Buell

I am selling a 162 Kessler SL built for a skilled 145 pound freecarver. This is a great board and incredibly versatile! SOLD. The board has a softer flex than the stock 162 SL, but my previous board was essentially the same board and I sold that one to a 175 pound rider. It was not too soft for him. The weight range is probably 135 to 180 depending on how aggressive you ride. 19.5 waist. Board is in excellent condition with maybe 20 days on it. Original Kessler World Cup base grind and full rails. Never raced. Edges are set to 3/1 and could have a stone or maybe a quick file passed over them (they are not shaving my finger nail). There are marks from Gecko bumpers.

Sold! That is a beautiful board!

New custom softboot Kessler. I just could not find the softboot board that I wanted so I had Kessler make me one. It will pair well with my 162 Kessler SL. This one is 158 x 260 waist. Not sure of the exact construction, but there is metal in there. Not sure of the sidecut but it lines up very closely to my stock 163 Kessler Ride. I got a few turns on it yesterday in 3" of fresh over groom. Now we are getting pounded here in CA. Looking forward to getting it on the groomers again next week. The board on the right is a 157 x 260 waist Amplid Surfari. It is beautiful board (unfortunately this one is stiffer than I like for my 145 pounds so I am selling it and keeping last year's Surfari because it is softer.

I have found at least 10 of those

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In my experience with damaged knees and surgeries, I had to work to get mobility back, but once it was back, it stayed. I always favor my bad knee so that leg is smaller than my good knee. The closest it gets is when I am doing a lot of split squats. Oddly, there is not a significant difference between the strength in each leg during split squats. My doc says I currently have no effective ACL. He doesn't recommend surgery because he says my osteoarthritis makes another reconstruction unpredictable. That's fine with me because I do not need a fourth knee surgery at the moment. For me, squats are fine, squat depth is fine, mobility is fine. Knee is a bit unstable in some situations and can ache at times. My knee is definitely more stable when I am doing more squats with at least medium weight. I now wear a metal hinged neoprene brace when snowboarding. I tried the expensive custom braces and it did not seem to be any better, just more bulky.

I just posted an Amplid Surfari for sale.

A group of the Pure Carve guys that were riding at Powder Mountain all switched to a specific version of a metal Coiler AM that I was riding. I think it was an AM XT. I think it was also called the Steelman Pro. They were not trying to match the Pure Carve though, they found the Coiler AM to be more fun (easier?) to ride.

In case anyone is interested, I am selling my 2019 Amplid Surfari Ridden one day, perfect condition, beautiful board! SOLD. Awesome design by Peter Bauer for powder and carving! I am keeping last year's Surfari. This season's carves great for me, but is stiffer than I like for off trail riding. At 145 pounds I am having a hard time bending it enough. Some one my weight who rides off trail really fast, uses plates on freeride boards or someone with 10 to 30 pounds on me should have a blast on this board. 157, 260 waist, 8m sidecut, 16mm taper.

I really think it often it comes down to personal preference and matching the board to the rider's skill, technique, and riding style. I do like smaller companies though that are not producing in cheap labor / lower quality factories, but that is a personal preference.

Check out Amplid, Peter Bauer's company, they have several options. The possibilities I am familiar with are below. If he wants a beefy all mountain board for advanced riders, I would recommend the UNW8. A more playful board is the Surfari. It is a fun carver and great powder board. A difficult combination to achieve. The Creamer is the best "do everything" all mountain board I know of (I have tried quite a few over the years) and it is also super friendly and moderately priced. It is the same shape as their Milligram splitboard which I have been riding for 4 years now in every condition.

Its easy to be a hardbooter, it is much harder to be a carver. I understand the desire to carve as hard as someone riding hardboots. I have a harder time understanding the goal of getting out of softboots as quickly as possible. Softboots carve extremely well (as seen over and over again in the Softboots Carving worth watching thread) and, especially at lower speeds, are far more forgiving. Hardboots are made to excel when the loads placed on them are high. If the forces the rider can place on the gear are not high enough to flex it properly a lot of bad compensating movements will result. I expect the most ingrained bad habits are going to come from a rider moving to hardboots too early, not from spending too long in softboots. From personal experience with my wife, keep an open mind that hardboots may not be the answer for you wife's carving needs. My wife can carve in hardboots but much prefers to carve in softboots.

Tons of taper lets the tail sink. 28 mm according to the stock specs. I agree that waist width would not affect how the board seeks the surface, but for a given length with all other specs proportional, waist width (overall width) would certainly affect at what speeds the board would want to stay on the surface. Wider board = float at lower speeds. When I ride resort powder, I am currently riding a 156 x 267 waist rockered board that has 10mm of taper. My resort is small and it works really well. It would not be my choice for bigger terrain.

I have found that they are both important. Ideally they work together. Too small of a board can have the perfect geometry and still not float (except at very high speed) and a large surface area board with too much camber and/or too stiff of a tail will still drive the nose under the powder.

