Board: Yes The Y.
Size: 154
Camber Option: Camrock 2-4-2. Mellow camber with a mellower rocker in the tips.
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 195lbs
Resort: Aspen Snowmass
Conditions: Overcast skies, chunder snow, ice, heavy wet fresh snow, light fresh snow, frozen groomers, blasts of blue skies, and pretty much crap conditions.
Flex: As this is the little brother to the Optimistic it’s a softer flex through and through. It’s still just past middle of the road and ever so slightly directional meaning softer nose and stiffer tail. What you notice though is there is WAY more torsional flex to it.
Stability: This board retains the stability of the Optimistic. You’ll notice it right away when going fast on a groomer, charging through chunder, or pushing it into an ice covered mogul valley of death. There’s a little chatter in the nose and only the nose but it never resonates aggressively back through to the front foot. In rutted out terrain it only got bucked twice and that took more effort than I care to admit to happen.
Ollies/Pop: There is snap in this board. Is it poppy? Eh it’s OK you do have to load it up and be a bit prepared with where and how you pop to get it to activate. You’ll feel the rebound in this board when you do load it up.
Butterability: That nose with the setback is immense and there is a sweet spot in it, but the rebound of the deck fights you. So be prepared to muscle this board a bit.
Carving: Here’s where this thing shines. The Optimistic is a sleeper carver board and this board is actually easier to engage than its big brother. It rolls from edge to edge and you can drive it into turns with ease. When you load up the camber and drive into the center of the board it slingshots out of turns. While this board isn’t as aggressive as the Optimistic it is still a ripper when on edge.
Rider in Mind: All mountain freeride charger.
Personal Thoughts: Essentially this is a softer flexing more playful Optimistic with slightly downgraded materials and a tweaked camber profile. It rides like an Optimistic but without as much drive behind it so you don’t have to really push into it. I thoroughly enjoyed this board even if the conditions were pure shit.
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2 Comments
What would you say about the freestyle capabilities of this vs the Optimistic? I typically ride stiffer/ cambered boards and want a short/fat pow day floater option, but if I’m gonna be riding a 154 I’m gonna want to be popping and tree-weaving and helicoptering. Curious if the slight camber/flex variations might affect that and what switch landings are gonna be like. Also considered the T-Rice Orca as well.
This has more torsional flex which makes it better for getting wily in the freestyle. But if you’re looking at something to volume shift and get freestyle with I’d say you want the Hybrid instead.