K2 Va Va Voom Rocker 139 - Review

I went to the K2 tent again after demoing the Roxy Ollie Pop to try the Fling again (a board I previously demoed at the On Snow) but the board was out, so I settled for the only available board: Va Va Voom 139. By the way, the K2 guys never noticed I took the Auto Agogo bindings for that Roxy... teehee. Yes, I did return them!

Mountain: Loveland
Weather: Sunny!!
Snow: Not bad, some icy spots and some tracked out snow

Bindings: Salomon Stella
Boots: 32 Lashed size 6.5

Salomon Stella

BUTTER IT!
Yep, it's buttery!! This is a jib board after all

SWITCH IT UP!
Board rode the same switch as it did regular

POP IT!
Plenty of pop... didn't disappoint me!

BOMB IT!
A board that's advertised as a "jib board" probably wouldn't be too good for bombing down hills, right? Wrong! This board was very stable even though the VVV I rode was a wee 139cm. I was able to hold carves fine and there was no chatter. Even though K2 says you can drop the Va Va Voom 5cm from your normal size, I think I would had rather rode the 143, not the 139. (If it helps, I'm 5'2 and 115-120lbs, not sure exactly... no scale here)

SPIN TO WIN!
The rocker is nice on the boxes and what stood out was when I spun off a box too early, the board buttered off it and onto the snow... definitely doesn't feel catchy. Same thing with spinning off little rollers and jumps.

ARTSY-FARTSY!
The graphics are pretty wild, I love it! I don't think there's 2 of the same graphics on these boards because last year, they made the VVV out of recycled ptex and topsheets and stuff of that sorts, so no two boards were the same. I'm assuming that they're still doing this!

AND THE BINDINGS?
The Salomon Stella... AWESOME ANIMAL PRINTS!!!!! YEAH! The ankle strap is really thick, and not too cushy... and the toe strap is weird. I liked the ankle, but the toe strap just felt uncomfortable. The bindings as a whole didn't suit me, my feet were hurting a little bit and I just didn't like these bindings very much.

THE VERDICT?!
Very similar to the Va Va Voom I tried out last year, I didn't really notice a huge difference this year. This board would be great for a girl who does a lot, and I mean a lot of rails. You could jump with this board, but I wouldn't recommend it for huge jumps. It's a fun little board for playing around in the park

Disclaimer - Board was demoed and returned

2009-2010 K2 Snowboards - Womens

I've had my K2 catalog sitting around here forever and got to taking some pictures. I'll be posting the men's boards later, so here's the womens boards for now. Sorry some of the pics are blurry, it's hard holding a digi cam steady without the flash on! Click on the pictures to make them bigger!


ECO POP
Designed with performance and Mother Earth in mind, the all NEW! EcoPOP unleashes lightweight precision and accuracy with the least amount of materials possible. A setback twin hyper progressive stance with Carbon Matrix I torsion forks and a 4000 sintered base give this board everything you need to push your riding to the next level while the textile topsheet and hybrilight construction reduces waste and provides a lightweight ride. The addition of Flatline provides smooth, equal pressure everywhere, creating the perfect balance of stability and versality. Integrated Harshmellow to reduce the chatter and dampen your langings for the ultimate earth friendly ride.



LUNA
The Luna is the complete package for every level of riding. Making sure the diverse riding styles of the K2 Alliance are met, we have taken everything we know about freestyle and freeride performance and blended them into the perfect package. Playful and confident anywhere you want to go, with Dual Progressive Sidecut for quick, effortless turns. Add the Rhythm Core and Kevlar Inlays, and the board brings plenty of pop while remaining light and maneuverable.



MOMENT
Ready to commit to something you love? Whether you ride 10 days a year or 100, the Moment is a great first impression and the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the snow. The Moment features Hybritech Construction and New! Catch Free Technology for superior control and edge-to-edge transition.



