Board: Kurt Heine Apex
Size: 152
Camber Option: Flat to rocker in the nose.
Bindings: Rome Black Label
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 200lbs
Resort: Copper Mountain
Conditions: Bluebird skies, pristine groomers, zero wind, and feet of fresh snow all over the mountain.
Flex: With a just below a middle of the road flex you get a playful deck. There’s a noticeable amount of flex in the nose and then it stiffens up through the mid section to the tail. The torsional flex is highly abundant and you can twist this board in any direction.
Stability: The wider platform gives this board its stability. It is a lively deck that does let you feel everything with it but instead of bucking you it more or less just slightly jars you and doesn’t cause you to wash out. It’s great for plowing through heavier pow and does a good job in rutted out terrain of absorbing what it needs to with keeping you on your feet.
Ollies/Pop: This board has a very skate like snap to it which makes it great for popping at the last second. While it’s not an insanely poppy deck, it has more than enough rebound in it to get you up, over, or on top of whatever you want.
Butterability: This thing butters with ease and you’ll never find yourself over working it to get it to butter. The nose has a giant platform to lock into and with that rocker there it creates an immense sweet spot. The tail can do high speed wheelies with ease and if you get sideways you’ve got more than enough platform to leverage on it.
Carving: This board rips and grips a carve. It’s nimble edge to edge but it locks in and lets you lay a trench with minimal effort. This is a board for really leveraging your weight into and pushing it to the limit. Short quick tight carves or long hard deep ones it doesn’t matter.
Rider in Mind: Someone that wants a throwback name attached with modern tech that enjoys snow surfing.
Personal Thoughts: This board blew me away. I wasn’t sure what I was going to get with it but this thing just floated in the heavier sun baked pow that was left over from Snowpocalypse 2020. It was nimble in the trees, great on edge, and just playful where it mattered. To sum it up it’s like a Telos Backslash and a Spring Break Slush Slasher merged together. This thing should be a slight sleeper hit.
Comparable Boards: Telos Backslash, Capita Slush Slasher, Libtech Short Wide
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11 Comments
Grabbed this board. I wanted a fun size pow board and this is definitely it. Never tried anything below a 159 and a little lost on stance. Always rode what I had but finally been experimenting with different setups to find out what I like. Set it bout an inch narrower and mostly in the backseat. Of course it’s all nose and no tail just wanted expert opinion on stance to contact points for a volume shifted and so on. Thanks for all you do.
It’s all personal preference.
How do you reckon this thing would go as a party board?
Wanting something more capable in aussie pow (wet and heavy generally), but also side hits, slush slashing and mini park riding capability. Was almost set on a slush slasher. Can get a decent deal on one of these though. And I also have the original 160 asym kemper with the same graphics as the black purple version of this – so bonus points for nostalgia.
It would be perfect for that.
Apex vs Backslash for pow?
Apex 156 vs Jones mind expander 158 for an unsinkable surfy board for those deepest of resort days? 5’10 180 size 9 boot
The more surfy board is going to be the Mind Expander for sure.
Hi angry,
Im considering buying this board but not sure what size to pick…
I usually ride boards between 156 and 161.
Im 6″ 215 points
Should i go with the 152 or 156?
Thx a lot!
Btw: really good job with your blog!
Thats like a bible for snowboard !
I’d go 52 if you want it for more party boarding 56 for more hard charger.
Kemper’s website states that this board has their “Shark-Bite edge technology.” What exactly is this? Is it like magne traction, or is it more similar to Yes’s underbite edges? How aggressive was the edge hold?
Just added contact points like magnetraction.