Category: Condor

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

After a few crappy ski seasons, this year we have an amazing winter here in Brasov, Romania with lots of snow so I took the Condors through the woods in 70cm (2ft) fresh powder. I would say that they are the perfect tool for skiing through the forest! I can take them anywhere. They are very easy to control and steer, ideal for thick woods. I could take them in places where I would not go on normal skis; moreover, I was enjoying every bit of the descent.

Yesterday we went down on thinly wooded south mountain face. First half of the descent, for about 600m altitude drop we had slopes of 40-50%. The powder snow was almost 1 meter deep. There was a bit of crust and the snow was a bit wet and heavy, but it was a joy to ride this mountain face on the Condors. My friends, (one on powder fat and long skis and one on standard all mountain skis) had quite some trouble controlling and steering their long skis and were complaining about the heavy snow. Riding on the Condors I had no idea what they were talking about! Down on the valley, when the slope become less than 5-10% it was clear that the Condors would not glide as fast as normal skis, but it was OK as I am always using ski poles – they are very useful for off-piste skiing.

I also rode the Condors on hard packed well prepared slopes and I was surprised on how stable they were, even at a quite high speed. Carving on them is a joy. Even though they are perfectly fine on hard packed snow and I enjoyed the run, in this conditions I would rather chose a narrower ski/skiboard.

I rode them with both race stiff ski boots and soft touring ski boots. In powder I prefer the softer option as I felt more relaxed. On hard-pack I only tried the stiff ones.

I also tried the Condors on soft bumps and they are fun to ride. I would probably avoid hard bumps as I would not recommend this skiboard for icy conditions – in fact they are not designed for icy conditions.

I have never been on KTPs (101cm-wide) and have only ridden ALPs (110cm-traditional R8 width proportion) once. For me, the main transition was that of 5cm in length and several cm in width as well as a less flexier board. All of this factored on the basis that I ride on Revolts 100% of the time in all conditions; park, all mountain, powder, trees, backyard jibs, urban, etc… I am 5’6″ and weigh 140lbs (dropped 15lbs of muscle since the dislocations of my shoulder over the past ten months). Thus far Revolts have been the ideal skiboard for what I desired in all conditions.

My first concern while riding up the lift (I probably should have thought things through at least the day before, but I didn’t even bring any other boards to the resort just in case this was an unsuccessful test), was whether or not I would have troubles getting on edge. I am a pretty active guy, skating 2-3 times a week outside of the summer months and training in the gym regularly with high-impact explosive training workouts. Even with that we all know that getting on edge and working on powder with skiboards can be quite a quad-killer for your legs. My second concern was that with the width and flex, would I be able to ride how I normally do? Everyone has their specific flow on skiboards, or anything for that matter, and would it work out well for me? Or, would I feel incredibly uncomfortable for the day? These, among other thoughts are what went through my mind as I rode up my first time.

To my surprise I came off the lift and flew down the first trail (black diamond) and rode typically how I would in a cruising situation, boards close and parallel while just leaning back and forth. They rode incredibly smoothly on the groomed trail and when any sort of powder popped showed up in random spots I floated effortlessly over the patches as if they weren’t there. Throughout the day I tested them in various areas to see how they would handle, including groomers, light pow (4 inches deep, sugary), trees, steep hard-pack, natural banks to tree taps, buttering at lower and higher speeds, popping off of rollers, the feel of grabs and moving the boards around in the air (shifties and spins), and even hitting a rail (Wolf has one random rail sitting at the bottom by one of the lifts that is super sketch to hit and even in the extremely narrow ride-up these boards made the cut).

Overall, I must say that I was very pleased. Even for my height and weight they rode rather fluidly. After a conscious first run of pay attention specifically to how they felt I cruised run after run without even adjusting anything in how I rode or how I thought about approaching things. I definitely felt the width throughout the day as a much wider base to be on top of, but it didn’t actually affect how I rode. The lean-back method came pretty natural in the deeper spots (keep in mind that it is still early season snow and the resort had 4′ but that was several weeks ago before getting warm temps since). My edges were fresh and leaning far from side to side made it quite easy to get on edge fast and smoothly. The extra flex was of no concern because it made the ride smooth. I was cruising fast and taking sharp turns with ease not only because of how easy it was to get on edge, but because of how light the boards felt because of the flex. Yes, the boards tend to fool your mind and make it think they are lighter when in fact it is the flex. Odd, but refreshing. I was even popping off of high banks, tail-tapping trees, and then landing deep in the transition. Because of the flex it was easy to just sink in and ride out. I even hit a rail several times and the boards seemed to lock easier because of the width (I can understand the park love for KTPs now). Between runs I was buttering around doing 360 nose presses and such, and while they were flexier than what I am usually used to there was no problem at all. I just had to compensate by leaning a little more into the trick.