AIRDU
For the discriminating rider that knows exactly what he (yes, the catalog says 'he'.. haha) wants, New for 2009/10, the Airdu is Leanne's vision of where women's high performance freestyle boards need to go. The guys got the Believer, and what works there holds true to the all new Airdu. Flatline technology incorporated into a true Hybritaper twin tip design make the Airdu a lightweight and playful high performance ride. Leanne asked for better than the best and this is it.



FLING
The girls have been begging for an in-between, not too stiff, not too soft park ruler. The Fling is exactly that. A Dual Progressive sidecut and centered stance offer precise response and easy maneuverability while the torsion fork configuration and Rhythm Core yield powerful pop while remaining playful and lively. Hands down, this board will make you ride better.



VA VA VOOM ROCKER
By adding K2's Jib Rocker to this already jib-tastic board, we've blown the sweet spot wide open! The Jib Rocker gives you game whether you're pressing boxes, stepping up to street rails, or just buttering across the flats. Forgiving and catch-free, freestyle perfection has never been MORE FUN!



VA VA VOOM
Developed by Leanne Pelosi and the K2 Alliance, the Va Va Voom is the ultimate women's jib board. The Jib Tip design integrates a longer effective edge with a shorter nose and tail, allowing you to drop down 5cm in board size without losing the stability of a longer board. The Rhythm Core and Carbon Matricx reduces swing weight for effortless spinning, perfect pop, and smooth flex. Perfecting those jibs and butters is now easier than ever!



KANDI
Forgiving maneuverability, effortless turning and comfortable progression for girls of all riding styles. The Kandi is all about having fun and getting to the next level with strength and confidence.



LIL' KANDI
This year we are introducing the first kids board that is made specifically for your little gals needs as she grows and explores life on the mountain. Built with a tip to tail wood core for proven durability, catchfree technology to ensure her learning curve is pushed to new heights, and top of the line K2 patented technology that has been trickled down from our favorite boards.

On Snow Demo

Well well well the onslaught of the weekend has descended upon us, and it's a holiday weekend to boot, so needless to say, my boyfriend and I aren't riding today. We planned to go to BC since a lot of people's passes were blacked out for President's weekend, but sadly he's sick. Dead, he says. :( This gives me some time to post on here, so let's recap.

The Keystone On Snow demo was Feb 10-12, and we hit up the demo on Feb 11. A shop that we frequent here in Denvuhs and another shop that wants me to ride for them both didn't have girls on their teams or working in the shop, so they both asked me to go to the Demo and try all the girls boards. In a nutshell, these are the boards I rode and my thoughts on them:

[x] K2 Fling 146 with K2 Auto Agogo - Loved this board!! I rode this one for like 3 hours
[x] Technine... something 144 with Rome Madison - God this board sucked ass. It was a womens park board, it was super soft when I flexed it with my hand, but when I rode, it felt stiff... like the flex was in all the wrong places
[x] Bataleon Distortia 147 with Rome Madison - Liked it, not bad. Felt like sandpaper when I did a box though but the box was probably fucked up
[x] Rome LoFi 140 with Ride Bandita - Board was OK, bindings were OK
[x] Omatic Benetar 144 with Union something (womens bindings) - Loved the board, hated the bindings, the toe strap kept slipping even though it was cranked all the way
[x] Rome Detail 143 with Rome Madison - Fun to jib with, was okay outside the park
[x] NeverSummer Pandora 146 with Rome Madison - LOVED THIS BOARD!! If it were softer, I'd totally buy this thing
[x] Gnu B-Nice 145 with Rome Madison - Board was OK, it was my first time on a magne/banana board and sometimes when I turned, it felt like I was stuck in the turn haha

I know I rode some other stuff but I can't remember... oh dear. Hahahahaha. I had my camera with me the whole time too, but never took pics. Oh well. The Demos were really fun, I met some new friends and saw some old friends. We just messed around all day, trying to see how the boards rode and stuff and it was really a lot of fun. I'm bummed the demos are over, I wanted to try out a bunch more boards.

