Your all time favourite carving board?

[surfinsmiley]

So...... I`m looking at buying my first true carving only board.

I`m only interested in recreational carving, not racing.

I have a Rad Air Tanker 200 and a Rad Air LSD 164. both of which are very multi-functional and, for me, great carvers.

I have read so much on here about so many good boards that now, I`m confused as which is the best way to go.

I want a carving board that I can just ride without to much thinking about the board. The board that allows me to just think about the turn I`m doing and the next one without spanking me inbetween.

If I make a comparision to cars it might be like this........ A good driver can drive a Ferrari really fast without crashing but an average driver would crash the Ferrari in an instant at the same speeds. As an average driver I could drive a WRX with a much higher degree of saftey and only marginaly slower, if at all, than I could drive the Ferrari. When the chips are down, I would "generally" have more fun in the WRX, purely due to my skill level.;) I hope that makes sense/ understandable analogy.

Anyway......

I would like to know about your all time favourite carving board, the board that feels like it`s an extension of your body.

Which board do you pull out on the perfect groomers for all out, no holes barred carving fun?

If you could give me the rough specs on that board to, it would be great.

As always, Thanks for your feedback. BOL rules.

[cliffh]

hate to sound like a broken record but my vote is for a Donek Freecarve I (18 cm waist) in the 171 length. I enjoy riding other boards of various manufacturers and lengths. There are very few I just didn't like, there are many that I really like, but the one 'go to' deck, for me, has always been my FC I. I've never had a bad day on it.

That said - it's really a matter of personal taste.

[roman]

had to repeat this; no board works for every body equal 'easy' or 'on every slope'.

my board is definetly the GLADIATOR ZYLON. 175 long, 17.5 in the middle and a really sexy progressive sidecut.

of corse this is no deck for a rookie in alpine carving. but it will take you to other levels...

[Mike T]

I'm definitely a "quiver" kind of guy, different boards for different conditions. My two current faves:

Donek FCI 175 Olympic - go-to board for firm-snow carving. Better edge grip than the Madd 170 that I had, incredibly versatile, big turns, small turns, steeps, ice, this one can do it all.

Coiler AM 182 Custom - go-to board for soft-snow carving. Holds a good edge on firm spots, tough to pearl in soft stuff, excels on slush-over-groomed and fresh-over-groomed which is common here in the PNW. Absolutley rocks in afternoon crud, windpacked above-treeline snow, masked potatoes.

Honorable mention: Coiler PR 184, 188; Donek CMC 186; Donek Axis 172.

[Ray]

had to repeat this; no board works for every body equal 'easy' or 'on every slope'.

my board is definetly the GLADIATOR ZYLON. 175 long, 17.5 in the middle and a really sexy progressive sidecut.

of corse this is no deck for a rookie in alpine carving. but it will take you to other levels...

I am with roman on this one. So far for sure the Virus Gladiator Zylon!

Will see what's coming next after “Zylon”... hmm, maybe it’s something like "Ultra Carbon", but not sure yet what this material really delivers in practice. Will know during the SES... :D

Ray

[pokkis]

For me, Madd 170 EarthMover for deeper (hard/icy) slopes or tighter turns and Tinkler for anything else (i'm still learning to ride with it on deeper slopes).

[kamran]

I still dig my virus tantalus very much but I keep my eyes open for developments and upgrades elsewhere as well. So I am waiting for the reviews and feedback on olympic upgrades in the doneks and the double titanium/cabon metal in new priors (In fact I couldn't wait for the latter and already ordered one).

[ar(angel]

at the risk of taking a bunch of crap again, I definitely have to say my F2 Silberpfiel is my favorite. This board never fails me and always puts a smile on my face. My Burner is alot of fun and I treasure that board, but for all around ridability the F2 gets the nod.....o.k., let the F2 Poster Childs comments fly... :D

Have fun,

Paul

[Bobby Buggs]

Coiler All Mountain.

Mine is a 19 waist but you can get it in what ever width you like. This board does it all. I sold just about everything I had because I just dont need them. I had 10 boards, I now have the Coiler, a 184 Rossi World cup race and a Osin4807.

[bobdea]

Coiler All Mountain.

Mine is a 19 waist but you can get it in what ever width you like. This board does it all. I sold just about everything I had because I just dont need them. I had 10 boards, I now have the Coiler, a 184 Rossi World cup race and a Osin4807.