I really don’t have any complaints. The Condors were a fantastic all-around board. The only slight issue I had and needed to compensate for was when coming down steeps where the terrain was slightly moguly and broken up the boards did not handle as well as a narrower board. I would imagine that had it been powder they would have championed the entire section.

I have yet to test them in deep powder, but that will be on the docket next.

On a scale from 1 to 10, for all around use I give them a 9.5

After using the KTPs on Saturday, I had no problems with the width of the Condors, the only problem was skating, with the added length and width, there were a couple of times I did clang the tails. As far as how they performed compared to other 110s, they feel just like the ALPs, except bigger. They turn and performance just like the ALPs, but am able to plow through powder even better. I was able to made a few runs down an area that was roped off due to heavy duty snowmaking, with almost no visibility due to the snowmaking, I was able to go through the area in ankle-deep powder without any problems. With other 110s, I would need to sit back a bit more such that the tips can raise up and go through the powder, but with the Condors, I didn’t need to do this. For me, this is definitely the skiboard I would use when I want to hit it out west, going to backbowls and other areas where there is lots and lots of powder. Previously, I would have used my Spruce 120s, but now that there is a 110 length with the added width for floatation, the Condors will take over that spot. The Condors have the same flex as the ALPs, which is less stiff than the Summits or the Lacroix that I own in the 110cm size.

The first time I took them out if the box I had a pair of BWPs on the floor. when they came out of the box I set them up to the b-dubs and was shocked by how massive these things are. They even dwarf the alps. I knew that they would kill it in the powder but I was unprepared for the park . Riding into jumps is a whole new feeling because of the extra suface area. I dont find myself skating for speed as much as I used to . They just want to get up and go. Landing is now a little easier ,once again because of the extra surface area. I was a little skeptical of them on rails . I thaught they would feel like tanks but the boards are suprizingly lite. they just seemed to lock on tighter than the thinner counter parts.I have had more funin the park on these boards than anything else I have eve riddin.

I strapped them on at the lift, and took a deep breath as i boarded the lift, to a comment of “where in the world did you buy those snowblades, they’re massive” from the lift operator.
I got to talking to a snowboarder on the lift, who was in awe of the size of the condors, and he was interested in seeing the rest of the boards. I gave him a business card and told him there were many pictures on the forums of most of the boards. Now it was windy going up, and the wind was catching under the boards and pushing them up, the condors were wanting to fly. I exited the lift, and traversed a little on the way to “green/blue” runs, which were covered in powder and basically, skier mad moguls, piles of powder that were pushed by boarders and skiers, then packed down by people going over them, then more powder on top. They were so much fun. I would hit one, pop up my tips, have my tails be planted, then bounce into another one. The flex on these made for fun shredding in the powder.

There was also a steeper trail that most of the powder blew off. I wanted to see how they would handle steep hard pack. I was surprised, i kept them mostly on edge, and the hold was tremendous, no skidding out or chattering, just bouncing over the occasional powder pocket, and carving up the hard pack. They went above and beyond my expectations on hard pack. But where these behemoths really opened up on the powder. These condors have gone above anything i could’ve ever thought they would do. I was using my height to really drive into carves, and really ride these aggressively, which they responded to amazingly. If i had any advise for riding these, it would be stay on edge and carve, and really put your weight into it.

The Condors handled it all.

They flex great over uneven terrain, float well in the softest powder and hold an edge on aggressive carving on hard pack. They are confidence inspiring and stable and give me great feedback from the terrain without jostling me about like much stiffer boards have a tendency to do. They look great too. The massive width of the things will take some getting used to – my ankles and feet were a bit fatigued by the end of the day. They are not hard to get on edge, but do require more out of a rider to get them there.