For all the naysayers out there... BAM ! YETIS DO EXIST !

[Zach]

Jealous. Those boards look sick!

[FightingForAir]

1st Day Out - Ride Report and Initial Review

Three words: BAD ASS YETI !!

Sooo ... today was a total blizzard day at Mt. Hood Meadows. We got up in time to make first tracks as soon as the lifts opened. We ran all day long until the lifts closed ... no lunch break. Half the lifts were closed due to high wind, so we found ways to go up the lifts that were open and traverse across to go where very few other people were riding. It meant short hikes back to the main base lift once we got to the bottom but not too bad and well worth it.

Most of the day was fresh pow. We found untouched powder bowls and it was a free refill day. There was so much snow coming down that our tracks from the last run would be nearly filled in by the time we came through the next time down.

Yetis gave me all the float I'll ever need. In fact, they are as good or better than my Armada JJs. I'm sure it has to do with having so much more width underfoot. I never bogged down in the fresh pow... even on low angled slopes and the occasional flat spot. However, unlike the JJs, the Yetis feel very nimble and skiboard-like... much more so than the Armadas. That 90 cm cambered length is just right. I can pivot turn them on smooth surface conditions and slash in the powder without the tips catching. Rocker plus 5-point sidecut and a little bit of taper works as advertised.

A couple times today, we went over to the cut up, choppy, cruddy snow where most of the other riders were. Time to test the rocker and the ability of the boards to plow through and over all the chunky nastiness. No problem. The length, rise and flex in the front rockered tip was outstanding. I never had any tip dive at all, never pitched forward, never caught a tip, never felt unstable or bucked around at all.

The Yetis soaked up the bumps and uneven terrain better than anything I've been on except the Armadas. This was the only area where I felt the JJs are better ... stability and smoothness in the majorly bumpy, rutty stuff.

At midday, I took 4 runs on Sherpas while my buddy tried the Yetis. The Sherpas were just not as stable and felt more squirrely. Plus, in the chunky snow and deep, soft pow, I felt myself needing to run from my heels to prevent tip dive and I was not having to do that at all on the Yetis. Time to strap the beasts back on. I felt right back at home and could run with weight dead center.

I did not get any hardpack, groomer carving today, so no opportunity to test that yet. With the 10 m sidecut radius and stiff flex underfoot, I have no reason to believe they won't rip trenches. We shall see.

Assuming these rip on the hardpack, I'll be buying a second pair as backups and my buddy is also sold after just a few runs.

It feels good to know this set turned out so well. I really did not know what I was doing when I started thinking of potential specs for this build. I would never consider myself a ski designer nor any kind of expert on design specs and what not ... I have no idea what combination of parameters should work best, so having something that rides so well from the first take is simply fantastic. I must thank everyone on the forum who weighed in during the original discussion last year. This was truly a collaborative design. "The skiboard the forum built" as someone put it in the original thread last year.

I've thought about what might need a little tweak for my second set. I think I'm going to add 5 more cm of length to the front rockered tip to get just a little more length and rise of rocker out front. I also think I'm going to narrow things up by 5 mm at all points - but I'm waiting on that one until after I get them in some hard carving. If the widths are just a little too much work carving, I'm sure I can drop 5 mm for better hardpack performance and still have all the float I can use in the soft stuff.

I don't know what one should call these things. Most on the forum would say they are too long to be skiboards, but they definitely don't feel like skis. They felt less like the Armadas and more like a higher horsepower shortie .. maybe what you would get if the Sherpas, JJs and Condors could all mate and have a baby. They feel a lot like I remember the Condors feeling ... but with more float, more front to back stability and also smoother in turn transitions and zero grab at the tips and tails... nothing hung up at all today ... ever.

I didn't feel any negatives ... no ill-mannered riding characteristics at all that I could tell... nothing that needed to be tamed. So far, so good.


Sorry no video. It was total whiteout blizzard today. We tried to take some and it was just not working.

[slow]

Great to hear that they turned out well for you and you are happy with their performance. Keep us updated on how they perform.

