what i mean is to turn in groomed runs.
cos 255mm is more likely a mid-wide to wide board.
i havent try one, but just heard and know that.

The nose and tail are not the same width the difference is 5mm. The board is also very directional - radial sidecut set to the back of the board - , and has alonger nose than tail. These things allied to the 22" stance width that i ride with the max poss nos and the min possible tail, make it a great board to ride piste, and then ride pow with no alterations.

Anyone that suffers from serious leg burn in pow is probably not used to riding with large amounts of forward lean - as is my normal style of riding as it provides for fast edge to edge response, and equips the rider with significant knee bend allowing a low centre of gravity, and lots of room for impact absorbsion through either up or down un-weighting.

Thus i ride this set up freely with no changes pow to piste. I'm 5'5" 10 stone 5 pounds and ride a 156 (05/06). It does the job no problems.

I have ridden a swallow-tail prior, it was amazing, but it was also $1000 cad. My T6 cost $250 US in a sale three summers ago.

If people have a tight budget and cannot afford two boards, and are intermediate riders or better, this is a good choice of board. Its main down side is that it has a soft base and does not take rails well. However in the backcountry this becomes an asset. Consider this situation; you do a cliff drop, you hit a submerged rock on take-off. A board with a hard base grips and screws you up for landing, a board with a soft base takes a gauge but you ride away. This I have experinced first hand.

At the end of the day it comes down to how often you're gonna shred the gnar, and how much cash you've got to flash. If money isn't a problem, head out to B.C. and get yourself a propir swallow-tail, or if you wanna do touring, get a split board swallow tail.

Just my musings.

You've heard correctly, but like I said the tail on the fish is so small that you have no problems turning. If you're worried about on piste ride-ability then go with the malolo. It rides like a normal snowboard on piste and floats really well in the powder.

Niseko instructor... I checked the board specs and the last 4 years of t6's have not been tapered... just sayin'. are you comparing the waist to the nose width? actually, don't bother answering that - it's not relevant to this thread. HKNZ is, after all, trying to decide between 3 powder boards...

I have 2 prior boards, one Khyber and one swallowtail split!
I love them both but are not for low budget. The khyber was almost 1000$ and the split 2000$ CAN.
Priors are expensive and take too damn long to make.

hknz, since you already have a 154 tapered board, I don't think you will notice that much difference if you get a 156 board. I would be between the 161 Summit or the 158 Malolo. Don't be afraid of longer boards, you will just need to lean a bit more forward in order to turn them.

tsonda you don't seem to understand that taper eliminates the need for a longer board.

I just looked up the specs and his option eclipse seems to have 3mm of taper which is basically none. going to a 154 malolo with 20mm of taper will have a big difference in pow. going to a 156 fish with 30mm of taper will have a HUGE difference


oh, and forward lean does not have any effect on powder riding & legburn

R U serious?



summed up nicely by NIwoooooohoooooo

yes I am serious.
lets look at niseko instructors points:
fast edge to edge response --- nothing to do with back leg burn
low centre of gravity------ditto
lots of room for impact absorbsion ----- ditto

back leg burn comes from putting your weight on your back leg to keep the nose of your board up in pow. with a tapered board, your weight is naturally on the back of the board eliminating the need to keep your weight on the back leg. you ride with your weight centred and that's that

exactly!

and with a longer tapered shaped board you ride leaning forward NOT centered.

It has lots to do with how it effects powder riding and NIwooohooo describes it nicely.
Its a different way of riding and a mater of preference.

it's too bad you're mixing up 'riding with your weight-centred[as opposed to having your weight on your back foot]' with forward lean on bindings (the angle at which you have your highbacks).

I also have forward lean on the bindings.

And also lean forward on the board with my weight more on the front leg rather than centered.
If we are talking about the angle of the highback, then I have to admit it has no effect on rear leg burn or maybe actually worsens it since you are forced to a squat position. I still like to have a few degrees on the highback though, I find that the board responds faster.

niseko instructor was talking about forward lean on the highback...

Apologies, I thought he was referring to your body position on a longer board.

We are on the same page regarding the forward lean and powder riding.

Intermediate advanced riders do better with a normal board. They are going to be riding in-bounds most of the time, so a powder board is completely unnecessary. I know hhnz has already decided to buy a powder board. He must have the budget so it's ok, but if someone else reads this thread and is facing the same questions my sincere advice is to spend the money instead on a good pair of goggles, gear to keep them warm/dry, etc... They are going to appreciate it much more.
From what I am used to read about kumapix in these forums he is a really experienced rider both inbouds and in the B.C. He is the kind of guy who can make the most of a powder board, but for intermediate people who are coming to Japan and read about lots of powder and all that stuff they should know that they'll be O.K. without a powder board. If you don't know how to ride powder I doubt a powder board is going to change that anyway, so you might as well spend some energy and time in learning the in and outs of snowboarding first, and then head for the more advanced gear.

I just remembered the first time I went to niseko. They guy at the hostel tried to convinced me that I needed to rent a longer board from him because the powder is so deep in niseko that with my own board I would be helpless.

exactly the same thing happened to me!

The guy was trying to convince me to rent a nitro gun, which is too big even for my taste now.



how about a good pair of boots.

On that subject actually, I'm in the market for a new pair of gloves BUT all of the ones in my local shop just seem like Supermarket crap. Any brands out their that people would recommend? Also, I'm all confused about what lens colour I should be looking for when goggle shopping

For Japan I prefer orange or yellow, because low visibility days are relatively commom, and because of the 'nighta'.

Last year I tried Gold colored and they also worked well in low visibility.

This year I am thinking of buying a pair of Oakley Crowbar or A-Frame, with golden tint or VTR28 (which is sort of pink), that's because they are sort of for all kind of conditions and I have sensitive eyes to light, but orange or yellow is the best for low visibility or night skiing, if you are not too sensitive to light.

coldcat, yeah, i've got the budget for a Discount board only.
I now have burton boots and think that the lacing system is great.

But i really hate the burton bindings and couldnt find one which is acceptable. They seems fragile.

Also, the 3-hole or the new ELS(?) system on the board is making me crazy. But there is no good alternative for a tapered board out in the market and i have very limited choices.

btw, would it help to ride powder if one can masters up un-weight and down un-weight skill?

Just keep your body weight on the back of your board and let your instinct kick in. The more you practice the better you'll get at it.

Thanks Coldcat. I'm goggle shopping too. Which of those tints would alter the natural colours of the landscape the least? Obviously vis is priority one, but I hate feeling like I'm on Mars.