That was my impression of its groomer carving ability. Some people love it though. I wasn't that impressed with the Dupraz in powder either. Maybe they are lighter now, but I found it heavy and on the sluggish side. I have had a lot of powder boards. At the time I much preferred my 166 Prior Spearhead in powder. Interestingly, the 166 Spearhead and the 6' (178) Dupraz were quite similar in surface area. The Dupraz just had a longer (unnecessarily so) pointy nose.

I also ride a number of stances between my splits, softboot carving and hardboot carving. All forward angles though. Many boards have "reverse sidecut" to varying degrees. It is just an elongated transition at the nose and tail. More extreme versions move the wide point of the nose and tail toward the center of the board to elongate the nose and tail further.

There is a Prowder thread on SB.com you might want to check out.

I don't think it can be anyone one thing in particular. My impression is that Kessler is exceptional at understanding how the many design aspects of a board work together. He is able to integrate the sidecut curve with the flex, the decamber, the longitudinal and torsional flex, the characteristics of the construction materials, and probably some stuff we aren't even aware of, to produce a board where all the parts work as one.

Thanks Mick! The Creamer is a fun board! This Millisurf has sold. I should have another one for sale as soon as I get my new one. It is in nearly perfect condition and will be $725. I also have skins for it for $75.

Boots: Lightweight AT boots with proper flex and an excellent touring (skinning/walking/scrambling) ability are really beneficial (very important). Phantom is working on a spring system for the Atomic Backlands and Backland Ultimate. That will probably be the best option for boots once the spring is released, hopefully soon. You can find a thread on the Backlands on Splitboard.com Bindings: Phantom is the best design and the best execution (John Keffler is an actual rocket engineer). Another option is the Spark Dyno, There are also a couple of other smaller companies which are similar to the Spark Dyno (bails on a plate that use the puck system). Boards: I have traditionally been a quiver guy and I do, in fact, have two splitboards. The one that gets used the most is the one that can handle the widest range of conditions and different terrain types. You will regularly encounter a variety of conditions and types of terrain in a single tour. Most splitboards are heavier than resort boards which, considering you spend much of your day taking the board uphill, makes little sense. A lightweight board is a huge advantage for both going up and for riding down. I have been on the Amplid Milligram for 3 seasons now (this season makes 4) and love it! My deep days board is the Amplid Millisurf. Both boards are as light as they come. There is a Milligram thread on Splitboard.com or my review on the Splitboard.com home page is here. Amplid is Peter Bauer's board company and, full disclosure, I am fortunate to be an Amplid ambassador. Safety: Be careful! Take your Avy classes and pay attention to the snow. Don't go on a line if you don't know enough to assess its stability. Don't be overconfident. I have several hundred days in the backcountry and even being cautious, sometimes you learn important lessons by surviving your mistakes you didn't know enough to know were mistakes ahead of time.

2017 Hardly ridden. Great all mountain freeride board.

Everything is sold In case anyone is interested: 2018 - 157 Amplid Millisurf Splitboard - $650 + shipping. I have some lightly used Kohla skins cut for it for $75. Retail with skins is almost $1400. Lightly ridden, Excellent condition. A few shallow rock scrapes on the base and some very minor rock rash on the rail. I am only selling this one to get this year's Millisurf. This one has sold. I should have another one for sale as soon as I get my new one. It is in nearly perfect condition and will be $725. I also have skins for it for $75. 157 x 259 waist, 310 nose, 292 tail One of the lightest split board made at under 6 pounds! The weight difference is dramatic both going up and riding down. I am also selling a 158 Ampid Creamer (the solid version of the Milligram - also a great resort board). Let me know if you are interested. Amplid is Peter Bauer's company out of Europe (google him). Shape is similar to the Jones Ultracraft (Hovercraft). I have been riding Amplids for 3 years now. They build exceptional boards! Check out Amplid's website for more information or search 'Amplid Millisurf'. Let me know if you have any questions.

I really don't know at the moment, I don't ride much chopped snow. The best board I have ridden in chopped snow was a Furberg. I have found it is important to have a stiffer, narrower nose than most powder boards so it does not get deflected too much in the chop. The nose on many powder boards it just too big and soft and they tend to hook.

You might end up being surprised.

There are so many options these days with all the wide boards being produced. The board you want depends on the terrain you are riding. In trees you want something shorter and more maneuverable with good float. On the open runs you can ride something longer and stiffer for high speed stability. If you go everywhere really fast, float isn't as much of an issue. Resort powder, with rare exceptions, is only good for a run or two. You are going to want a board that is good at tracked powder if you want to ride for very long. I have been riding (in softboots) the Amplid Pillowtalk (156 x 267, not produced anymore, super agile) and the Amplid Surfari (157 x 260, more aggressive, fun board that is also a blast to carve!). I recently saw the new Amplid Aloha Vibe which looks and feels like a great board for someone bigger than me (154 x 280 waist). Maybe one day they will make a 148 x 270 for my 25m feet and 145 pounds. I have not seen or ridden one, but from past experience, if you are not in tight trees and like a little more length, I expect the new 171 Tanker is pretty awesome.