K2 Duchess 144

This is my main board that I rode most of this winter thus far and I figured it was about time that I got around to reviewing it.

K2 Duchess. Mine has a purple base!

Mountain: Arapahoe Basin, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Copper, Keystone, etc.
Weather: A whole variety; from warm sunny days to cold, windy shitty days
Snow: Groomers to powder to ice

Bindings: At first, it was my first year Rome Madison and now I have K2 Auto Agogo
Boots: Once again, at first, it was Vans Tara Dakides from like 4 years ago, now it's 32 Lashed

I have rode this board everywhere by now, so I'll list each place I rode it in and describe how it was there.

Rails/boxes/log jibs: Love it, have had no problems thus far jibbing, but sometimes the rails or boxes would be sticky and my board would really stick onto it. The board is lightweight and pretty easy to spin on the boxes. I've never caught my edge on boxes but sometimes if I'm doing a noseslide or a frontside, and there's more weight on one edge, I can feel it scraping but that's probably my fault due to more weight on one edge. I never detuned my edges by the way. Like my Va Va Voom Rocker, if I came off a box or rail early while spinning, the Duchess also buttered right off it and onto the snow, however it was definitely easier with the VVV in that situation.

Jumps: LOVE IT HERE TOO. I used to always be sketched out going off jumps (being from the Midwest that has shitty jumps does that to you) so I didn't really start jumping until the last month of the 2007-2008 season. Now I feel confident going off jumps and this board is so stable on the landings, which definitely helps me to get more comfortable doing bigger jumps. I have spun off jumps with this board, and spinning is easy and effortless. The board doesn't feel heavy or like I have to really pull it around. It's just all around fun.

Groomers: This board has Harshmellow below the bindings, and it's supposed to absorb vibration and chatter. I ride the 144cm, and usually, those smaller boards chatter a lot when I go fast, but not this one. It's a very comfortable ride and doesn't chatter at all when I go quick. Carving is fun too, the board is quick edge to edge. It's also got a nice flex to it- not too soft and not too stiff. Pressing is possible, but it's not a noodle like the Va Va Voom. (Sidenote: Now that this board has been broken in, it's definitely softer than a brand new K2 Fling) The Duchess has good pop too, you can really pop off rollers. Not as poppy as the Capita Horrorscope though!

Powder: Like the K2 Catalog says, floating is effortless and it really is! I moved out here this year so I can ride more powder and real mountains, not a hill covered in shredded ice, haha. I used to be nervous that I'd sink but after riding powder for a day, I became relaxed and now I absolutely love it. It is pretty easy to float and turning feels soooooooo good. My boyfriend pointed out that I was doing "powder turns"... sweet! Only thing I don't like about this board is that the topsheet is cloth, so the snow sticks to it easily. As long as you keep going though, the snow just flies off but there's always a little sheet of snow stuck on the topsheet.

Trees: The Duchess turns quick edge to edge and it is pretty fun to take in the trees. I would trust it, haha. It's not bulky and sluggish in turning at all. Most of the time, there's powder in the trees, so I'm not gonna go into that again (I just wrote about how it performs in powder up there!).

Cliffs/cornices: Granted, I don't drop a lot of cliffs and find it more fun to drop them on powder days, but a cliff is a cliff. The first cliff I dropped was at Copper, and it was probably 12-15ft. It was definitely more than twice my height and I'm 5'2. It wasn't a powder day, just packed snow, and the Duchess did just fine. Some other cliffs I dropped were at Vail on a powder day, and ohhh my god, SO SO SO SO FUNNNNNN. This one cliff was a little bit bigger, 20-25ft, and once again, the Duchess did great. I continued to drop other smaller cliffs my boyfriend and I came upon while riding, and we bombed over a cornice. The board was really stable throughout the whole day and had no real issues and it was just an absolute blast. I just kinda wish that I got the Duchess in a 147 but the 144 suits me just fine.

