2011 Ride Highlife Review

Preface
Coming into the 2010/2011 season, I figured my quiver was pretty much set with the addition of my new Never Summer SL (along with my Slackcountry and Burton shit stick).  After a month or so, I realized there was a noticeable gap in performance between my SL and Slackcountry.  Wjo;e tje S: was a playful, fun board, it lacked the stability and stiffness for some of the riding that I do.  On the other end of the spectrum, the Slackcountry was just too much board for the days that weren't nips deep powder.  I needed something to split the difference and fill that gap.


A few days after starting my search, I found a Highlife 161 for a great deal that I couldn't pass up.  The first ride was at Stevens a variable condition day; the second at Baker on a nice powder day.  I was sold, and just like that the Highlife climbed the ranks to my top board preference, no matter the condition.


Overview
I had spent some serious time admiring the new-to-2011 Ride Highlife at a couple local shops early in the season.  The camber profile was very intriguing: flat through the bindings and tail, with a bit of rocker lift in the nose.  I was especially drawn to the flat tail profile, which effectively eliminated the washout issues I had with riding the Slackcountry outside of deep powder and on some landings.  The stiffness was there too, perhaps a tad stiffer than the Slackcountry.  The cherry on top was the awesome Spacecraft graphics.

It's also worth noting that this board was on a bunch of people's radars after Jake Blauvelt's bit in Absinthe Films 2011 release "Nowhere" with Nicolas Muller, as the Highlife is Jake's choice for backcountry assault.  If you haven't seen the clip before, check it out.  It is definitely one of my favorite video parts from last season.

Control/Ride
My first thought on the board was how smooth, fast, and stable it was on pretty much any condition.  It was easily stiffer than both the SL, as well as the Slackcountry (but not by much).  THe stability was key though as I found the rocker camber combo on the SL to be a bit 'wonky' sometimes when landing a bit off balance.  I attribute this to the amount of rocker found directly between the bindings, creating a pivot point.  Despite being so smooth and stable, the Highlife was still playful and quite nimble for a 161.

I will give one downside on the ride though.  Because of the flat base through the bindings, there's a lot of contact area that can ultimately slow the board down a bit when dealing with 'grabby' snow conditions.  I experienced this a bit in Colorado riding Beaver Creek in sub-zero temperatures where the snow crystals can be quite abrasive.  Slushy spring conditions also attributed to a bit of base suction.  Next season's Highlife (2011/2012) adds a bit of camber between the bindings that will eliminate this issue, as well as add a bit of stability and control to the ride.


Flex/Dampness/Pop
As I noted earlier, the flex is a bit on the stiffer side.  I think Ride gave it an 8 out of 10 on their flex meter.  I'd say that is a pretty good representation.  The responsiveness is there too.  This combination can really be felt when ripping a huge turn and really putting your weight into it.  Pushing off the tail results in immediate response and feedback.

I mentioned in my Slackcountry review that the Slimewalls Ride uses really dampen and smooth out the ride, and the Highlife is no different.  It powers through anything you throw at it.  Despite the stiff and damp ride, it doesn't feel 'dead' like some damper boards.  There's still a good amount of feeling that translates up through the bindings so it's not like your riding blind to the conditions.


Ride employed their PopROds 2.0 in the board, which give it a good overall pop off rollers, lips, and jumps while also providing a good snap through turns.  It's not over the top pop like I though the SL had, but it's enough to have some good fun with.  A perfect compliment to the board, if you ask me.


Bindings
Through the season, I rode the Highlife with two different binding setups.  THe first was the Rome Targas I had on my Never Summer SL.  The Targas felt like a great match out of the box for what I was riding on the Highlife.  They had enough stiffness and response to match the Highlife's level of performance.  As the season went on, I started running into problems with the Targas.  Bolts started loosening up left and right, no matter how much Loctite I applied.  After awhile, I became fed up with having to check my bindings every few runs and switched to the Ride CADs I had on the Slackcountry.  The swap in bindings really turned up the notch on aggressiveness for the Highlife and really pushed me to ride it harder than I had before.  The CADs do take away a bit of the playfulness though, so perhaps a better alternative would have been a set of Ride Alphas.


Final Thoughts
Before I knew it, the Highlife was the board I was always reaching for when I was heading up to the mountains and easily put more days on it than any other board in my quiver.  It fit my riding style perfectly and could shred just about anything I threw at it.  I rode park laps at Breckenridge on it.  I hiked Cowboy Ridge at Stevens Pass and shredded some gnarly sidecountry on it, and super tight technical tree lines at Vail.  I rode it in all conditions from icy January days to deep late season powder days in April.  I rode it on anything and everything while my also brand new Never Summer SL gathered dust in the back of the garage.

While it might not be for everyone given its stiffness, the Highlife is a phenomenal all around board with very few flaws from my point of view.  If you're someone who likes to make the whole mountain your own terrain park, strap on your gnar boots and give the Highlife a try.

Snowboard Review: Ride Slackcountry 164

Preface

For the first ten or so years or snowboarding, I was always a single board quiver guy.  I never felt the need to own more than one board, although my college student budget for four years of that period certainly detoured me from buying a new board.  It wasn’t until last season when I started riding a lot more off piste powder that I realized my trusty traditional camber Burton Custom 158 had its limitations.  I recall one day in particular at Mount Baker last season where they got just short of two feet of fresh powder overnight.  All I could do was point the board downhill and lean back as far as I could just to keep myself from sinking.  I was sitting somewhere on Pan Dome buried in powder thinking, “I really need to get myself a nice powder board.”

