Team Geared Up

WANAKA, NEW ZEALAND (Team Geared Up) - This is based off the experience of someone who’s snowboarded for a total of about 4 weeks so hopefully this will be of use to some beginners who are keen to buy their own snowboard and not use rental boards anymore.
On a side note, snowboarding gear is insanely expensive in New Zealand!

It’s been used extensively on the ski fields of Cardrona, New Zealand. I’ll start straight away with my first thoughts on the board: it’s a great all-rounder but I (personally) wish for a bit more flex. Once you find some powder, pistes and lots of open space, and if you are willing to commit to some of the bigger jumps, it provides amazing stability and control and puts most boards I’ve tried (I think I’ve tried about 10 different boards in total now from rentals to borrowed friends) to shame.
I purchased a 158cm board (slightly longer than usual - I’m usually on a 155) and have only noticed the longer length as a problem when it comes to throwing the board around on smaller jumps (meaning less time to rotate, etc. and hence I mean trying bigger jumps) and pulling the board up on it’s tail (5-0’s) due to it’s longer length meaning more effort required for spins and lack of flex. Of course, that could be down to just my in-experience and needing to get stronger :) The stance also feels quite wide.
I’m not a big fan of rails, etc. but am willing to bet that it’d be a great ride to it’s stiffness.
As for feel, well I wouldn’t regard it as the greatest of seasons here in New Zealand but it’s handling all the icy bits really well - feedback is great.

The board actually sits at the upper end of Burton’s range of park boards but if you look at it’s classification (under Burton’s opinion) you’ll see it’s a pretty good all-rounder. Direct link to Burton’s webpage is here

In short, a great board and one to consider.

Image Credit: the authors board sitting pretty after a tough day at the office.

- Neal :) -