EpochZero

Quicksilver is perfect... super wide and perfect grade... just that stupid slow lift is aggravating. We usually do the morning gondola and take Lucky Shot to Upper Arwine's (via the second cat track that pops you out under the Rex cable where Sunnyside feeds in) then cut back right to Rex. It's fantastic until it gets lumpy and crowded - then we head over to Forest Queen and do Downhill and then eventually end up on Quicksilver. @1xsculler: Lower Queens is also fantastic for practicing and trying new technique given the width and grade... you have to load up the board with some speed a bit - but it makes for extremely comfortable experimentation ground with the benefit of a twin-speed lift to get you there.

I've ridden a Swoard EC Pro 2 as my EC board for the past year - so my opinion here is based on observations about how it behaves vs. my other boards. Main EC priorities: Fat waist - allows for less severe angles without boot-out. Torsional rigidity - but longitudinal flex. You want to be confident in the edge and balance - but the board needs to de-camber (especially on stiffer terrain) and flex consistently at nose and tail. Large constant-radius side-cut. Long stable turns. There are certain properties in the board I'm not sure are necessarily "EC" - but I very much enjoy. For example I don't feel like I need to load the tail too quickly - whereas on my Prior 4WD I needed to slam my weight to the rear almost immediately in a turn. I'm not sure what makes this difference (something about center position or flex?) - but it's quite a noticeable difference. I ride it exclusively now for hard gear... it feels amazing in every (reasonable) condition. You can absolutely ride it upright. I switch between styles depending on the terrain. EC is fantastic on steeper terrain because it's extremely smooth/stable and capable of controlling your speed. On flatter terrain I'll ride more upright "race style" to jump into the turns and load the board/pop-out of carves for speed and then use more EC style to shed speed and alternate as needed. There is one caveat... it's not a "fast" board at all. It's design to set an edge aggressively... not to go straight. On very flat terrain or traverses it has a tendency to drag the tail - due to the long contact points, side-cut, and shape - and it's the first board I've owned that does it. I couldn't care less - because at that point I'm just trying to get to the steeper terrain or lift or whatever - but it's slightly annoying.

Thanks @pow4ever! Machine learning Epoch.

Hey fellow Crystal carver! Great meeting you up there - and I'm looking forward to a future carving session... if it ever stops snowing.