What buggs said is pretty much how I feel

Coilers have been by far the best mix of forgiving/high performance all of mine have had a sweet spot a mile wide, super damp and really build confidence on the hard snow.

my favorite from a large company would be a sims burner 188, not reccomended for someone who is new to alpine due to the tails are really easy to break in a fall or if you lean back allot

The Madd 170 is a great board, depending on your weight be careful what flex and year you buy, you won't be able to get a coiler 'till next year so this is what I would reccomend these have a 18 cm waist the SCR on these are sort of a mystery,depends on who you ask since the SCR is not radial its hard to calculate

one other good thing about the Madd 170 is that it responds very well when you use proper technique so it creates good habits and tends to break bad ones for the rider

I like Doneks too but just not as much as these

[David Glynn]

My sims burner 197 has been my favorite.Sure wish I had a new own waiting in the wings when it's edges won't take another tune. It's just awesome. My second favorite is my coiler 181 pure race. Both boards however fall more into the Ferrari catagory especialy the burner. The coiler is a little more user friendly but they both like to be riden.

[~tb]

hands down, my donek 195 custom. 18.5 cm waist, 16m sidecut, no taper. Beautiful flex pattern. as you said, this one feels like an extension of my own body. but thats just for me personally. go anywhere, do anything.

[Jack M]

Big turns, big speed - Donek 186gs

Bigger turns, bigger speed - Madd 180

steep ice, short to medium turns - Madd 170

All-around carver, medium turns, can go off-piste - Donek 171FCII

Ask me again after Thursday when I take delivery of my new Prior WCR-Metal 177!

(Coiler is next on my to-own list!)

[ARCrider]

Coiler AM172

my next board will be another one with a slimmer 19 waist

for racing I prefer my other Coiler, PR184

[Jim]

170 Coiler EX works best for me in Tahoe. Got a spoiler of a Coiler.

[gdboytyler]

A good driver can drive a Ferrari really fast without crashing but an average driver would crash the Ferrari in an instant at the same speeds. As an average driver I could drive a WRX with a much higher degree of saftey and only marginaly slower, if at all, than I could drive the Ferrari. When the chips are down, I would "generally" have more fun in the WRX, purely due to my skill level.;) .........

Which board do you pull out on the perfect groomers for all out, no holes barred carving fun?

For perfect groomers and wide open runs, my favorite alpine board is the Oxygen Proton 164 GS. 13m side cut, 19.5cm waist and pretty stiff for my light weight. It's the Ferrari in my quiver. It will probably get replaced by a custom Donek with similar specs.

For carving on narrow runs, crowded days or not so perfect groomers, my go to board is the Donek 163 FCII. 10m side cut, 19.5 cm waist, slightly softer flex than the Proton. The Donek is the WRX in my quiver.

[RDY_2_Carve]

After riding a Madd 170 for the first time this past Friday I'll have to give my vote to it. Unbelievable board-made me a better rider instantly. Took me one run to get comfortable on it. Mark Jeangerard said I've carved the best he's ever seen me on his Madd 170. Doesn't take much more than that to convince me. Next time I'll get to try the Madd 180, right Mark?? :)

With that being said I've never tried a Coiler. SES can't get here any quicker!

Also the only Donek I've ridden is my Axis 167 which I do like alot. The only thing I didn't like is Mark showing me how my Axis was suppost to be ridden. Throwing a 180 into a fakie carve at 65 degree angles was just so sick looking. And then he pretty much outcarved me riding it fakie. Jeeze Mark take it easy on my Axis will ya! Guess 18 years vs 1.5 years does make a difference though!

Ripping on the Madd was really the highlight of my season so far though. I attempted(twice) to convince Mark to let me borrow the Madd 170 in exchange for my Axis. The answer of "um NO" couldn't roll off his tounge quick enough.

[Frank Morales]

My new love Virus Stealth ultimate 173 , 17.2 waist holds like a mother very damp and spring loaded.

Virus Black Death 173, 15.1 waist.evil twin to Rays new Virus Black Death still waiting to be test ridden.

Madd 170 was numero ono until new Virus arrived.

Last but not least Burners 178, 188, 197, although I don't get them out much still Love em.

Frank

[kipstar]

A lot of people are telling you to go pretty narrow, or recommending their own favourite boards that are really narrow.

