Author: Andrew

200 lb. male, brand new 90 cm well waxed Revel 8 Tansho’s; 3 feet of very fresh, very soft, very fluffy white stuff; a lot of un-groomed trail, and a lot of chop = A VERY BAD DAY !!!!

OK .. maybe not a “very bad day” since any day up in the snow is a good day, buuuutttt…..

A guy my size in these conditions has no business being on these boards. I got into one section of un-groomed snow between two trails and sunk up to my mid-thigh. Green runs and fluffy stuff = no speed and way too much work skating just to keep from coming to a stop.

Blue runs with a lot of chop = me having to lean way back to keep my tips up and avoid hitting a big mound of snow and face-planting. My quads are killing me right now.

Un-groomed blacks = forget about it. No float and all sinkage. Even when I started bombing straight down to pick up some speed, I’d hit a mound of soft stuff and rather than rising up over the top of the mound, the tips of the boards would cut through, I’d hit the mound with my boots and face-plant again … even while leaning back to keep the tips as high and light as possible.

These are also not long enough for me to feel any flex in the boards at all …. undulating terrain and firm bumps nearly bounced me right off my feet and onto my head – very unforgiving and definitely much better suited to flat and even groomers for someone my size. As well, I noticed the lack of length and flex out in front of me contributed to the boards failing to rise up over the tops of mounds and drifts.

These are going to the wife for sure. Today, she rode on the Head Shape 94s I started out on last season. These should be a good upgrade for her and may be the ideal board for her.

The tips of the Tansho’s are higher than the Heads, they are wider (though a bit shorter), and look to have a larger surface area. These should be just about perfect for my 115 lb. novice skiboarding wife.

Hopefully, my newly acquired KTP’s will be better in varied conditions, chop, and pow. They look good and by their size they should do better in the dumping of snow we have gotten out here this last week.

Time and next weekend will tell.

I stepped into the Risers on the Tanshos and “just went for it” down an unrated (probably green or blue) hill at my local ravine ski club, and I was thoroughly impressed. The extra width I’d feared were a non-issue, and in fact, after about 2-3 runs, I learned to appreciate it more than the Rumspringas’ narrowness.

People say that wider boards are supposedly harder to get on edge, but I really didn’t notice a difference with the Tanshos. Especially with Risers, you are higher on the boards, so there is a higher centre of gravity, which makes it easier to “tip” onto edge. That’s not to say there is no difference in the way Rumspringas feel versus Tanshos (13.5/10.5/13.5); there is a definite wider feel to the Tanshos, but the difference (to me at least) is that on wider boards, you have a better sense of when you’re on edge than when you’re not. This provides better feedback to the rider. Conceptually, edging on Tanshos feel like a “\_/” with a noticeable “flat spot,” whereas Rumspringas feel more like a “U” where the edge isn’t as detectable. Good or bad thing? That’s up to the Rider. I prefer the Tanshos.

The one thing I disliked about the Tanshos (which is in no way a design flaw) is their length. Everytime I hit a large pile of crud, it felt like the boards became unstable, especially at slower speeds (i.e. right off the chairlift) when they would sometimes prematurely come to a dead stop. However, they still felt quite stable at higher speeds, much better than older 90cm Snowblades I’ve ridden. They actually feel a bit longer than 90cm!

These Tanshos are now my favorite boards. They fully deserve all the praise they’ve been given. I’d just like to add that just like everything else, they have their place, and they do have their limits if taken grossly out of their bounds. I was able to bomb some steeps, and they do travel as fast as I feel comfortable going. They probably aren’t as fast as some longer, wider boards, but I and most others won’t be able to notice or miss the extra speed. They turn on a dime but I never felt that they got squirrely, and they’re so light that skating around is a pleasure.

I did faceplant once when I sped into a little mound of ungroomed snow that I didn’t notice, but I doubt anything could’ve saved me at that point.