Sense Carving Pro 179 and 174

[DjulezD]

I had the opportunity to join a test ride organized by Sense in Phoenix PyongChang, a Korean ski resort (host of the halfpipe events of the last Olympics). Sense is a Slovenian brand founded by Andrej Cerne, manufacturer of snowboards and sports equipment (mountain biking, kite, ski) in the trade since the 1980s. Sense also manufactures race and competition boards but I did not test them.

For a quick background, I am a rider of 1m80 and 78 kilos. I have been riding snowboards (hard and softboots) for over 20 years.

In general, my very first contact with the board was pleasant. The base, the edges and the finish of the topsheet are all top notch, with a pleasant grainy touch of the topsheet. The graphics are not very exciting, yet.

The first board I demoed is the Carving pro 179. The main specs are a radius of 16m and a waist of 20cm. This allowed me to ride with fairly low angles (48/43). I settled my bindings in the center of the inserts and dialed in my usual stance.

My first impression was that the board very easily enters the carve and does not move from the rail. The grip is perfect at the end of the curve and it is very easy to link J-turns.

I decided to give it a little more speed and engagement. I found I could make deeper and lower turns with the same ease.

After that, I tried various combinations of more complex trajectories and found edge to edge change quick and without difficulty. However,  the board didn't strike me as being snappy or extra responsive.

I also found that the board handles speed very well and remains stable, especially when carving at high speed. But it does not call for it if I may say so. Although larger than my usual board, I was not too much bothered by the size, especially for turn initiation.

That said, for this particular model, given the conditions of the day, I stayed on wide and not too steep slopes. It's too bad because I think it has the potential to carve large curves at high speed or on steep terrain. But I was not too much riding on narrow slopes with this one.

I also demoed the Carving Pro 174, a bit longer than my usual alpine board. With this length, the radius is 14m and the waist width is 19cm. Because of this width, I had to up a little my angles (50/45) and reduce the stance of a few centimeters.

I liked the behavior of this second board. I found her more nervous than her big sister, with the same qualities in carving. I was able to push it on steeper slopes at high speed. The board is also very easy to ride and is stable at high speed. However, with this slightly more engaged program, the medium flex felt a little too soft to me.

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To conclude, I was very pleasantly surprised by these well-constructed and easy to ride boards. I think the Carving Pro model responds well or even very well to the advertised program: freecarving on groomers, whatever the slope level. For a rider of my size or aggressive rider, I would rather recommend the 179 in medium or hard flex. For lighter or smaller riders, the 174 in medium flex seems to me a better choice.

During the test, I had the opportunity to chat on the chairlift with Andrej Cerne about his activities and projects. In particular, he has a project of designing a snowboard boot in carbon fiber (codenamed sixth sense). The project is at an advanced stage of development (prototypes under test). Given the importance of boots in alpine equipment (and beyond, see developments on splitboarding with alpine touring boots...), it is certainly a project worth following!