VaticDart
12-08-2006, 12:38 AM
Okay laddies and ladies of the mountains, I have just come back from a day on my brand new Revel8 ALPs. Last night I got the Spruce Composites mounted after removing the Bombers I got with the boards (those are actually for my GF's new Tanshos, and her Summit Nomads when I ride those). I was a bit saddened with the lessening of the beauty of the boards with the Spruces, but I'm 5'8", so it's questionable whether it would be safe to ride 110cm boards with non-releasables.
It was a moderately cold (mid 30s Fahrenheit) and the conditions were week-old snow, so very cruddy and crusty. Not great, not terrible (quite a bit of ice after the sun went down).
Let's just say this: holy shit. I love my Spruce 120s, love them, but the ALPs will definitely become my main all-mountain board, and the 120s will come out on powder days (you can't beat the length and soft flex for deep powder) or when I want the big smooth ride that the 120s give.
This is going to be a "compared to the Spruce 120s" review, so here we go:
Speed: just as fast as the 120s. Of course this is more of an impression than fact, as I have never raced anyone on the 120s while I was on my ALPs, but let's just put it this way, these suckers are fast. That ISO7500 sintered base is, I'm sure, a big part of that. Just like with the 120s, I was easily passing skiers and snowboarders who knew what they were doing and the top speed of the boards were well beyond what I could psychological handle (conditions were pretty cruddy too).
Stability: definitely a bit less than the 120s, but only very slightly. The 120s have the extra length and the softness for handling bumps and crud, but the extra width of the ALPs helped evened that out some, I'm sure. So yeah, very, very stable and I was basically bombing down skied out intermediate steep stuff at full speed.
Carving: the 120s are definitely skiboards, and definitely carve wonderfully, but their length does have a trade-off, namely one has to be conscious of the edges catching on the tail with transitioning from one turn into another. I've gotten used to that, so I barely notice it, but with the shorter ALPs that issue is non-existant. These things carve better than any other board I've been on, period. I could scoot back and forth with the quick jerking carves (something not as easy on the 120s) and make the big long sweeping carves where you drag one hand through the snow forever with equal ease. I don't know how long a board can get to before the skiboard feel is lost, but there is definitely a difference between 110 and 120 cm, and I think I prefer 110 cm for all-mountain stuff.
Jumps: I'm still a pretty lame jumper. I don't have the guts to just hurl myself into it and I haven't dedicated enough time to get myself to believe I can get much higher than about a foot without wiping out, so my air on the ALPs was limited to such. Even so, I did quite a few runs through the terrain park at Summit Central and got a feel for how the ALPs jump: very nicely. The stiffness compared to the 120s makes stomping landings much easier, and the wideness allowed me to save a few sketchy landings.
So yeah, incredible boards. My hat is off to Greco and his design team (is there a design team?) for producing the most beautiful and highest performance skiboard line in history. I would have a review of the Tanshos up as well, but my GF refused to give them up even for a run, but hopefully she'll get one up tomorrow or later tonight.
Hope the rest of you get some snow soon.
It was a moderately cold (mid 30s Fahrenheit) and the conditions were week-old snow, so very cruddy and crusty. Not great, not terrible (quite a bit of ice after the sun went down).
Let's just say this: holy shit. I love my Spruce 120s, love them, but the ALPs will definitely become my main all-mountain board, and the 120s will come out on powder days (you can't beat the length and soft flex for deep powder) or when I want the big smooth ride that the 120s give.
This is going to be a "compared to the Spruce 120s" review, so here we go:
Speed: just as fast as the 120s. Of course this is more of an impression than fact, as I have never raced anyone on the 120s while I was on my ALPs, but let's just put it this way, these suckers are fast. That ISO7500 sintered base is, I'm sure, a big part of that. Just like with the 120s, I was easily passing skiers and snowboarders who knew what they were doing and the top speed of the boards were well beyond what I could psychological handle (conditions were pretty cruddy too).
Stability: definitely a bit less than the 120s, but only very slightly. The 120s have the extra length and the softness for handling bumps and crud, but the extra width of the ALPs helped evened that out some, I'm sure. So yeah, very, very stable and I was basically bombing down skied out intermediate steep stuff at full speed.
Carving: the 120s are definitely skiboards, and definitely carve wonderfully, but their length does have a trade-off, namely one has to be conscious of the edges catching on the tail with transitioning from one turn into another. I've gotten used to that, so I barely notice it, but with the shorter ALPs that issue is non-existant. These things carve better than any other board I've been on, period. I could scoot back and forth with the quick jerking carves (something not as easy on the 120s) and make the big long sweeping carves where you drag one hand through the snow forever with equal ease. I don't know how long a board can get to before the skiboard feel is lost, but there is definitely a difference between 110 and 120 cm, and I think I prefer 110 cm for all-mountain stuff.
Jumps: I'm still a pretty lame jumper. I don't have the guts to just hurl myself into it and I haven't dedicated enough time to get myself to believe I can get much higher than about a foot without wiping out, so my air on the ALPs was limited to such. Even so, I did quite a few runs through the terrain park at Summit Central and got a feel for how the ALPs jump: very nicely. The stiffness compared to the 120s makes stomping landings much easier, and the wideness allowed me to save a few sketchy landings.
So yeah, incredible boards. My hat is off to Greco and his design team (is there a design team?) for producing the most beautiful and highest performance skiboard line in history. I would have a review of the Tanshos up as well, but my GF refused to give them up even for a run, but hopefully she'll get one up tomorrow or later tonight.
Hope the rest of you get some snow soon.