wouldn't ship internationally. They were also about 167 and I didn't want to go that long. If you've got more wonga, the old-school Winterstick swallowtail is also a thing to behold. Tripped out curves on it for sure. I've only ever ridden my brother-in-law's that was well mistreated before Tellyboy did his thing on it with the files and graphite wax, but any perfect quiver deserves a dedicated carving board. I've demoed the several of the stiffer soft boot boards like Burtons BMR and T6 in the past and they're still way behind. For laying down trenches, its the way to go. Link to post Share on other sites
surfinsmiley 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I just got my ultimate longboard. It`s a 200cm Rad Air Tanker. Next best thing to a swallow in the powder with the bonus that you don`t have to worry about breaking tails. Just stiff enough to use with hardboots when the powder is MIA. My all terrian carver is a Rad Air LSD 164. Goes anywhere and digs trenchs with Hardboots like I can`t beleive. I`d like to add a Freecarver (?175) from Madd snowboards at some stage and lastly I`D like the ultimate powder stick/carver from either Dupraz (D1) or POGO (longboard)in a 180.(900 EURO WTF) That`s my dream come true. The only downer is the price tags. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 One of my aims in life is to own a nice swallow tail and have the opportunity to use it at least 5 times a season. That would be nice. I am trying to visit La Grave next month for the Swallow Mania try out day. This is when having a French friend would be super helpful http://www.swallowmania.com/ MrW - I put mountain plate on my freeride board last season and rode in (lace up) hard shelled AT boots for a few days. I would quite like to go the full way and actually try a proper turn on a carving board. In fact, a few seasons ago I got so frustrated with trying to snowboard on hard pistes that I considered a carving set up as the way to ride on those kind of days. If I lived near the mountains and could ride more than just weekends, I would do it for sure. There are hybrid types of boards that have the power of a carver and teh functionality of a free ride board. Like the Prior ATV or 4WD. Very tempting. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by _spud: One of my aims in life is to own a nice swallow tail and have the opportunity to use it at least 5 times a season. just 5 times a season??? don't they have powder over there in the Alps? I'm seriously thinking of getting a Winterstick Swallowtail. Couple of mates have it, looks like a monster, ultimate floatation yeah baby! Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 They do, however nothing even close to Japan. The bigger issue is that I can only go on weekends and the chances of a true powder day being on the day I am there is modest. To hit it 5 times is doing ok. It can easily go 2 weeks in the wide areas of the Alps without snowing one single flake. And that 2 week drought can hit a few times each season. If I make it to La Grave I will definitely try out a Winterstick. Hopefully there will be some powder as well. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 That winterstick looks sick! Saw it at Rappies up in Hakuba and thought to myself if I was a boarder Id have that baby!! Youd be a porn star on that thing Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 anyone ridden the "undertaker" from Rossignol? saw one parked up at Happo over the new year, looked nice. Link to post Share on other sites
surfinsmiley 0 Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Haven`t ridden the Undertaker but it always gets rave reviews. If you ever get the chance don`t pass it up. La Grave- Swallowtailmaina........I`ve heard lots about that meet that makes it sound like stepping into heaven. Ahhhhh......maybe we should have swallow tail mania in Japan instead? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 Well, I didn't make it to Swallow Mania as I was up at Chamonix. But various discussions with different people has led me to make an almost no-brainer decision... and a purchase. Its in da mail.... Link to post Share on other sites
Goemon 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 ooooh. shiny. Link to post Share on other sites
Mudguts 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 That looks the goods spud! Whats the make? Can't quite see. Would love to ride some dry pow on that! Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 nice board spud Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 was it the wave on the deck that finally influenced your decision? Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 SPUD, that thing looks SICK! What make is it? How long is it? What was the final decision making factor? Link to post Share on other sites
Goemon 0 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Looks like a Dupraz D1 . I wonder if _spud noticed it at Swallowmania . Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Nope, didn't make it to swallow mania. But spoken with people who have ridden it. Every time one gets shipped to a big board shop in Chamonix, it gets bought very same day. Mine has not arrived yet. Why did I choose this one? It was a punt. I have been after a swallow for quite a while but decided not to when I investigated the D1. This guy measures up in an interesting way: 178cm long, yet effective edge is only 122cm (less than most free ride boards 20cm shorter). 26.4cm wide at the back foot. This is a big powder board that has a whole lot more going for it: - can be ridden switch, unlike a swallow - has a tough tail for hard landings, unlike a swallow (the tail is actually pretty much a conventional FR board tail, just stiffer) - has a beautiful pow nose, just like a swallow and unlike a FR board that pushes powder rather than surfing it. - it is designed to be ridden with a centred stance and requires no tiring front leg/back leg alternating transfer of pressure at different points in a turn. - the board is a surfboard for snow. It glides across it rather than pushing and ploughing it. - put on hard boots and it carves groomers like a beginners carvers board: few FR or swallow tail boards can do that. - it is one of the few boards that have looked back to original board design to answer some of the shortcomings in todays FR boards. - it is made by one the key guys in the history of European board development over the last 20 years. - the board is apparently designed for the sensation of riding rather than the tiring technique of constant 4 point weight transfers as you link turns. In short, it is a clearly awesome powder board that can carve all day on a groomed run and in any conditions allows the rider to surf in a central stance rather than adopt a tiring and inefficient stance that is required just to make today's boards do what you want them to do. Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 You guys will have to keep an eye out for next year's Fanatic Royal. It looks really good. It has the nose of the Fish and a swallow tail. It's super light too Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Serge Dupraz used to make the HOT Snowboards in the 80s. Huge success in europe at the time, wonder if anybody on that forum has ridden one of those before. Guy clearly knows what he is doing. Probably the best board out there for polyvalent aptitudes. Good pick Spud! Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Are you saying snowboards are a toxin???? Quote: Acting against or interacting with more than one kind of antigen, antibody, toxin, or microorganism. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 In powder this board is supreme! it is clearly a powder board and makes a mockery of most 'all purpose' traditional snowboards in powder. However, for a powder board it is the most amazing thing I have ever ridden on a groomed run. I don't think I will be using my 'skate board' anymore. Below are some extensive observations for anyone interested. My D1 arrived last week and after 3 days of avalanche course I finally had a spare day to test it out. I rode it for a day on and off piste at a resort called Madesimo near the Italia-Suisse boarder (near to St Moritz). Both the piste and off-piste had good snow conditions. I rode stiff C60 bindings at +25/+3 and stiff size 8 Salomon Malamute boots. I unfortunately had to ride it without wax as I had no time to do it myself. As evidenced by my verbose small-man's attitude on this website, I am short (172cm) and light (65kg). I think this board would perform better for a slightly heavier and taller rider. on piste - You literally turn with equal pressure on both feet. This took about 200 meters of sliding to get used to, and by the end of my first day on the board when I was tired, my body wanted to revert to the traditional turning movement. But for the majority of the day I was very comfortable with it and it was an amazing sensation. - Initiating a turn requires effort. You commit to the turn and the board powers. If you do not commit, you will fall over or experience a lame ride. The amount of effort is up to you, but more than a flick of the feet is required as for normal snowboards. My legs became tired from this new effort. But where there is effort, there is reward. - Carving: You can rip the piste apart, no slipping, no sliding. You carve and it feels effing great. I can do narrow and quick edge to edge fall line, or, wide swooping fast carves, just like you are on an alpine carving deck. I was the fastest soft boot boarder down the piste, carving as hard and fast as good skiers, hamming along right on their tail. Each turn puts out a spray of crystals that you dug out of the piste as the board powers through a carve. I now understand the word 'return' often used by alpine riders. The fast and harder you go, the more the board returns the power and the more it snorts like a horse. I have never used a carving set up and so had never felt this sensation. It makes my Head Intelligence 157cm free ride board feel like a vague biscuit used for sliding down a slope. - The more you put in with your legs the more the board powers. This tends to highlight and slop in your boot-binding rig pretty quickly. I ended up riding my boots and bindings much tighter than normal. If the boot-binding interface doesn't link power (legs and technique) with power (board and edge and snow) efficiently then the ride is sub-opimal. Braking: the tail is stiff and tough. You can pull out of/arrest a high speed turn with power and control. On piste I was able to bring my self to a screaming halt in very short order and in a cloud of crystals from the piste surface. This braking power complimented the board's very obvious speed stability attributes. Stability: You can bomb at pretty decent speeds on a flat base (no edge at all) and barley feel a wobble, let alone an edge catch. On steep slopes and carving edge to edge you have fantastic stability. It is hard to estimate, but I would guess that all of my piste riding yesterday was at least 25% faster than normal and yet felt 50% more stable than on my FR board. Hitting an icy patch is almost fun as it lets you put the boards stability and carve to good use as most other soft boots boarders are scraping. I don't do huge jumps, but any time I left the ground the board added a feeling of natural lift and landed like a jumbo: total control and stability. Length: It is 6 feet long (183cm) and this really helps in powder. However the extra length is a non-issue on piste (check out the website for a nice diagram explaining the very short effective edge relative to its length). Drive and speed: the board felt like it had a little engine on it. I could carve up hill. It has a lot of momentum and follow through. off piste The benefits here are obvious and I have said more regarding on-piste riding as that was the area where I was most positively surprised. Powder: This took a little getting used to as it is almost instinctive to use the back leg so much. Once I clicked into the movement of surfing on the powder I was very happy. The large soft-ish nose relative to the lower surface area tail simply lifts the board, just the same sensation as with a swallow tail. Except I was riding switch in powder (cant do that on a swallow) and also carving on-piste like a maniac (also cant do that on a swallow). And jumping, you wont break the tail of this board. I bet it will land any jump any non-pro rider wants to do. Any way, the nose powers through, up and over the powder. It is clearly a superior powder ride, just like a swallow tail. I stood centred on the board and felt very stable with no leg ache. The momentum through long flat sections was great, again, like there was a little motor attached to the board. No pathetic humping along as a round FR nose pushed a lump of powder in front of it. Those days are gone. Turning felt like surfing and