[review] Burton Malolo (162) with Hardboots

[mrjamie]

No review is one of gear alone; the rider, bindings, boots, and conditions all must play some part in determining from what angle (no pun intended) the review comes and what "good" or "bad" -- though I hope to be a bit more precise -- mean to the person doing the riding.

I've been snowboarding for about 6 years now: the first four in NY and Vermont, a total of maybe 12 days; two years ago was two firsts, Powder (Hokkaido, Japan), and Hardboots (Head 30cm). Last season I managed maybe 10 days, and this season I've already been 8 days and am hoping to spend the month of March in Hokkaido. In all my time snowboarding I've had two lessons -- my first day, and one hardboot lesson last year. Most technique I've picked up myself or from the community here when I've run into problems with that technique. I'm 70kg and as tall as about 176cm, with size 13US feet.

Up until last Sunday, and excluding the first four years during which I rode a $250 oxygen board/boots/bindings package-deal, I had been in an monogamous relationship with a Prior 4WD (164). Two years ago in Hokkaido, during my second day on hard boots I managed to crash the original 4WD into a snowbank and now the board had three angles on it: my two bindings, and the 15 degree angle of the noise where it bent upward next to the front binding. Chris Prior is an amazing person though, and he sent me a brand-new board -- no charge, and I took care of international postage -- which I've been using since.

The bindings I use are Catek '04-'05 olympics, and they usually sit at 63 (front) and 60 (back). As mentioned above, in those bindings sit Head Stratos Pro boots.

On Ice, Crud, Groomers, and shallow (ankle-shin deep) Powder this setup worked well enough with me, but the thin waist and the relatively high angles made for difficulty in deep/steep powder and among the trees. So I picked up a Burton Malolo (162), and not wanting to forego the power & edge-control provided by hard boots and metal bindings, threw the new board together with the rest of the setup and took my first step into an open relationship with two boards. This, and that in the past month there have been a few posts about hardboots in powder, hardboots on soft boards, etc., led my fingers to these keys.

I took the new Malolo (162) out to Oze Iwakura (Gunma, Japan) last Sunday and I've never been so happy in powder, albeit wet and sticky powder. (There is ~150cm base, but no new snow for a week) I hiked up from the top lift to just below the peak, and rode down through a spacious alpine forest which turned into thick trees before bottoming out in a coulior, a 10 minute hike from the bottom of the lift. The Malolo's effortless float was astonishing, and after riding the 4WD with 63/60 angles, the Malolo with its 54/54 angles felt telepathic; it seemed to know exaclty where I wanted to go. Even lower on the run, among tight trees (but no longer steep at all) navigation was not only simple but (and more importantly) fun on the Malolo.

On piste the lightness of the board (compared with my Prior 4WD) combined with its width sent me higher up walls and off jumps than I've been before, and let me down more smoothly and comfortably than I could imagine capable of the 4WD. It felt either like I had taken weights off my feet, or added wings to the board.

Carving took some getting used to: the Malolo has much more flex than the 4WD and the two of us had to work out some mutual jitters in the first few runs before I trusted the edge to hold a carve. These 'jitters' actually made me more confident by the end of the day because while the 4WD is damp enough that most of what the snow tells me through the edges gets muted, the Malolo was noisy but kept me informed as to what was going on, and that gave me more confidence in carves. At the end of the day I went for a laid-out toe-side carve, and the Malolo was right there to hold an edge. My heel-sides seemed to stick better too, because with detailed feedback from the Malolo's edge I wasn't afraid to lean over and brush the ground. That said, I'm curious whether this riding will give me more courage to push the 4WD.

The only gripe I have is that the same lightness which lets the Malolo bounce between turns and leap off jumps, also puts the board on the receiving end of bullying by bumps when riding on the base on torn-up snow. Think small poly-urethane wheels on cratered pavement, downhill. While getting back onto the edge makes things slightly less jarring, after some runs on well-worn courses I was missing the dampness of the 4WD, even if that dampness does mean giving up some feel.

Well, those are my thoughts after just one day of use. Fate willing, I'll have a chance to use the 4WD and Malolo side-by-side on the same trip, and gain a deeper understanding of both boards in more conditions.

Until then, hope this review is useful for people thinking about hard-boots in places and on boards most people foresake them.

cheers,

Jamie

[Guest shrederjen]

Wow! Sounds fun!

Thank you so much!

Jen

[Guest sierra]

Nice review....I'm a huge fan of the Malolo as well. I know a lot of people have problems with Burton, but their tapered soft snow boards are remarkable, regardless of what you wear for boots. I've let two different people ride my Malolo in new snow and both were on e-bay looking to buy their own the following day. Burton has a 2007 mid-year release called the Supermodel (not the original one) that is like the Malolo but only has 10 cm of taper and adds some carbon for pop. This board should be a corker with a little more carvability than the Malolo.

Disclaimer: I've never liked anything Burton in the past, but some of their current soft boot stuff is truly great (full flame protection - on). :)