Sasquatch_Surfer

I just got a 168 Flux at 28.5 wide. It's a pretty sweet ride.

Got a Donek Saber in the same, reminiscent of the old Safari graphics.

Thanks to everyone for chiming in with the info. Trip was great and all the recommendations were solid. Especially liked yoyo-ing the Jackrabbit chair at Sunshine and the downhill runs at Lake Louise. Conditions were best at Sunshine, cold, but sun was out, and grooming was good, a little fresh off the sides, and no lift lines. Norquay could have used a bunch more snow, steeps were ridable, but had a lot of shrubbery showing. Lake Louise would be pretty fun after a good snow dump, where I did venture off piste, the conditions were pretty firmly packed powder. Grooms were firm, but plenty carvable, Light crowd, no real lift lines. The Summit Platter one long platter lift :)

Got a couple new rides for the season. 1. Blue Donek Incline, 169cm x 30cm, slightly softer flex than standard, slightly offset insert pattern to toeside (this is because of my preferred binding heelcups). Currently using Burton Genesis bindings. This board is pretty nice, it can go fast, but doesn't mind going slow either and making some relaxed turns. Awesome in the powder due to it's width. Almost no heel or toe drag when laying it over too! 2. Zebra stripe Donek Saber - 170cm x 28cm, slightly offset insert pattern to toeside. Burton Genesis bindings. This board is pretty sweet, there is some secret sauce inside that makes it very plush to ride. It likes to go fast. Will be mounting it up with some F2 plates (at low angles) in a week or so to try that out as well. Rode it in the local beer league race night last night and it did really well in the dual glolam course. I won my heats!

Thanks for all the info! Looking forward to the visit. I will be riding softies, so am leaning towards my Donek Incline which is 168cm x 30cm and has a VSR of 9-11, which is kind of big by soft boot standards, but should be good for some bigger and some not so big shapes, maybe not the right tool for the tight stuff, but forecast looks like there won't be much fresh snow, so should be fine for the groomed and open terrain. If anyone will be around, plan is to go to Sunshine on Friday (Jan 13), Norquay on Sat, then Lake Louise on Monday (16th). Will trade beverages for mountain guide services :)

Heading to Banff for a few days and plan to ride the areas around there; Norquay, Sunshine, and Lake Louise, I have never been there and would like recommendations for what board to bring (I can bring only 1). I am fortunate to have several to choose from, but big question is, bring a board that can make big turns and carry speed better or smaller more nimble board to make smaller turns and keep things in the lower speed ranges? I have seen some comments that thos areas can be crowded and may not have a lot of 'carving' terrain, but don't know what context to take those in, having never been there. Any recommendations?

I'll second the others on the Burton Driver X for boots. I use Burton bindings too, the Cartel's are probably the stiffest, but since you want rear-entry, the recommended Flow bindings seem to be the ticket. The Cartels are nice, but I ride low angles and when that heel cup touches down, it seems to end in a slide out situation. Guess that could be solved with more angle, but ... Was considering trying the Flows for just that reason.

Latest ride is Fowler V8 7'6", got the V-Bottom and 4+1 setup. Usually ride as a single (flex fin) or quad, haven't played with any other combinations yet. It may be the best surf board I have ever had. An in-between size but since it is designed to ride from the middle it seems short when riding. Turns quickly in conjunction with my snowboard muscle memory, which suits my style. Only had it out a few times, but it seems to work in everything so far. Paddles and catches waves easily. Other ride is a 9'8" Bing Levitator, good for a lot of stuff except maybe super steep drops (at least with me on it). Got a few more in the quiver, 6'8" Monsta-Chief from Proctor, 6'4" custom Simmons-like, a few more older long boards.

I second talking to Sean at Donek, he can make you what ever you want to dream up. I have a board based on his Flux model. The board rides great everywhere. I don't ride the rails with it, but it's probably not the right tool for riding in the park a lot anyway. It offers the stability at speed of a BX board, will carve most excellent on the groomed, and rides off-piste and powder just as easy. If you are riding mostly in your forward direction, it may work well for you too. I am using the Burton Genesis (reflex) binding with relatively low angles (+15 F, -9 R), and even though they are billed as a freeride/style binding they perform well on this board and are super comfy. I will concur on the heel cup issues alluded to by others though. Even with the 27cm width on the board, If I get a littele too happy on the heel side, I still can hit those on firmer snow and boot out. For the steeper angles you mention you may want to go with one of the other recommendations, something stiffer and one that allows some rotation of the high back.

I have a Flux as well (in a 164) and ride about 15 front and -9 rear. With the shallow angles I find that ensuring that I am transferring some pressure to the rear foot especially at the bottom/end of the heel side helps keep the edge in the snow and can give you a little boost as well depending on how much pressure you bring to the back foot. Also, especially heel side, if you are used to riding a more alpine stance you may have a tendency to twist your torso into that heel side turn. If so, and you have some rotation/twist at turn initiation, just blend that off during the turn and bring you hips back in line with the board as you go through so that near the middle end you are aligned with the board. this will also help bring some pressure to that rear foot.

Pretty awesome riding there Ryan!

I have heard good things about this shop in Seattle. They did my friends boots there this season. http://proskiseattle.com/ http://www.proskiseattle.com/

I believe both are from this company. http://www.wavegarden.com/lang/en-us/thewav/description I would like to have one, now where to get a bunch of $$ and a lagoon :).

