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Mad Bombers Freecarve Boards for Flying Under the Radar The Boards: [Burton Fusion] [Palmer Channel Titanium] [Sims Daytona] [Salomon FRS] [Nitro ARX] [Völkl Spline] Boardercross There are riders who prefer to stay close to the ground. They get off the chair and point down the steeps, carving big half moon turns as the slope opens up, blast into the trees for some freshness, and re-emerge with big smiles across their faces. When they do get airborne, they don't spin or tweak, preferring to go big and strong with mucho gusto. Top-to-bottom, all day long, with an emphasis on speed. These riders also wear soft boots. They don't mind hiking a bit, dropping a cornice, and getting into the pow. They ride the entire mountain, with an emphasis on smooth. Ski Patrol often shakes a pole at these mad bombers. Resort designate certain runs as "family skiing areas" to keep them at bay. These riders treat the entire mountain as a boardercross course, always looking for the quickest way to get to back to the chair. There's no official term to describe this style of riding-freecarve is the best thing out there-but there are a number of boards on the market this year designed to attack the mountain in an all-out, all terrain turn-fest. More Snap The most noticeable characteristic that distinguish a freecarving board from its alpine and freeride brethren is the tip and tail profile. While the tip is kicked up in a steeper angle for floating through powder and landing jumps, the tail rise is much shallower in comparison. This low profile has the effect of extending the effective edge further back on the board, which help you snap out of turns. A directionally shaped board, the stance is set back from center on average one inch-again, to keep the edge engaged all the way through the turn. You can still ride and land jumps fakie, but the board is engineered to perform better in the forward-riding direction. Less Shimmy The flex pattern of a freecarving board focuses on making a torsionally stiff ride. You can feel this in the shop if you get two people to hold the board on the tip and tail, and try to bend it the way you'd wring out a towel. Compared to a freestyle board, you'll find it holds its shape much more firmly. On the mountain, you'll feel the effects of this torsional stiffness when you can carve big GS turns instead of enduring the molar-rattle chatter a softer board delivers. The freecarve boards also borrow from race board flex patterns to employ a stiffer tip (for initiating turns) and medium tail (for dampening chatter). The freecarve boards remain significantly more flexible than alpine rides, which means you can bounce them through moguls and land jumps without feeling like you're strapped to mom's ironing board. Maximum Edginess The aggressive sidecut of freecarve boards means that more of the board's edge remains in the snow during a turn. More edge means the ability to take more speed into turns, and actually control that speed (instead of skidding out into a tree well). The more acute angle of sidecut also helps the board flow in and out of turns-its shape helps it go naturally form rail to rail. The Shape of the Future? While no one can confirm it, the buzz says that the IOC has considered boardercross as an Olympic sport, if not for 2002, then possibly the following Winter Games. And there's no doubt that as snowboarding continues to evolve, the percentage of mad bombers on the slopes is surely on the rise. Read on for a roundup of the top freecarving boards. Please consult the manufacturers for additional lengths and specifications. Burton Fusion Burton Fusion Length: 165 cm Effective Edge: 137 cm Waist Width: 24.5 cm Sidecut Radius: 8.79 M Stance Setback: 2.5 cm Rider Weight: 200+ lbs Retail: $450 Designed by Peter Bauer (Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom fixture, and the P of Burton's JP alpine board, which led the Euro-carve movement in the early 90's) the Fusion is the prototypical freecarve board. Inspired by the Supermodel and notched up for speed, the Fusion can go from corduroy to powder, sheets of ice to crud at high speed and in control (and if you're strapped to if there's a chance you can, too). If you've ever seen Peter ride, you know that's it's all about going fast and staying smooth.

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Palmer Channel Titanium Palmer Channel Titanium Length: 164 cm Effective Edge: 130 cm Waist Width: 24.6 cm Sidecut Radius: 10.0 M Stance Setback: 2.0 cm Rider Weight: 210+ lbs Retail: $595 Anything designed under the careful eye of Shaun Palmer, the world's most dominant boardercross competitor, is sure to pass the test for going fast in the toughest conditions. The Channel Titaniums grip on ice, have exceptional rebound going edge to edge, and their light weight make them easy to handle in the chop.

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Sims Daytona Sims Daytona Length: 166 cm Effective Edge: 135.2 Waist Width: 25.6 Sidecut Radius: 9.2 Stance Setback: 2.4 cm Rider Weight: 165+ lbs Retail: $435 The Daytona is for people who own corduroy jackets. It goes fast, lets you hold a solid line on groomers, hardpack, ice, crud, and rutted boardercross course, and will also float you through the hip-deep fresh stuff. Sims has created a flex technology called HPD that blends a stiff nose and medium flex tail to make a super responsive, super stable ride at high speeds.

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Salomon FRS Salomon FRS Length: 165 cm Effective Edge: 133.5 cm Waist Width: 24.1 cm Sidecut Radius: 9.2 M Stance Setback: 2.0 cm Rider Weight: 165+ lbs Retail: $500 The FRS is a performance board for riders who don't stop at every hit to watch their friends. Salomon deploys their HTC-2 Dual flex cross to beef up the torsional rigidity of the tip and tail, and boost a rider's ability to spring rail to rail.

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Nitro ARX Nitro ARX Length: 166 cm Effective Edge:136 cm Waist Width: 23.2cm Sidecut Radius: 9.5/6.5 M Stance Setback: 2.39 cm Rider Weight: 165+ lbs Retail: $415 The ARX is the one board that states it's designed for soft step-in boots. Whatever you ride, you'll feel the snap with the ARX progressive sidecut and carbon core.

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Völkl Spline Völkl Spline Length: 164 cm (also comes in 152, 158) Effective Edge: 135 cm Waist Width: 24.0 cm Sidecut Radius: 8.1 m (3D) Stance Setback: 2.0 cm Rider Weight: 165+ lbs Retail: $450 The Spline isn't an internal organ-it's a freeriding board with a carving heritage. Lightweight, shaped with a progressive 3-D sidecut, and built to pass Völkl's high standards of construction, this board will perform for freeriding equally as well as carving.

[Back to Top] — Jim Humes, Mountain Zone Correspondent