As soon as the late season sales started popping up, I was out shopping in full force.  I hit all the local ski shops and talked to a lot of sales guys.  I eventually settled on this particular Ride Slackcountry 164 that Evo had sitting all alone in the corner of their shop.  The combination of the late season mark down along with an Evo Groupon (gotta love Groupons!) made the purchase quite affordable.  Since my purchase last spring, I have been able to ride this board on two separate occasions: one Saturday late last spring that featured over three feet of fresh at Stevens Pass, and one day last week at Whistler with close to two feet of fresh.

Overview

Last season a ton snowboarding companies made big splashes with tons of different alternative camber offerings, from soft jib rockers to huge powder rocker profiles.  Ride’s big powder rocker, HighRize Rocker, can be found on the Slackcountry.  Laying the deck on a flat surface, you can see it is completely flat through the bindings, then up to a three stage, or three angle, rocker on each end.  Very boat-ish, if you will.  The board just looks absolutely killer as well.  Nothing flashy at all, but I love the Schmidt Beer inspired graphics.  I have definitely used the “Wish You Were Here” message on the base in a few pictures to send to friends who were missing out on the fun.

Control/Ride

Both days I’ve been on this board involved pretty decent powder.  I had plenty of untouched runs to test the pow float, and all I have to say is this thing absolutely KILLS in the powder.  It takes almost no effort at all to keep the nose up when slashing through the deep stuff.  Despite the 164cm length, it still feels quite nimble through the trees or more technical runs due to the rocker profile.

When all the pow got tracked into some nasty chop, the Slackcountry just chewed it up and spit it out.  The board is stiff and damp enough to power through any chop without getting all chattery or anything.  Ride’s 90A Slimewalls can be partially attributed to these characteristics as well.  One thing I did notice in these variable conditions is the tip and tail of the board were a little softer than I expected.  I’m wondering if perhaps this is due to the rocker?  I just felt like I wasn’t getting as much response pushing off the tail when I pulled a railed healside turn.  This really isn’t a big knock on the board, just merely an observation.

The one big downside to the Slackcountry is packed powder and groomer performance.  The amount of rocker in both the tip and tail really do affect the control on groomers.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not uncontrollable, but it does take some getting used to.  You really have to pay attention to what the board is doing or you might have the tail slide out under you.  There were a couple long low speed cat tracks at Whistler I took last weekend where I felt like I had stay slightly on either edge just to make sure I kept the board from getting squirrelly.  On steeper groomers that aren’t too packed, the board does carve nicely once you get used to getting it to that edge.

One other thing I noticed during both days on this board is how it seemed to turn into a freight train late in the day on tired legs.  As soon as my legs got tired and the snow got tracked out, I felt like I was in a constant fight trying to make the board go where I wanted it to.  I attribute this to the size of the board, the rocker profile, and my shot legs on tracked out snow.

Flex/Dampness/Pop

Ride rates the flex on this board at a 7 out of 10, which I feel is a pretty accurate rating.  It’s not super stiff like you’d think a big freeride board would be, but I don’t think I’d really classify this as a straight hard-charging freeride deck at all.  It’s strictly a powder board.  I’m no expert on board dynamics, but I’d think that the semi-soft tail helps give a little extra buoyancy in the deep stuff.  Like I stated earlier, you can really tell the board isn’t super stiff when trying to pull a really hard turn in anything other than powder.

I really enjoyed how damp the ride was on the Slackcountry once the powder was chewed up.  Just point the deck and go, powering over any and all chop without transmitting a lot of chatter or roughness to your feet.  This really helped take a lot of stress off my knees and legs.

The tail of the board does have a bit of spring to it, but I’ve found it really hard to get a good pop off the tail due to the amount of rocker.  The canted footbeds on the Ride CAD did help get a little additional leverage on the tail, but I still couldn’t launch myself off kickers with any authority.  No big deal in my mind though, this isn’t a freestyle deck!

Bindings

Both days I’ve spend on this board were on different sets of bindings.  The first set I had mounted last year was a pair of Burton CO2s.  I definitely enjoyed the CO2s, they were a very comfortable binding, but I felt like they didn’t give me the right amount of stiffness I wanted for my freeride powder board.  It also didn’t help that they were slightly oversized for my low profile boot.

Before this season started, I made a huge score on a pair of brand new past season Ride CAD bindings from a Pawn Shop in a pretty sketchy area of Seattle.  For those of you not in the know, the Ride CAD bindings are one of the stiffest, tech-iest bindings Ride has made.  The adjustable ankle strap and footbed let you dial in the ride exactly how you like it.  The response on bindings these are incredible!  The stiff chassis, highback, and ankle strap translate any movement directly to the board.  Don’t try to tweak any grabs in these though, because it’s simply not going to happen.  Pretty good fit for the Slackcountry in my opinion.

Final Thoughts

This powder deck does exactly what it’s made to do: absolutely annihilate the fresh, deep stuff!  It is just an absolute blast to ride in fresh powder, as both of my days on this deck have been.  Chopped powder is fun too once you’ve tracked it all out.  The drawbacks start once it gets all packed down though.  The ride outside of powder is doable and not incredible hard, but it’s enough of a drawback makes this board pretty much a quiver stick rather than a quiver killer.  Regardless of its drawbacks, this board remains one of my favorite and will be my main powderstick for all of my backcountry adventures, cat boarding, and deep resort riding.

My Slackcountry in action.