VaticDart
12-09-2007, 01:38 PM
I got my Sherpas in on Tuesday along with Spruce’s Pro Lite Risers, and got to try them out today at Mt. Baker in WA.
For those of you who haven’t read JJue’s posts on these, the Sherpas are Spruce’s new 130cm asymmetrical skiboard which, last I heard is coming out in January. They have a width profile of 160/112/145 and come with a “Powder Plate” that allows the Spruce Risers to be set back by different amounts.
Conditions were mixed. Mostly early season groomers, some icy stuff in the shade, some bits of powder tucked away, maybe 6-8 inches. So most of the day it was a mix of cruddy goomers, cruddy powder, with the occasional drop into short stretches of decent powder.
I spent 2/3 of the day with the bindings in the most centered position on the Powder Plates which is 15 mm set back. Honestly I was a bit underwhelmed by their performance. The Spruce 120s have something of an issue with the tails dragging and catching when making turns and slamming through crud, but the Sherpas had that problem even more. I tried a number of different skiboard styles and techniques, and still the tails would quite regularly catch on crud. The boards were better than the 120s in powder, but nothing to write home about in comparison. On ice again, they were okay: better than the 120s (probably due to the being stiffer and having more edge), but not as good as say the Summit Nomads (05/06 model). Skating was very doable but the tails tended to whack into each other.
Then I moved the bindings back to the middle set back position, 55mm. That’s when the magic happened.
Suddenly the boards came alive. I could charge through powdery or groomer crud as fast as I could manage, jumping off of every little lump and bump, performing hop turns. The tails just... vanished. Removing 55mm of the tails made it so that I could ride the boards like skiboards, and they turned like skiboards (definitely a little slower to initiate a turn than traditional skiboards), but had an absolutely absurd amount of stability and speed. On icy stuff, I’ve never felt an edge quite that solid. Powder was effortless. Again, there wasn’t much of it, but diving through what was there with having to lean back maybe a tiny bit here and there, and just being able to slam through bumps and troughs without loosing speed was incredible.
So here’s the inevitable question about a product like this: are they skiboards? My answer is definitely not final as I only spent one day on them, but I would lean towards a “not really” answer. The Sherpas are skiboard-like skis that can be ridden like skiboards, somewhat like the shorter Icelantic boards from what I’ve heard of those. I think Spruce may have crossed the threshold of length limitation on a skiboard with a centered binding and symmetrical construction. I will be curious to hear what people think of the Summit Marauder with centered bindings as the season progresses, but then it has only 147 tips, compared to the 160/145 of the Sherpas. The Spruce 120s can be ridden very well as traditional skiboards: centered binding, symmetrical tips, but even at that length the tails get somewhat ungainly; 130cm is just too long for a skiboard.
The performance jump that occurred when I set the bindings back to 55mm indicate the Sherpa violates the two core requirements of a true skiboard: centered bindings and symmetrical design. So, for now, I’m going to say the Sherpa isn’t a skiboard. That said, it is an incredible board that any skiboarder would feel right at home on, especially those who have ridden the 120s. Yesterday was the best performance I’ve been able to coax out of a board, ever. The jump was honestly somewhat similar to the first time I tried a true skiboard (the Summit Nomad) compared to the Snowblades, K2 Fatties and SnowJam 99s I had ridden previously. With something like the Sherpas you do give up that wonderful monkey-ish feeling that skiboards offer of being able to basically skate and hop and spin through a run, but in return you get insane speed and stability.
I will likely spend a good part of the season on the traditional skiboards in the quiver my gf and I have assembled: SnowJam 75s, Revel8 Tanshos, Summit Nomads, Revel8 Alps and the Spruce 120s, but I don’t think I have any other option for powder days or days I just want to really fly - Sherpas are the way to go.
I want to try the Sherpas next in the more set back position: 85mm. I also want to try the Revel8 Alps and Spruce 120s with the Powder Plate in different set back positions. I think I may have taken one step into JJue’s camp of liking some skiboards better with the bindings set back. After yesterday’s jump in performance from the Sherpas, I seriously wonder what a 55mm set back will do to the Alps or 120s.
