So we got some more natural snow on Friday… If you live on the East Coast you really need to pack the car head up to ME, Northern VT, or Northern NH… Down south may have had a heck of an ice storm, but fortunately we mostly got more snow. We are in full on winter up here and you really should take care of yourself and come make some turns; you’ll feel a lot better about the world.
So Friday I hopped on a Notch 1985. I had ridden one of the early protos, but hadn’t been on one in a couple seasons.
Holding an early Notch 1985 proto a couple of February's ago; six riders didn't cross a track...a good day...I still remember George doing a crazy blind drop into a river bed...I think Ron took this picture?
Friday was one of those storms everybody was jonesin’ for, so the parking lot was pretty full by 8 am, and it got played out pretty fast. Nonetheless, it was a good opportunity to make some turns on the 1985, to see if I would prefer it as my full-time powder deck. I loved the ability to ride fakie. Now, I can’t tell you I was doing huge airs in pow and needing to put down the landing gear switch, but it really was more about coming to a stop in a tight area and deciding that I feel more comfortable taking the option to my left (I’m goofy). For example, I would never take on a water bar fakie on my tapered Notch, which I did Friday. It really shows how this board evolved from the Design and much of why I rode the Design before we had the Notch in the line.
I had to give back the 1985 Notch that day, and so I rode my own tapered Notch (158cm) the rest of the weekend. I was riding it with my Targa’s. (The Green/Brown one’s look pretty tight on it, lame, I know…)
Ready to Drop - 12/14/08
I had to start the day riding groomers or use groomers to get to “where I was going”. I will say that for my riding style the tapered Notch is very satisfying at railing on groomers. I tend to have a lot of fore and aft movement on my board; driving into the nose to start a turn and powering off the tail coming out. I really felt more confident initiating turns at speed on my own Notch (on groomers). Honestly, I really was blown away how well the board coped with groomers; if you ride a bunch of pow and can only afford one board, do not hesitate to buy this as your one board. Obviously, the board rides pow awesome so I won’t spend too much time on that.
So for myself, riding in VT on lift serviced stuff, I think I prefer the tapered Notch. I think the same would be true if I was doing frontside and backside stuff out west.
If I was out building kickers or in general riding in more of true backcountry experience (hiking, using snowmobiles, cats, heli, skinning, etc.) I would choose the Notch 1985.
I hope this helps you understand some of the differences between the two boards and why different people might choose the different models and why both exist.
I would finish my "hot lap" coming down at the foot of this rocks. This line is just over a knoll from the main gully...sometimes a little extra work gets you to a slightly hidden untracked line.
PS- I did a POV video of riding this gully but I had the camera on the “compact” setting, so it kind of looked crappy on YouTube. I’m not really a fan of POV stuff so I guess it was karma.