Halfpipe: I suck ass in the halfpipe, I don't know why I'm even putting this down haha, but whatever. I rode Copper's halfpipe, the big ass one, and I can't air out of it but I can get up in the walls and turn. I guess the board's okay in the pipe, I really don't know what I should be looking for in a halfpipe board. I've heard that a halfpipe board should be stiff and long (mmm stiff and long), so I guess a K2 board that would rock in the pipe would be the Mix.

In all, I think that this board is an absolute blast all over the mountain. This board would be perfect for someone who does a little of everything. Even if someone is more into park than the rest of the mountain, this is still a great board. It's my trusty steed!

K2 Va Va Voom - Day 2

I rode the K2 Va Va Voom Rocker 143 again yesterday, at Copper mountain. Same conditions as the first day, but no fresh snow on top of the groomers.

We went over to the Super Bee lift where we could ride steeps and through the trees, and my god, the VVV SUCKED ASS. We accidentally went over to where it was super choppy and bumpy... not moguls, but you know when people don't know how to ski, they push the snow into piles? Kind of moguls but not really. The VVV was so bumpy and chattery over that stuff, but it was stable on smooth runs. It did good in the powder in the trees, but I would not use this board for all over the mountain. It's manageable though, like, you can ride it there but I'd stick to the Duchess for both park and mountain... compared to the VVV, the Duchess was a hell lot smoother over those runs. Oh yeah, I dropped that small cliff on the VVV, hahaha.... it felt fine, but I still prefer the Duchess for that stuff.

I will hold onto the VVV for rails only, like the Ruby Hills Rail Yard here in Denvuhs.... they're opening on Saturday! Not sure now though, since the news said it'll be like 55 degrees... SHITTERCAKES.

K2 Va Va Voom

My boyfriend got a new board so I used the chance to ride his now old board, the K2 VVV with rocker, all day long. He got the VVV in a 143 and didn't know the WWW came in a 145, which he could had gotten, but oh well. Hahahaha. He ended up thinking that the VVV was too small and too narrow, so he picked up a Capita Horroscope FK 148, which I'll have to try out sometime.

K2 Va Va Voom
This was the only picture I could find on the internet. The base has a hand throwing the horns on it, and the topsheet says Rocker on the tail.

Before I go into this board, I want to mention something. Everyone has different riding styles and different preferences, so a board I might like might not be the board for you. I do a lot of park, but started to do more riding around the mountain since I've moved out here. I've actually started dropping some cliffs (they're small though, like 15 ft.. haha but it's a start!). So I would say my riding style is more park than mountain at the moment.

We rode today at Copper Mountain, and the snow was groomed with like 3 inches of fresh snow on top. It was a beautiful day, some clouds and sun and snowflakes.

The very first thing that I noticed when I was bombing down the mountain was that the Va Va Voom was surprisingly stable. Like, really really stable. No chatter or vibration. I wasn't expecting a board that was touted as a "rails only" board to be so smooth. It was also quick edge to edge, and the turning kinda feels different, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Probably the longer effective edge, apparently this board is supposed to ride like a 148 (K2 says you can drop the board down 5cm from what you normally ride)... it does feel like the turning point is further out than a normal board. Is that called the contact point? Hahaha.

The board was super easy to spin on boxes and quite fun. What I liked about the board is if I slid off a box or rail too early, it just buttered right off and buttered onto the ground. The VVV also has a lot of POP! I took it off some jumps, and wasn't really too impressed with it. I liked my Duchess better for jumps, probably because of the harshmallow hahaha. I love that stuff. The VVV did the jumps fine, but it didn't feel too impressive. Only the pop stood out. I'd say this board is better for the rails.

In all, this board is pretty fun but I'd probably suggest it for someone who were straight up rails only who hits small jumps occasionally. I'd totally rock this board if I still lived in the midwest, but I don't, soooo.... Duchess it is!!