I was pumped to get ahold of a pair of 2014 Condors right before the start of last season, not only are the graphics killer but I was long overdue in having the legendary all mountain powder board in my quiver. Riding powder with finesse has always taken more skill and effort on skiboards, so to finally have boards designed for it in my hands felt like getting a car with 4-wheel drive. The first thing I noticed about the Condors was the sheer mass of the boards, they’re huge! At 16.5/13.7/16.5 there just isn’t a wider skiboard period. I ended up riding the Condors all the way through the peak of the season thanks to a handful of powder filled weeks. While not for everyone this board is definitely for anyone who is a semi to very aggressive rider looking to boldly shred lots of powder. They just handle it like a champ! The camber design means a slight lean back (keep your tips up) rule of thumb applies when entering a stash or hitting a steep pocket, standard technique but the float and power/stability of these boards is a feeling to behold. The boards have a bit of flex to them not really particularly stiff nor too soft. The combination of powder performance and softbooting is pure bliss and a good way to put your softboot binding setup/boot combo to the test. I hunted powder relentlessly and plunged into deep stashes with speed that I wouldn’t have taken on other boards, the performance increase in powder was that astonishing. I also had some of the smoothest drop landings ever with these, such a nice foot print for landing, and even being the widest model I never found myself stuck in any of the tree filled chutes I love to fly through.
I was actually quite surprised how well I could edge to edge in groomed to mildly hard conditions, at times the Condor felt like a DLP on steroids, but on the real hard to icy stuff the width wasn’t fun if not dangerous on the terrain I frequent. This kind of gets into the binding setup a bit, I can see how Line FF-Pros or RVL8 Receptors with hard ski boots would provide enough rigidity to compensate for the Condors gargantuan size in on-piste hard packed conditions. While the soft setup is a little more lose in the ride, perfect for powder, the Condor needs to be ridden with intention and concentration.
I’d stress only taking these out when the snow is fresh however, preferably deep. The one draw back is the mass of these boards can really work against you on hard pack, I really would not want to crash on hard stuff with a setup like this. Whip out your Revolts or DLP’s on those days. On a final note, softboot all mountain shredding in deep powder is a reality, and an absolute dream come true. The fun now is finding the end-all base binding and boot combo. Let the experiments begin!
Boots Used: 2013 Salomon Synapse Flex rating – 7
Base Binding: SnowJam Team Stark Pro binding (orange)
Binding Mod: Rvl8 Saavi Wing system
Riser: Missouri Riser
Mountain: Mt. Bohemia
Skill Level: Expert
Rider – George- Expert Rider
