$499 Intermediate to Expert All Mountain Freestyle Hybrid Rocker Twin Shape The Never Summer Proto CT is a new board for this year and filled a request from a lot of snowboarders that wanted an aggressive Twin snowboard in the Never Summer Line. We have to say they did this right and this is a very unique board especially when it comes to the hybrid rocker division. Many people say it’s 1part Evo, 1Part Heritage and 2 parts fun. We agree with this take and love the top sheet that is similar to the Heritage. Never summer seems to be adding this top sheet to many of their boards and we like this. This is a great park board that is a step up from the evo in terms of aggressiveness and it also has enough all mountain in it to venture out of the park. Check out the detailed review below.
The Never Summer Proto CT Snowboard Review By The Good Ride
Never Summer Protolight 157 Riders- 5’10 195lbs size 9 shoe, 5’11 175lbs size 9 shoe Bindings Used- Burton Diode, Flux SF 45, Burton Prophecy Boots- DC Status, Nike Kaiju, Burton SLX, Burton Ion Days-10
Most big companies have an aggressive twin and this was one hole we felt never summer needed to fill in their line up. Many people say it’s 1part Evo, 1Part SL and a tiny part Heritage. It has that same top sheet as the Heratige and also a pretty unique ride. One of the things we really liked about the proto was that it wasn't terribly loose between the feet when one footing or flat basing. It's still loose but nothing like the first hybrid camber boards out there. If you compare this to normal boards you will see that the side cut ends very late on the board and the nose is very small. The Demo model was far more stiff than the production model that all of you will ride. We found this to be a perfect fit for the gap between the Evo and the SL.
Groomers- The Proto is a stable fast board for a soft twin and when you have that you have a pretty good groomer board. It's pretty fun to go fast in either direction and will handle just about any condition.
Powder- We didn't get a true pow day on this board but because it's a twin with a centered stance it's probably going to perform on the border between good and average. For a twin with no set back this will do very well but it's still a twin with no set back. If you want to go hit big back country kickers this will be excellent.
Turn Initiation/Carving- This board is rather hard to describe when it comes to the way it turns. Most boards we ride that are hybrid camber are incredibly easy to make short radius turns. The Proto CT is not as easy compared to many hybrid rocker boards of the same flex and to us this is good. The demo model actually prefered to lock an edge into the snow on an almost straight line type of turn and and just keep going but the production model is more easy going. It's one of the better hybrid rocker boards for tracking an almost straight line path like to hit a jump or the flat in a half pipe. You can still make this board turn quickly in tight situations but it just takes a little bit more work. When it comes to carving it's pretty fun to lay into a moderate carve but it was missing something. When it comes to laying into a really deep nipple scratching carve the Proto is missing something here too but the tail held and it didn't wash out. Out of all the turns we made with the CT we found this to be one of the better boards to make moderate to high speed almost straight line type of turns. You know really long narrow S turns is where the Proto shines.
Speed- Never Summer is great at making damp boards that can handle moderate to high speed on groomed runs. It's not as ideal in the chop or hard uneven terrain off piste as the Lib Tech Travis Rice but it still does a great job in most conditions you want to ride on. We never felt uncomfortable at any speed on the mountain at moderate to high speeds and love the dampening tech that NS has in their boards. If you pick up the speed on a long straight line you might start to get dissapointed. That being said there isn't any where in the park that will cause this board problems and most places on the mountain will be fine with this boards speed. This has the speed that many directional all mountain boards have and we commend that. Also the base is fast and picks up speed quickly which is great in the park.
Weight- We don't put any board on a scale but to us the Proto felt lighter than most of the never summer boards and it was no burden on the feet when riding up the chair.
Edge Hold- One day we went out with the T.Rice and the Proto on a firm to hard pack snow day. Both of us liked the way the proto gripped the snow that day better than the T.Rice. . It might be a whole different story in east coast ice but we bet this would do a great job without feeling too grippy like some Magnetraction boards can do. This is ideal in an icy pipe and should hold an edge well in just about any condition out there.
