Never Summer Summit and Summit Split Snowboard Review
$599 Advanced to Expert Powder Hybrid Rocker Tapered Directional Shape This is about as surfy as it gets and as of 2010 it has rocker. It has a huge nose, almost 2cm of taper and a narrow wais so it is like surfing in snow. Never summer doesn't spec out the set back but it's really far back. From our measurements it looks like it's around 5 inches and you are basically riding on the tail just like the Burton Fish. There is only 16 inches between the tail and the last insert. What is cool about this model is you can get a pin tail in a 167 and 172 so you can float through anything and also keep speed in flatter terrain. Not much has changed for 2011 or 2012. The only change in 2012 is the addition of more sizes in the split model. Read more about this board below in the good ride take.
The Never Summer Summit Powder Snowboard Review by the Good Ride
The Board Reviewed- Size 167 Bindings Used- Cartels, C60's, Union Force, Flux SF 45
Boots- Nike Kaiju, Burton SLX, Burton Ions Riders on this thing- 4 Day's on this board- 10+
Overall the Never Summer Summit snowboard performs very well when it's very deep. For us it was missing something that made us completely stoked on the board. We felt the set back is soo far back on a tapered tail and every rider who tried it felt awkward and it rode a little squirly compared to the Never Summer Raptor and Never Summer Premier. Still if you are looking for a big version of a Burton Fish and know you will be riding in bottomless snow then the Summit might be a good call. The 2012 and 2011 are almost identical in terms of riding style.
Powder- This is what this board is made for so we are going to really get into detail about it. We at the good ride aren't into the small powder boards as much as we are into the bigger ones. It took a little while for us to finally get this board out there but it was worth the wait. The first day we took this out it had about 2' of powder and hit mostly tree runs. The board turned very well and had an even speed to it. It never took off on you but at the same time it kept it's speed once you got it going. The bottom of most runs usually gets a little flat and it's hard to keep your speed to the bottom. With the Summit you don't have to worry about an exhausting hike out to get to the chair at the end. We have one friend who skis with our group and usually he's the first one down. On this day he'd take off on his 192 skis while we were buckling in and we would still beat him to the bottom. The second day we had 3' of powder but some of it was tracked from the day before. Other areas had some pretty deep places. No matter where we went with this board it never bogged down or the nose never went under. With the previous cambered models the summit had minimal rear leg burn and you could ride off your front foot much more than you could on a traditional board. The new rockered board almost completely eliminates rear leg burn. You feel like you are riding centered stance even though this board has a ton of set back. The fun thing also is there were a lot of people out with 156-160 fishes. We definitely weren't turning as tight as them but we were blowing by them left and right with this big ass board. Like any big board the one disadvantage is when you get in to a tracked/rutted out area in the trees where you have to make quick stops and tight turns it doesn't perform as well as the small boards. However once you get to the untracked line you are really glad you have a bigger tapered board. At the end of they day we were still out there hitting up the chopped up stuff. Even though when it's all tracked out and sun baked the summit still had enough weight and dampness to make it better than it should be.
Groomers- At the end of each day when we were heading back to where our cars were parked we hit a few well groomed runs. We lucked out that the Cat's just cleaned them up so we almost had corduroy. This board is fun to carve out a nice long turn.......really fun. We still would probably like to have another board to ride on a groomer day but it does an ok job.
Turn Initiation- We would almost say this is a 6 out of 5. For a board of it's size and stiffness it is incredibly easy to turn. As we mentioned above it was not as easy to make tight turns in the rutted out tracks between trees you often have to traverse to get to the good stuff or in rutted out powder. That being said this is an ok board on the groomers and soo much fun to turn in Powder. You can make nice tight turns through fresh snow between trees without an issue or straight line a steep chute if your juevo's are larger than usual that day.
Speed- It can take almost any speed you can throw at it and stay damp. Riding so far back on the tail can make it a little squirly compared to a traditional board but eventually you get use to it and
Lightweight- Never Summer isn't known for making a feather board but they are known for long term reliability. This board is pretty heavy even for it's size. We gave it a 3 and don't really care about the weight.
Edge Hold- These rails are sharp and there is a lot of contact in the snow. Even in some icy patches on the way to a steep run the board held a pretty decent edge. Its nothing to write home about but there is enough edge hold to keep you on rail in almost any situation except for Ice and some really hard pack days.
Stiffness- Stiff as it can get through the mid section but pretty soft on the tip and tail. Like we said above for a board this stiff it really turns well.
Jumps- We give this a 4 for natural terrain jumps but for everything else it's a 1 or 2. So that is why we gave it a 2.5 over all. You will love this for method's or just grabbing a rail off a natural jump but it's not a friend landing switch.
The rest of the categories don't matter........
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.
Summit The Summit’s supreme powder performance is a culmination of directional flex, tapered shape, custom tip and tail profile and extensive damping. These unique design features blend unmatched powder flotation and high speed freeride stability and performance. The Summit will power through the deepest snow, crud, tight trees or anything else that gets in its way. Combine all of this with Never Summer’s trademark durability and you have a high performance powder board that is second to none. Summit Custom Split A split version of the original. Summit Custom Split’s are designed by Never Summer’s own split board masters Justin and Bentley Blaho. * Includes Voile Split Kit and climbing skins Summit Custom Split w/out kit TECHNICAL FEATURES:
Summit The Summit’s supreme powder performance is a culmination of directional flex, tapered shape, custom tip and tail profile and extensive damping. These unique design features blend unmatched powder flotation and high speed freeride stability and performance. The Summit will power through the deepest snow, crud, tight trees or anything else that gets in its way. Combine all of this with Never Summer’s trademark durability and you have a high performance powder board that is second to none.
Summit Custom Split A split version of the original. Summit Custom Split’s are designed by Never Summer’s own split board masters Justin and Bentley Blaho. * Includes Voile Split Kit and climbing skins
$599The Summit's supreme powder performance is a culmination of directional flex, tapered shape, custom tip and tail profile and extensive damping. These unique design features blend unmatched powder flotation and high speed freeride stability and performance. The Summit will power through the deepest snow, crud, tight trees or anything else that gets in its way. Combine all of this with Never Summer's trademark durability and you have a high performance powder board that is second to none. NS Custom Split's are designed by Never Summer's own split board masters Justin and Bentley Blaho. $1299 A split version of the original. Includes Voile Split Kit and climbing skins