Based on Korea (and I know i know that is not Japan) I am not sure that the standard of snow or grooming is the same as NA, and so you may need something a little more width to float you through slush, chop, powder and so on which tends to accumulate in places on packed runs. My brother has a super skinny Moss and it is just submarine through a lot of the chop stuff.

And if you go to happo one from what I understand, you will definitely be wanting more float on the board.

I have ridden hardly any boards, but unless you have a 25.5 foot, something around 19.5-20.5cm waist gives you the option to ride lower angles and also with a moderate nose can get you all over the mountain.

Disregard this if you get to ride Vail or something though, with miles and miles of perfect groomed.

Value for money, the oxygen proton 178 is pretty nice all round - I am 75kg and the board is duh 178 19.5 waist easy to ride and good edge hold. Any of the customs like Prior Donek and Coiler seem well nice from what I have seen, but have to pay more for that.... The only place with the perfect groomers I have seen is Mt Rose; even Mammoth, Squaw and Alpine have too much good terrain to just stick to groomers all day....

Moss is a really nice board if you can get one; my brother's is built super well, and has a 18cm waist.... in 1990 so they know their stuff and read the narrow trend about 3 years before most other brands.

The nidecker is one of the nice lively brands underfoot, but not so sure about their current models.....

It is very personal preference, lots of people have lots of ideas!

[freecarver]

On crowded days, icy conditions and steep slopes I ride my Madd 170.

On week days when I find chance to escape from my work nothing can compare to this board below.

[ajcannon]

I was in your shoes a couple weeks ago (looking for a pure carving board- after riding a combination freeride/carver for years). I did a lot of looking around ans asking questions. I ended up with a Prior 181, with 13.5m radius, and 19.5cm waist. I've ridden it three times now and it is exactly what I was looking for. This board can do things that would have bent my old board in half. There seems to be endless potential with this thing so far. Definately the "next level" I was looking for. The oneI bought was an "in stock" standard model, and arrived about 1-1/2 weeks after I ordered it.

[tufty]

Am I the only one to prefer short boards?

I guess so. I'd have to say that my favourite board of all is my current carving tool, a Hot Blast 160. It's a slalom board, and it shows; everything happens blinding fast, including the 'ejects' if you get it all wrong. It's not going to be the tool for the OP, especially if he wants GS turns, but it's my favourite, so there. It's also a particularly vile shade of lime green.

The silberfeils are really nice boards, I enjoyed riding the one I had on loan, a bit too soft and floppy for me though. Had a play with a few boards over the weekend, nothing exotic just the usual 'grand public' stuff we get over here : a couple of the 'softer' Hots (a 'shine' and - umm - something else) and a 'Fanatic', which were horrible compared to the blast, all floppy with no 'snap', an Oxygen Proton which seemed like it could be quite a lot of fun for the money and an F2 Speedcross. This latter I am seriously considering buying as a powder / chop day board, loads of fun on piste and wide enough that it should be relatively good in the puff.

ISTR quite enjoying the Burton alpine boards I borrowed from a friend, No idea what model, must have been around 170 long, flat blue with '2000' on the base. It was, as they say, a good crack. But it's been a while.

But when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter what the weather's like. I always seem to pick up that vile green slalom board and head out with it.

Back to the original question - of the boards I've ridden, I'd recommend the silberpfeil if you're after something that doesn't spank you. And a Blast GS if you want a good smacking from time to time.

Simon

[ncermak]

Lovge the Donek 182 FC.

Haven't tried the Madd 170 yet

also always loved the Volkl 168 Slalom I had....

[Miguel]

When conditions are good It's hard to beat my Donek FCII 171. Having said that, I've been on my Coiler AM 169 this year much more than the Donek. The Coiler has a 21.5 waist and seemes to have a damper ride than the Donek. I'd really like to try a Coiler AM with more narrow waist. Both are great but I'm staring to lean toward Coiler as a favorite.

[Mike T]

When conditions are good It's hard to beat my Donek FCII 171. Having said that, I've been on my Coiler AM 169 this year much more than the Donek. The Coiler has a 21.5 waist and seemes to have a damper ride than the Donek. I'd really like to try a Coiler AM with more narrow waist. Both are great but I'm staring to lean toward Coiler as a favorite.

I betcha you'd love a Donek FC w/ Olympic construction. I find it to be very conditions-tolerant (which is a trademark of the Coilers) while still retaining the snappy, precise Donek feel. Don't get me wrong - I love my Coilers too - see my previous post on this thread - I'm just saying, if you go to ECES, try one out.