So for those of you shredders in the know, you've just been waiting to
walk into your local shop to check out the Burton Hero Late Release
snowboard. For the rest of you wondering what the big deal is, well
this is Burton's entry into the "rockered" category.
What's that?
While
I personally refer to them as rockered boards as opposed to "reverse
camber", sometimes the less initiated, or non-surfer or
non-wakeboarder, or cross-over skier is only used to hearing the word
"camber". The result of camber in a snowboard or ski is the slight arch
running lenthwise from tip to tail that you can see. When you put one
on a perfectly flat surface, it rests on two spots - near the tip and
near the tail - with a very small gap between the ground and the middle
of the snowboard or ski. Obviously then reverse camber would be where
the contact occurs in the middle and the same contact points in a
traditional shape are slightly off the ground. Think of it as this
shape ...(... turned clockwise versus this shape ...)... turned
clockwise.....or looking sideways at a banana with its tip and tail
making a frown shape versus rotating it to make a smile.
Eeegads how's that for layman tech?
In
the medium of water there are tons of recreational things with rocker -
including surfboards, wakeboards, water skis, kayaks, and on and on.
Depending on your point of reference, riding conditions, terrain, and
some other things, you can obviously have an argument for or against
rocker. I haven't made up my mind which shape I like better in all
conditions and all terrain scenarios like powder, groomers, park, etc
yet., but I can say that I'm a firm believer in deep powder conditions.
And
I don't think it's a coincidence that when you have bottomless powder
turns on a snowboard that it's pretty darn close to how it feels to
make the same turns on a surfboard. The sensations can be felt good in
wakeboarding or even some water skiing too. It's that sensation of
pushing into the snow / water and sinking but then rebounding back to
the surface as the snow / water feels like it is pushing back. Making
huge untracked, first tracks, powder turns down a steep bowl and then
slashing into a deep, powerful "bottom turn" is heaven or nirvana or
zen or whatever you want to call it. For many of the early pioneers of
snowboarding - who came from the surfing world - this is the sensation
that made them snowboard junkies. They could surf the snow.
So all that to simply say that I've really liked how it felt the two times I've ridden rocker in good, deep Tahoe powder.
And
to make a long story short, after the huge success of Lib Tech's Skate
Banana and K2's Gyrator, Burton introduces its own interpretation that
it calls "V-Rocker".
So all that to say that the Burton Hero Late Release snowboard is now in stock:
http://www.porterstahoe.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=215849!BUR
Black metallic finish with a holograph
Of course in Burton's new ICS mounting system
2009 Transworld "Good Wood" Award Winner
A decent shot of the V-Rocker and the gentle rise in the gap between the floor and the base of the Burton Hero
the base...
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