Board: Venture Storm
Size: 162
Camber Option: Straight Line Rocker. Flat between the feet and rocker in the tips.
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 22.5 Wide 18 Negative 15 Goofy
Boots: K2 T1 DB Size 10
My Weight: 170lbs
Resort: Breckenridge
Conditions: Mix of sun and gray skies, 6 inches of fresh snow reported over night, mildly cold temps, and perfect corduroy groomers on certain sections of the mountain.
Flex: This board has a noticeably softer nose then it starts to stiffen up just outside the front insert back and progressively gets stiffer to the tail. The torsional flex is moderate which makes you have to work to twist the board when carving, but it’s not so stiff that this is unmanageable.
Stability: Much like the Euphoria this board is stable under foot. The only spot that had a noticeable amount of chatter was the nose, which with a shape like this is to be expected. The chatter in the nose did not resonate back to the inserts which was nice.
Ollies/Pop: The tail of this board is like a spring. You hit a small little powder mogul and you’re popping hard. Boosting over natural features was a breeze.
Butterability: The nose shape while great for cutting through deep snow is less than ideal for popping around on pow butters, but it is still doable. I recommend doing this at high speeds, as slow speeds you might catch.
Carving: The transition edge to edge on this board is smooth and graceful. What I really noticed is that when doing deep aggressive carves the front of the board lifts up and you will be maintaining the arc on the back foot. If you really drive the board into a deep Euro-carve on a groomer expect to snap out of the arc with force. This board can get aggressive.
Rider in Mind: The pow chasing rider that will still take this board on a groomer and rip turns.
Personal Thoughts: This board slashed through the deep snow with ease. The tip shape just wants to pull up through the snow and get on top of it. While in the past Venture boards have been a bit stiff and aggressive, this one while still aggressive is not as stiff which made for an easier ride. My knees were thanking me at the end of the day. But the shape lets you sail through powder and soar off hits.
Comparable Boards: Rossignol Krypto, Jones Aviator, Yes. PYL
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This board was loaned to us for review by Venture Snowboards marketing department.
*Disclaimer this board did not change for 2017 so we carried the 2016 review over.
7 Comments
Can you say how it compares to the 14/15 deck?
Haven’t ridden that year model.
Great Site…. I am sold on this board and have a quick question about sizing… I’m coming from a 54 Burton Landlord and I like it a lot but would like something that has a little bit more tail. I haven’t rode many boards with taper, do you think the reduction from 20mm to 8mm of taper would lead to a having the feeling of more tail in the end of a turn or is added length the best way? I found that the Landlord would washout on steeper tight terrain but love the agility of it and am try to decide between the 57 and 61.
You’re pretty correct with your assumption. You’ll have more surface area in the tail, I would get the 57.
Torn between the Paragon and the Storm. What would you say the key differences are?
Shape, flex, and how they ride.
Both are listed as 6 out of 11 flex on Venture’s website. I don’t spend time in the park, so is there anything I would be missing if chose the Storm over the Paragon?