Check out the new Donek Flux model (http://www.donek.com/snowboards/freestyle-freeride/flux/) (review coming soon), I recently got one and it kills it in everything outside the park. If you want to do a bunch of switch riding check out the Phoenix.

26 for me so far. Looking forward to 30 and more....

Looks like a nice ride. Give us a review when you get it on snow.

My new Donek ride. A switch carving lunch tray. See my review here

Here is a review of my recently received custom Donek Phoenix-based board. First let me say it was a great experience working with Sean. He was very patient with my many questions and after several phone sessions we had the specs for my board worked out. I had a special board in mind and decided to use the Phoenix as the starting point. I wanted something wide that I could ride with soft boots at low angles (+15/-15), that would rail carves regular or switch, be damp and able to handle some speed. Kind of a free style carving board that I wouldn't have to worry about booting out on. Sean made me exactly what I asked for, the quality of workmanship was excellent, and the board arrived exactly when promised. Me: 6'2", 230lbs, size 11 Burton Driver X Dimensions: 160 cm in length 28 cm width at center 9 m side cut very minor taper and a minor setback in the stance matching low profile tip and tail rubber layup similar to the Saber (BX) model I set it up with this years Burton Cartels. Ride report: I have gotten a chance to ride it in a couple different conditions so far. It rides great in most conditions and really comes alive when dialing up the pace. On groomed snow: Whether firm or soft it rides awesome, especially at speed, I can make short or longer turns and have not yet felt like I have hit the limit of what it can hold speed wise. Slower speeds on the groomed work too, although I find myself just wanting to go faster cause the board responds so well to it. The board is super damp and feels rock solid on the edge. Fluffy powder and wind-packed powder (lighter inland Northwest variety): The board rode pretty nice in the powder, the width probably helps here and I didn't have any problems with open faces or through the tight trees. I have a couple other powder specific boards, so when it gets deep, I probably would ride one of those, but I was surprised how well it did. Soft chopped up crud: Worked well in the chop and plowed through no problem, I learned to trust it for some medium to large radius turns and was pleasantly surprised. I think the rubber inside may help here too. Steep chopped up crud with bumps and other stuff underneath where I wanted to go a little slower: It worked okay here, but at slow speeds you have to put a little effort into the leading end to start it bending but after that it works fine, but for my weight this isn't a problem. I have been riding some significantly softer boards of late and I had to learn that jumping on the nose a little would reward rather than punish on this board so after a riding style modification it was fine but did require some extra effort. When I got lazy I got bucked around a little, probably due to the stiffness and relative shortness. Race Course: (local recreational team racing parallel glolam where skiers and riders share same course with those of similar speeds) Course conditions where pretty whooped out with big ruts (and berms) with moderate firmness. I am not very good at racing, but like to do it no the less. The board rode pretty awesome and ate up the results of my meandering path through the course (some ruts, some berms and a couple of excursions). Again, once I decided to trust that I would get tossed over the short nose, it started working better. Park: Just kidding, I am not big into riding on things made of metal ;) Although it would probably work in the pipe at normal widths and flex. I did take a couple off piste powder hits and it felt fine. Even with the short nose, I didn't do any unintentional front flips. Overall Impression: This board likes to travel at higher speeds and carves better than any 'freestyle' and most all-mountain boards. For medium to short radius carving at speed it feels great. I think it will be super fun and I will dial it in even more as time goes by. For a daily driver, do anything, it might be a tad too stiff. I think I will start saving up for another one just like it only a little softer, for that. Me mugging for the camera trying to get the sponsor shot ;)

@land surfer, A little colder in WA than Santa Cruz, but not that much really. 4/3 in the summer and 5/4 with the hood, booties, gloves in the winter. Conditions lately have been pretty nice out on the coast, but have been heading for the snow rather than the sand.

Although I have pretty easy access to some lift-service summer boarding, I spend most of the summer/fall in the water. Don't paddle much when the snow is flying though. I agree you can sometimes see riders who have a slightly different eye for lines and style on the mountain that might come from another sport.

Love Homewood, nice place, kind of a throw back especially around Lake Tahoe. Nice tree runs when there is some fresh snow. I agree with kipstar though, at the end of the day it can seem crowded on the way down if you take the main runs. But the views can be awesome.

How do you like the bomber soft boot plates ? I also have a Prior BX in the 168 and the thing is very fun. I was just curious how the feel is with the lifted bindings. Sometimes my heel cups hit when I get too happy heel side (I don't have much for angles) so was contemplating these.

Gene, I sent you an email about this

I have been fortunate enough to build up a little quiver (I know I am not the only one with this issue) of Priors over the last few seasons, so I also have a Khyber model which is awesome in powder. So now I have awesome for most conditions. bx=BX168, pow=Khyber, fs=AMF168. Sadly the ATV has seen too many rocks, so the BX will have to be "pretty good" for going fast and laying trenches until I win the lottery ;)

I just got a Prior BX in 168 and love it. Never had a metal board before (except an old Aggression cap thing) and the feel is great. I also happen to have a Prior ATV 171 which I really like, however I only ride softies now with low angles and the ATV was a little narrow. The BX works pretty good in powder, the first full day I rode it was in about a foot of fresh and nearly every time since has been in soft conditions. Definitely made for the big turns and going fast, seems to go through the chop pretty good too. I still have a mild amount of heel drag sometimes, but if I wanted to lay it over more, I would probably go with some stiffer bindings as the Cartels get a little soft when the angles go up.