I’ve owned the Spruce 120cm skiboards since they first came out, I purchased them directly from Spruce before they were available by any retailer. The main reason why I bought these was due to the fact I was using 98cm Line MNPs and were constantly getting stuck in powder. I purchased this pair a few months earlier than purchasing my first 110cm skiboards, the Summit Custom Woodies super stiff.
First impressions, they are heavy, due to the bindings more than the extra length. If I used the Spruce bindings on the Summits instead of the Bombers, then their weight would be comparable. As soon as I went down my first run on the Spruces, there was an immediate difference felt. First, even though they are 10cm longer than the Summits, they don’t feel as fast. I wasn’t able to achieve the same speeds that I was able to on the Summits on the same trails. Second, the Spruces are much more forgiving if you break form. Hitting bumps, the Spruces absorbed the bumps and made them easier to navigate through than the Summits. The Spruces are less stiff than the Summits, which could account for these differences. I was also leary of the bindings since this is my first time on releaseables on a skiboard, but they were great. No pre-release, easy to use, felt as confident on them as I did on my Bombers. Big kudos goes to the design of the riser. As for the added length, it did take me a bit of time to get used to them. Going from 98cm to 120cm is a big jump, I had a tendency of getting my tails’ edges caught here and there at the end of turns, but since the Spruces are more forgiving, I was able to compensate. I’m sure with more time on the slopes, I will not have this problem.
A few months later, I took these out to Vail to the backbowls and they performed great in the powder. Just like at Stratton, with the medium flex, they were much more forgiving on the knees, especially with sudden changes in conditions in the powder. I feel these are the perfect skiboards for someone who uses long skis to feel what a skiboard feels like, without losing the sense of safety with a releaseable binding system. These have become my go-to skiboards to introduce skier friends to skiboarding and have since converted them over to skiboards!
Rider – Edward Ho – Expert Skiboarder