Flex- When we first got the Proto Demo board it was a lot stiffer than the production model. The demo board was stiffer and we felt it was right in the middle of medium. The production model Proto that you are riding is soft. It's stiffer than the Evo but still soft. We'd say it's closer to the medium side of soft. The production model is much easier to butter and the nose/tail flex a lot easier than the demo model.
Switch- This is a twin. It rides the same regular or switch.
Rails/Jibbing- The Never Summer Evo is the better board if you like the jib park but the Proto is closer to it than you would expect. This isn't super soft/flexy like the evo but it does a good job if you put a little more effort into it.
Pipe- All of us loved the way the Proto got from wall to wall in our super duper pipe. The excellent edge hold and the way the board likes to lock it's edge into the snow for a short straight line to the next wall makes this one of the best pipe boards we have tried for a while. We had a lot of fun in pipe walls ranging from 16ft-22ft. If you are into the pipe this is one of the best hybrid rocker boards out there for riding pipe. The shape is also pretty forgiving when it comes to landing compared to a camber board.
Jumps- The Proto is great at generating it's own air. We found this board very springy and had a lot of fun jumping around natural features on the mountain. In the park we didn't go big but loved the feeling of stability the Proto gives you when setting your course to hit the jump.
All in all we found the Proto to be one very fun board to ride. It should surprise some people with it's turning characteristics but is a great board for the aggressive park rider or the person who likes to treat the whole mountain like a park.
The Good Ride Take on Hybrid Rocker Snowboards
This is what we call a snowboard that has rocker in the center and then a camber bend at the tip and tail. The end result is the tip and tail are still off the ground but it helps bring some good qualities that people liked with camber to rocker. The camber usually keep’s the board from washing out when you lay into a harder carve and for the most part provide a more balanced all conditions ride compared to continuous rocker or camber. This is still nothing like camber board and it provides a loose forgiving catch free ride. Hybrid Rocker comes in all riding styles from Freestyle to Freeride and is a solid next step from where it started with continuous rocker. Hybrid Rocker is usually pretty poppy, floats well in powder, catch free and very forgiving. The one complaint is it can still be unstable flat basing or one footing in some conditions like hard pack or ice.The major companies are working on this problem and it’s been getting better since this was introduced.Most love this loose feeling and get use to the squirrely nature in certain conditions. We at The Good Ride feel this is one of the better shapes out there so give it a try.
Proto CT For the new 2011/12 Proto CT (Carbonium Twin), we’ve taken the powerful flex of the time tested SL, and blended it with the responsive damping of the Evo to create the ultimate all mountain true twin. This board has the versatility of Never Summers patented Rocker Camber Technology, our new Superlight wood core, graphite impregnated Sintered 5501 base and added a whole new element into the proven Never Summer Carbonium Series of boards. Our new blunted, true twin shape cuts down material on tip and tail for a reduced, more balanced swing weight, while increasing effective edge for on snow stability. The Carbonium Proto CT is the future.
Proto CTX A wide version of the original
Technical Features:
Carbonium topsheet Carbonium Laminate Technology Bi-Directional Rocker Camber Profile STS Pretensioned Fiberglass Bi-Lite Fiberglass NS Superlight Wood Core CDS Damping System Sintered P-tex Sidewall Durasurf XT Sintzzered 5501 Base P-tex Tip and Tail Protection Full Wrap Metal Edge
I agree with Good Rides and other reviews take on this board, it is a lot of fun and performs as expected.
I made it out to a few resorts this 2012 season: Morzine/Avoriaz, Megeve, Chamonix and Courmayer and used this board in a variety of conditions most of which were good.
My other board is a Salomon Burner, a very fast stable directional camber board that can carve and hold and edge even on ice. This is my basis for comparison. I picked up the Proto to progress into butters and use the mountain like a park and it was a real success. It has good flex and pop, with its directional shape I had no probs riding switch from a nose butter or off the back popping a 180 off a mogul. I have never had so much fun snowboarding.
