Board: Nidecker Beta APX
Size: 162
Camber Option: Surfy Camrocker. More rocker in the nose than the tail with an offset camber through the middle.
Bindings: Rome Black Label
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 200lbs
Resort: Copper Mountain
Conditions: A foot plus of fresh blower snow on top of a couple inches the day before, powder covered groomers in spots, lumpy terrain, and a little wind blown for good measure. Just your typical Colorado powder day conditions.
Flex: This is your standard run of the mill directional flex overall meaning softer nose progressively stiffening back up through the tail. The torsional flex is noticeable and really lets you twist this deck. What’s nice is right where the rocker meets the camber in the nose it stiffens up. Overall the flex is past middle of the road but not a full blown planky freeride deck. It does feel softer than the Alpha APX.
Stability: Here’s what I liked right where that rocker meets the camber in the nose it stiffens up and that helps dissipate the chatter you get when you’re mobbing a slightly rutted out pow run. Sure you get that chatter in the nose but it’s not over whelming. As this board has some girth to it that helps give more stability when charging variable terrain and you don’t get as much leg fatigue as you would with others.
Ollies/Pop: That camber loads up with minimal effort and helps activate that tail rocker to give you some serious spring off rollers, cat track gaps, and whatever you want to launch off of. This thing is a missile in fresh snow and the shaping works so that the tail sinks but still gives you snap. I found myself bounding over or off of everything in my path.
Butterability: You can pow butter that nose but the camber fights you and the tail wants to sink back in. With the points it gets a little hooky when it dips so be aware you might get whipped.
Carving: The edge to edge transmission on a groomer is smooth and fluid. You notice right away that it initiates outside the front foot but steers more under the front foot while the back foot lets you drive it into the turn and power it through. There’s a finesse to this board you have to understand to make nuanced turns but you should be able to pick that up in a lap or two. When really hauling ass you can lay it over but when being more mellow it doesn’t feel like it needs to be railed to make a turn. We also need to talk about the Nidactive Sandwich construction which helps put more power into the edge so that it stays locked in. It works and it works well.
Rider in Mind: Pow chasing freeride guy that wants a board they can turn.
Personal Thoughts: This is my favorite out of the Alpha and Beta series decks that I rode. It floats to the point of being almost unsinkable, it’s surfy when you want it to be but the second you hit hard snow you can crank a turn on it. The width gives it some awesome stability. I wouldn’t sleep on this board it’s good.
Comparable Boards: Amplid Surfari, Ride Smokescreen, Niche Maelstrom
Recommended Bindings: Nidecker Kaon-X, Ride C8, Union Falcor
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