The UC cut New England ice and floted on chop, it had great tip to tail flex and was still stif enough to hold. It carved like very few soft setups. I use the same binding,boots on the ST (I have Flow Carbon and Flow Dominator boots) and it just didn't hook up as well on ice it has no tip to tail flex so the woods are tuff I end up skidding. It is great in crud but still not as good as the UC. If I had it to do over (since I don't ride soft enough to justify replacing it now) I would have gotten the Nitro Shogun.