I took the Proto on back country powder where it was very good in the fresh powder. The only thing it did not do well in is crud, this turned up twice where I optimistically jumped off piste a few days after a dump and found all that powder had crusted over. My camber board would cut and hold but the Proto and I lost the edge a few times, we provided a unintentional cartwheel under a lift on one occasion much to the amusement its passengers.
It does hold an edge well on the groomers and hard pack. Ok, a bit mushy for tight fast turns but that is compared to a bigger Freeride specific board that carves like a scalpel. Do you know the 600m drop on Chamonix/Grand Montets Bochard run that ends in a flat and then a rise before the gondola base? If not you get the picture Im sure, well I hit it so fast I needed I needed to speed check hard before the crowds and the good news is that it is quite stable and really adept at long s turns.
One thing to keep in mind if you are considering a purchase is durability what swayed me from Lib Tech was the NS reputation for building tough boards and their two year warranty.
This is without a doubt a very fun, aggressive, all mountain freestyle friendly board.
Overall Rating:
5.0
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Reviewed by Jack O
March 05, 2012
siiick
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I also purchased a la nina MC this year, and its very defferent from this board....due to the "squirley-ness" but the above comment is true once you get over that its awesome, has great float, i hit 12 inches of fresh snow and it practically rode itself....had it on 45 degree angle just chillin....
Overall Rating:
5.0
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Reviewed by Alec
January 15, 2012
Da REAL DEAL!!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
First of all, I want to thank you guys for doin' this site/blog! you guys offer TONS of info/reviews, THANKS GUYS!!!!
here's my review:
I finally got a chance to ride this board last weekend(12/12/11) and here's my 0.02: (this is my very first NS board so bare with me.)
First Impressions:
-VERY LIGHT, I mean VERY LIGHT! I've ridden and owned last year's Custom and Custom X and I have to say it's prob a few ounces lighter than the Custy X. it was noticeably lighter than my friend’s Custom flying V.)
-LOVE the material of the top sheet, seems durable and ding-proof.
Conditions:
-Mid 20’s, sunny, icy. (no new snow for over 2 weeks.)
First Ride:
-This board’s got a nice mid-flex feel to it, NS’s rating of 5 is dead on. The board itself is little more “squirely” than other RC (Reversed Camber) boards I’ve owned and ridden. What’s really strange about this board is that, even though it’s more “squirely” I NEVER washed out on icy steeps. I have to admit the “Vario Sidecut” actually held an edge very well. (it’s no Magna-Traction but it’s pretty damn close.)
-the board/base is fast, not Custom X fast but fairly close. Turn initiations were easy, I thought it was very quick edge-to-edge and it definitely has that “RC” feel.
-Pop/Ollies were above average, I popped off some natural features a bit “higher” than usual. (then again, it could just be mental also…)
Since we(NW) haven’t received any new snow I didn’t get a chance to test it in POW.(I’ll report back soon as we get more snow.)
What I realized after the first ride was you HAVE to get over the “squirely-ness” of this board and trust your skills and what this board can do. Once I did that, the ride was amazing!!! I was bombing hills like I was racing in boarder-cross at the Xgames… haha! I feel like any intermediate to advance riders will benefit from this board because it’s so easy to ride and it could potentially help you progress quicker. I’ll report back after a few more days on it, but so far so good!
****UPDATED REVIEW 1/4/12***
HOLY SWEET BABY JESUS!!! Da Northwest finally got dumped on after 3 weeks of zero precip!!! We were hit with back to back double digit POW days on 12/30/11 and 12/31/11. I was gonna take out my "Cuda" for these days but I thought I would try to ride this and see if it's any good in deeeeeep POW.
WOW!!!! this thing is simply amazing!!!! it floats extremely well, turns well in deep pow, the more days I put on this the better this things feels!!!! the last time I felt this way about a snowboard was when i first stepped on the original SkateBanana... I have 2 other boards(Burton Barracuda and Libtech TRS) in my quiver and I don't think either one of them will see anymore snow this year... if you are/were a skater, you will absolutely LOVE this board!!! it is the closest thing to skating on snow. Fawkin' BADASS!!!! THANK YOU NEVER SUMMER for making this board!