BTW: Please repost their "actual" specs.

[Bluewing]

Rob - right on! Glad these was so great in those conditions. Sounds like they had to finally ask you to leave the mountain once they shut the lifts down for the day! Can't wait to hear about how they ride in other conditions. Great job on spec'ing these and getting them built.

[valmorel]

Way to go Rob

Go Nexus

[Bluewing]

Getting Custom Boards Replicated

I have been thinking about this topic and thought maybe other people were thinking about it too. What do people think about the "decorum" of asking people who have done custom builds to have those boards replicated for someone else? If the originator of the design is cool with that will the builder be able to reproduce it - presumably the moulds and other build components are still available? Does the design originator deserve any type of compensation for letting others have boards built with his/her design? Should the topsheet design be changed so the originator still has something unique?

With Rob's Yetis, Slow's 120WT's and Dave's DS110 (if he could get it built exactly to spec in a high quality build) all are great designs that work and would all be prime candidates for replicating.

And no - this thread is not cover for me to ask this question personally of any of these guys. If I wanted one of their designs for myself at this point I would just ask. I am already having a hard enough time deciding which of the 3 commercially available boards I am interested in I want to pick up for next season.

Thoughts?

[slow]

I have been thinking about this topic and thought maybe other people were thinking about it too. What do people think about the "decorum" of asking people who have done custom builds to have those boards replicated for someone else? If the originator of the design is cool with that will the builder be able to reproduce it - presumably the moulds and other build components are still available? Does the design originator deserve any type of compensation for letting others have boards built with his/her design? Should the topsheet design be changed so the originator still has something unique?

With Rob's Yetis, Slow's 120WT's and Dave's DS110 (if he could get it built exactly to spec in a high quality build) all are great designs that work and would all be prime candidates for replicating.

And no - this thread is not cover for me to ask this question personally of any of these guys. If I wanted one of their designs for myself at this point I would just ask. I am already having a hard enough time deciding which of the 3 commercially available boards I am interested in I want to pick up for next season.

Thoughts?

From my perspective, anyone is free to contact Coda if they want a 120WT, that is why I posted the specs. Nor do I expect anything in return; other than posting reviews. BTW: There was no tooling/mold costs with Coda for the 120WT.

[jjue]

Very nice job on getting this board done , Rob .. and sounds like it is a real winner !

[CAN]

I don't know what one should call these things. Most on the forum would say they are too long to be skiboards, but they definitely don't feel like skis.

As long as you call them fun, it doesn't matter what people think. Glad you got them done and that they are great.

Chad

[valmorel]

Certainly any board I might design will always be Open Source

Go Nexus

[wjeong]

A great report Rob! .Tempting...... I want to see if you end up pairing down the width.

[FightingForAir]

From my perspective, anyone is free to contact Coda if they want a 120WT, that is why I posted the specs. Nor do I expect anything in return; other than posting reviews. BTW: There was no tooling/mold costs with Coda for the 120WT.

Agreed. If the Yetis would work for anyone else here, then great ... go after it.

However, I know my riding preferences are pretty specific and though it seems these are a fantastic ride for me, there's no guarantee others will feel the same. While these proved to be easy to pilot and super-stable in the soft and chunky stuff, they are likely going to need to be driven hard on the groomers to get the best out of them. They're burly and are going to require some work. Front to back balance and stability is superb and I had no thigh burn or quad fatigue but I did have a little foot and ankle fatigue at the end of the day like I would often feel after a long day of riding Condors.

[SkaFreak]

I'm definitely jealous. The design is pretty close to what I have been wanting for about 3-4 years now. Glad to hear they are working out so well for you, and in pretty much the way I was hoping the design would function. I may very well be looking to get myself a pair built over the summer.

[FightingForAir]

Thanks Ska. I appreciate all your input in the original discussions last year. I will have day 2 ride testing report tomorrow and should have some firmer conditions. That should tell me all I need to know about whether I want to make any tweaks for round 2. I still need to post up specs when I make time to take some closer measurements.