More posts will follow.
For those of you who haven’t read JJue’s posts on these, the Sherpas are Spruce’s new 130cm asymmetrical skiboard which, last I heard is coming out in January. They have a width profile of 160/112/145 and come with a “Powder Plate” that allows the Spruce Risers to be set back by different amounts.
Conditions were mixed. Mostly early season groomers, some icy stuff in the shade, some bits of powder tucked away, maybe 6-8 inches. So most of the day it was a mix of cruddy goomers, cruddy powder, with the occasional drop into short stretches of decent powder.
I spent 2/3 of the day with the bindings in the most centered position on the Powder Plates which is 15 mm set back. Honestly I was a bit underwhelmed by their performance. The Spruce 120s have something of an issue with the tails dragging and catching when making turns and slamming through crud, but the Sherpas had that problem even more. I tried a number of different skiboard styles and techniques, and still the tails would quite regularly catch on crud. The boards were better than the 120s in powder, but nothing to write home about in comparison. On ice again, they were okay: better than the 120s (probably due to the being stiffer and having more edge), but not as good as say the Summit Nomads (05/06 model). Skating was very doable but the tails tended to whack into each other.
Then I moved the bindings back to the middle set back position, 55mm. That’s when the magic happened.
Suddenly the boards came alive. I could charge through powdery or groomer crud as fast as I could manage, jumping off of every little lump and bump, performing hop turns. The tails just... vanished. Removing 55mm of the tails made it so that I could ride the boards like skiboards, and they turned like skiboards (definitely a little slower to initiate a turn than traditional skiboards), but had an absolutely absurd amount of stability and speed. On icy stuff, I’ve never felt an edge quite that solid. Powder was effortless. Again, there wasn’t much of it, but diving through what was there with having to lean back maybe a tiny bit here and there, and just being able to slam through bumps and troughs without loosing speed was incredible.
So here’s the inevitable question about a product like this: are they skiboards? My answer is definitely not final as I only spent one day on them, but I would lean towards a “not really” answer. The Sherpas are skiboard-like skis that can be ridden like skiboards, somewhat like the shorter Icelantic boards from what I’ve heard of those. I think Spruce may have crossed the threshold of length limitation on a skiboard with a centered binding and symmetrical construction. I will be curious to hear what people think of the Summit Marauder with centered bindings as the season progresses, but then it has only 147 tips, compared to the 160/145 of the Sherpas. The Spruce 120s can be ridden very well as traditional skiboards: centered binding, symmetrical tips, but even at that length the tails get somewhat ungainly; 130cm is just too long for a skiboard.
The performance jump that occurred when I set the bindings back to 55mm indicate the Sherpa violates the two core requirements of a true skiboard: centered bindings and symmetrical design. So, for now, I’m going to say the Sherpa isn’t a skiboard. That said, it is an incredible board that any skiboarder would feel right at home on, especially those who have ridden the 120s. Yesterday was the best performance I’ve been able to coax out of a board, ever. The jump was honestly somewhat similar to the first time I tried a true skiboard (the Summit Nomad) compared to the Snowblades, K2 Fatties and SnowJam 99s I had ridden previously. With something like the Sherpas you do give up that wonderful monkey-ish feeling that skiboards offer of being able to basically skate and hop and spin through a run, but in return you get insane speed and stability.
I will likely spend a good part of the season on the traditional skiboards in the quiver my gf and I have assembled: SnowJam 75s, Revel8 Tanshos, Summit Nomads, Revel8 Alps and the Spruce 120s, but I don’t think I have any other option for powder days or days I just want to really fly - Sherpas are the way to go.
I want to try the Sherpas next in the more set back position: 85mm. I also want to try the Revel8 Alps and Spruce 120s with the Powder Plate in different set back positions. I think I may have taken one step into JJue’s camp of liking some skiboards better with the bindings set back. After yesterday’s jump in performance from the Sherpas, I seriously wonder what a 55mm set back will do to the Alps or 120s.
More posts will follow.