little rock drops didn't wash off speed. Powder riding was fast, comfortable and full of sensation rather than effort. Safety: This board makes riding 25-30 degree angles with 40cm of fresh dry powder an super fun breeze. Short FR boards that are simply not designed for powder struggle in these conditions, hence silly people end up in silly steeper situations on high risk days. With the D1 (or swallow tail), on the day or two after a dump you can avoid 35-40 degrees and still really enjoy yourself. Cant do that on a 160cm round nosed FR board, especially if the powder is slightly heavy. Chop: Tracked out powder is a breeze. Just go straight and fast. You hardly feel the bumps and pass everyone else. Dropping in: Take a comfortable seat in the powder, strap in, stand up, point the nose downhill and your ride begins. Other boarders where wasting the first third of a powder line building up momentum and speed. Boards like the D1 make the most of every inch of precious powder. If you crash or need to stop to spot your riding partner through a dodgy section then no problems. re-starting requires very little energy and the ride sensation returns over a very short distance. Stop-starting on a normal FR board is a hassle. This also adds to safety as you are not penalised for stopping mid run and watching your partner cross a hot spot. Air: just go fast, hit a smooth roller, purposefully lighten your stance with a little leg extension and ... take off! The board lifts of the snow beautifully, riding on a cushion of air. Landing costs no speed or momentum at all and you are surfing again, immediately after touch down. Negatives - I found it hard to traverse on both hard pack and powder. It had momentum and carry, but the wide nose on a 30-35 degree powder traverse kept on riding up slope. Attempts to counter act this dynamic caused me to loose height. I was surprised at this issue. Perhaps it is an adjustment that I need to make or perhaps it is a natural side effect of the boards design. The nose is much wider than the tail and it digs in or causes the tail to not hold as much as it should. - Moguls: I rode an extensive fresh powder mogul field and had to take it moderately slow and jump every turn. If you stuffed up then the long and soft nose would catch a mogul and your turn would come to an abrupt end. The board is not good in moguls or mixed situations that require tight and constant turning. You can cope ok, but if the majority of a line fits that description then I would rather use my normal FR board. Reasonably spaced trees would be no problem though. And who chooses to do an off piste mogul line anyway? That leaves steep technical couliors etc. I would rather have my short board then. - Weight: Although not super heavy, it would be a noticeable load on your pack, so too the length if strapped on vertically (either the tail get in the way of your snow shoes or the nose catch in the wind). - Flat sidewalls: This would make it hard to tune the board with certain edge angles. I also think some wax on the side walls would give a smoother ride. - Nose blunts and pivots: I kind of enjoyed being able to quickly switch my ride around with nose pivots. The long and large D1 nose pretty much rules out this type of directional board control. Plus, D1 turns are not initiated with the front foot, and front foot turn initiation is simply the precursor to nose blunts and pivots (when initiating a turn, add a little more front foot pressure, some forward lean in the body and a little torsional twisting in the board and before you know it, rather than turning you have swung around and are riding switch. Add a small board pop and you are hoping 180's from bump to bump. This kind of riding can be fun and is not suitable for the D1) - I don't think this is a negative, but on-piste riding takes effort and by the end of the first day my legs were tired and my technique was trying to revert to bad habits (as happens when you are tired). The moment this happens the D1's performance drops and so does the riders enjoyment. You need to ride this board, not just slide downhill. Happy Riding a snowboard now produces so much enjoyable sensation that I think I will always look for an opportunity to reach for this board in preference to my normal board. I am gushing with excitement a little, but the D1 allows for a different and much more satisfying snowboarding experience and amazingly, this applies in a variety of conditions. I know many of you are excellent snowboarders, far better than I, and may not appreciate this some what patronising comment. But if you seriously love free-riding then give this board a go. The D1's power and sensation will honestly make you buzz on the inside and beam a huge smile, run after run. It is a totally new definition of riding. It's like a heavy set style of performance sports car on-piste, and a 4wd magic-carpet in powder. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Spud, you made me wanna sell all my possessions just to get my hands on one! Nice review of that board mate Link to post Share on other sites
Thunderpants 0 Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Thanks Le Spud, SJ User of the month:) i busted my edge bad a while ago and i am looking for something new for next year, this sounds really interesting Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 Nice to see you both interested! It probably isn't for everyone, nor is it going the be the best and the greatest. But the way you can ride from powder to piste and absolutely tear both apart is a dream come true. And no matter where you ride, the sensation is unique and so satisfying. It is almost a seperate class of board/snow riding medium. I didn't mention that I hit some rocks and took off some ptex through to the laminated layer over the wood. So no bare wood grain, but close. Got some repair work to do late Friday night before I test the board out on a Chamonix tour I've got in the cooking pot for this weekend..... I also have heaps of binding experimentation to do: angle and back foot placement. On turns of a certain radius, the tail doesn't quite release from the turn when I want it to. This could be a flaw in my technique or a stance issue. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 oh yeah, if the over excited gushing in my last two posts isn't quite turning you on then what about their promo poster? Link to post Share on other sites
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