If you do decide to go after a pair of your own, Chad at Coda can make any tweaks you want. It sounds like whatever methods he uses allow him to be pretty flexible.

[FightingForAir]

Test #2 is in the bag. I learned a lot from the second time out on them. I got a bit of everything from refrozen crust to smooth power-tilled groomers to lots of fresh pow in the bowls to choppy crud in various places. Yetis handled everything I threw at them with ease. I can run them flat at speed with no squirreliness and I think I figured out why today ... but I'll get into that in a sec.

I got some good, hard groomer carving in and I'm definitely going to make a couple tweaks to the specs. I had Coda put a 1 degree base bevel on these because that is what I usually prefer. However, with the widths and base bevel, I had to work pretty hard to get a good edge set on the hard pack and icy areas. I could get them to bite and hold, but it just took a lot to do it. They are super stable and turn transitions are soooo smooth. They release and exit really well without wanting to hang on to the carve. I don't fully understand all the technicalities, but I'm guessing the buttery smooth transitions are because of the more relaxed sidecut, lower camber and taper from tip to tail.

Once again, in the choppy stuff and soft pow, these things are a dream. They float so well and just blast through and over everything without the slightest hint of tip dive and with no need for me to sit back on my heels at all.

Sooo ... the plan for round 2: I am definitely going to go with a flat - zero degree - edge. I'm also going to narrow them up by 5 mm at the waist and the widest points of the sidecut (keeping sidecut radius the same). I'm thinking the combination of the two modifications should get me right where I want to be for slightly better hard pack, carving and icy condition performance. To make up for the small bit of surface area lost by narrowing up just a bit, I'm going to add 5 more cm of length to the front rockered tip and shoot for another 1 cm of rise. That will take tip to tip length up to 145 cm, but the cambered running length and tail will remain the same lengths.

New width profile will be: 145/150/125/140/135. Original width profile was: 145/155/130/145/135

Note on running flat: So, one of the things I noticed when I first started riding the JJs earlier this season was how much more stable they were when being run flat at speed than everything else I had ridden. I chalked it up to them just being longer and much less sidecut. However, I've noticed the same thing on the Yetis (more sidecut and significantly shorter cambered running length than the Armadas). After riding back to back against Sherpas and watching my buddy on Sherpas and him watching me on the Yetis, I think I've figured it out. I think the major contributor is the 5-point sidecut. With the portion of the boards that are off the deck (rockered tips/tails) being narrower than the widest point of the boards (which is at the ends of the cambered running length) then chunks and ruts and irregularities in the terrain are not catching the sides of the tails and knocking them around. At least that's what it appears to be. In any case, they are much easier to run flat without feeling like they are wanting to dart all over the place.

On a second note: I thought I would still prefer the Sherpas in the trees due to them being a bit shorter and lighter. However, I got some good tree riding in on the Yetis and they are actually easier in the trees than Sherpas. I'm assuming this is due to the shorter cambered running length but the greater float is likely at play as well... keeping me up on top a bit more and thus making it easier for me to make quick turns whenever I want/need to.

On a third note: The slightly increased weight has not led to an increase in leg fatigue for me. In fact, just the opposite. Due to the increased stability and lack of need to sit back in the chop and pow, my legs are staying pretty fresh all day.

Aside from posting up some video and detailed actual specs when I get a chance to get some measurements, I will likely not continue to post up about these Yetis. For the most part, I've accomplished what I set out to do, am happy with what I ended up with and feel the mods for the second round should be good ones. I've wanted to share my journey, my struggle and my experimentation with rockered skis, longboard skiboards and these Yeti hybrids for any of you who were interested. Thanks for tuning in and participating.

I plan to try to get at least 3-4 more days of riding on these things before this season is over, base grind them flat and then continue to beat the snot out of them. If any of you want to discuss any other details or think you might like to test pilot them early next season, just P.M. me and we can take the conversation to email.

Thanks again for all the support, input and great discussion.

Be well.