Another Sherpa 130 Review

[SkaFreak]

I got out on a pair of Sherpa's today at Wolf Creek in Colorado. These things are absolute powder beasts. Wolf Creek has a 117 inch base midway, and has had 66 inches of dry powder fall in the past week. Today was my first day out trying the Sherpa's and the powder plates, so I started off with the bindings set at the most centered stance on the powder plate. When first getting off the lift I could hardly turn on these things because I was so used to how effortless my EMPs were to turn. After a couple hundred feet of trail, I started to get the feeling of how to weight the boards right to get in and out of turns. On that first run, I ended up running through at least 4 feet of untracked powder and didn't sink more than 6 inches at any time and without putting all of the weight on the tails like on normal skiboards. As the day went on and I got more comfortable on them, I rode them down some steeper untracked snow and was taking face shots in knee deep powder and flying through the glades while cutting untracked turns that skis and snowboards would have had a hard time making. About halfway through the day, I decided to try setting the bindings back on the powder plate to see how big of a difference it made. I personally preferred having the more centered stance as even the first setback started to take away a little bit more of the skiboard feel. They still were more maneuverable than skis however. On runs that had been pretty well tracked out already, they had no problem cutting through the choppy snow. If I had tried doing some of the stuff I did on these boards on shorter boards, I would have eaten countless mouthfuls of snow. They didn't even bother to run a groomer across the greens today, so I can't say how these things compare on groomed, hardpack, or ice yet, but these things would replace my EMPs on deep powder days. I have not yet tried the condors or the 120's, so I can't give a comparison, but the only word that can describe these boards, from their sheer size to how they fly over powder and cut through choppy, is beastly. Unfortunately I couldn't hunt down a camera today and my early 90's camcorder just couldn't have handled the weather today, so no pictures or videos yet, but we'll see if I can change that later this season.

[jjue]

Great review Skafreak !! I was wondering about how they worked centered in powder as I always ride them set back in that stuff . .. they seemed like they also work great centered for you ... how much weight did you have to put to the tails in steep vs lower angled deep pow ? Was there a lot less need to weight the tails then a center mounted EMP in deep pow ? Did you ever feel like you were going to dive the tips that way ?

[SkaFreak]

In the steeper stuff I didn't have to weight the tails as much, they just rode like I would normal skiboards with a little more effort in turning them. There definitely was a lot less need to weight the tails on these than EMPs. The only time I even had to really weight the tails a noticeable amount was when I lost too much speed on the flat areas, but even then it took less than it does to ride EMPs even with a bit of speed. I definitely felt like I was going to dive the tips on occasion, but I think it was more a mental thing from riding shorter skiboards. I'd come up to something think my tips are going to catch, and then have no problem at all cutting through it. Even when my tips dove into the powder, I never caught the tips. My boards would just start dropping deeper into the powder so I'd just lean back a bit and they'd porpoise right back up, just like how you see good skiers riding deep pow.

[eldiablodenieve]

Any idea when these are going to be released?

[SkaFreak]

As of last night, Jeff said that the production line of Sherpa's should be available in a couple of weeks.

[valmorel]

Interesting that you liked them centre mounted Ska. That is how I ride mine. I love that powerful feeling I get carving them on hardpack. There has been a lot of review of the powder performance, but let me tell you, the Sherpa is a real killer board on hardpack. The edge grip seems to go on forever. I hope to get some video this coming week. I use the Composite Riser on mine because I like the way they smooth out the ride a touch. I am really looking forward to seeing the graphics in the flesh too. One heck of a big canvass :-)

[SkaFreak]

Day 2: More variable conditions.
On Saturday I got another chance to ride my Sherpas on just about every type of snow there is. I rode a bit of powder, hardpack, ice, crud, and took em on a couple of small tabletops in the park. When I first got on these on hardpack I felt like I would never be able to turn em, but just like in powder, after riding em for a few minutes I started to get the feel for riding them on harder snow. These things will hold an edge forever. The comparison to a longboard holds very true with these. They are great for cruising the mountain, bombing hills, and still much more maneuverable than skis. I did notice that if you got lazy and out of an aggressive riding stance that the tails started acting more like skis and skidding and such, but as long as you don't get lazy, these things will give a great ride. They held a better edge than my EMP's on the ice as well. It's hard to judge because the ice I hit was the kind that no matter what you're riding it's going to lose an edge, but they held longer than my EMP's would have. In the crud these things rode beautifully. I'm used to carefully watching my tips and controlling my boards around anything that could make me get a face full of snow, but on the Sherpas I didn't have to worry. They just powered through the choppy stuff. When I took em into the park was when I realized just how heavy these things are compared to a pair of short boards with non-releasable bindings. I hit the first tabletop, had a bit of a flail because I didn't catch as much air as I expected, and then just barely cleared the knuckle. Once I got my speed right and hit the jump well, they were very smooth. It was a fairly small jump, so it is hard to judge if they truly made the landing much smoother, but they felt nice. These aren't your standard park boards by any means, but the fact that you have a pair strapped to your feet doesn't mean that the park isn't for you that day. All in all, I am very impressed with the Sherpas. Jeff has really put some thought and work into getting boards that can handle even the deepest powder without feeling like skis. They don't feel quite like shorter skiboards ever, but they are much closer to the skiboard feel than a ski feel.