Board: Venture Euphoria
Size: 158
Camber Option: Straight Line Rocker. Flat between the feet and rockered in the nose and tail.
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 22.5 Wide 18 Negative 15 Goofy
Boots: K2 T1 DB Size 10
My Weight: 170lbs
Resort: Breckenridge
Conditions: 4 inches of snow reported over night, with wind loading it was over a foot deep in spots. There was minimal wind, a mix of blue and gray skies, and above average visibility. The groomers were fast and soft.
Flex: With the directional nature of the board and the abundance of rocker in the nose you get what feels like a softer nose and then the board stiffens up heading back to the tail. With the 27cm waist on this deck it is a bit stiffer laterally. Over all this is a powder surfing shape that has a slightly above middle of the road flex due to its unique shape and dimensions.
Stability: If you ever wanted to run over something with a snowboard, this could very well be the board for it. Getting into chunder moguls as well as heavy wind loaded snow this board was unrelenting. It charged over everything with ease and the only thing that had any chatter was the end of the nose due to the abundance of rocker and the shape. This chatter though lessened as it got closer to the foot, which dissipated any foot fatigue.
Ollies/Pop: With how little tail there is, the pop is minimal on this board. Trying to jump off rocks, berms, and other natural features I found that I had to really use my body to jump vs having the springboard effect that normally comes from a snowboard.
Butterability: I tried to pow butter the nose, I failed miserably. This board is meant for surfing the white wave, not playing around on it. If you really want to pow butter just be prepared to use a lot of muscle to leverage the board.
Carving: You would think with a 27 waist that this board would not carve on a groomer. I laid it down hard on some fresh corduroy and left a monster trench in my wake. It does take more effort and you can’t center flex the board as much as others to get that deep laid out Euro-carve.
Rider in Mind: The pow surfing fanatic.
Personal Thoughts: I honestly wish I had gotten the 154 as it would have been more nimble in the trees. This board is designed for wide open pow. My suggestion if you do want to ride tight trees, set your stance a bit more forward so you don’t have as much nose. This will make it quicker when slashing in and out of the turns around trees and burms. In deep pow this boards tail sinks like no other. Coming through the bowls of Breckenridge which were so wind deposited it was above my knee this board never sacrificed the floaty turns you would expect from the shape.
Check out the 2016 review of the Venture Euphoria.
Comparable Boards: Salomon Derby, K2 Cool Bean, Yes 420
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This board was loaned to us for product review from Venture Snowboards marketing department.
*Disclaimer this board did not change for 2017 so we carried the 2016 review over.
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