2010-2011 HighLife Review

[Clydesdaleclass71]

The HighLife can be the quiver-killer for any region. It runs with the LowPro shaping package; LowRize on the tip for a loose, fun, effortless feel and ProRize in the tail for control and Pop!
Camber is not evil per say, it has super-Pop, makes nice clean arcs in the snow and keeps us from sliding out into a tailbone-cracker on the ice. Anyone can bend a camber backwards and yell "rocker". But what has gone into the design to keep that board snappy, poppy and to hold an edge while charging?
Rides Total Shaping Approach engineers the rocker/camber profiles, flex patterns and sidecut shaping to rhyme and rhythm together into one kick-ass deck. Even the HighRize Rocker Tech found on the Slackcountry can hold an edge on groomers when you get back from the sidecountry or are spending the day in-bounds.
As for the HighLife it has felt like a fave, dialed-in board from day one. Tahoe has been through a good run of pow, crud, ice and sun-baked cement. Parks, icy groomers, trees, POW and backcountry have been underfoot on this board and it flowed through everything! It holds an edge when railing the groomers, playful in the park, pops right up on top of pow and bangs in'n'out of bumps, moguls and tree runs.
I spent my first 19 years of snowboarding based in Jersey riding every slope from Whitetail to Jay. Ice and cold being our mutual diet I would say the HighLife will be a real good choice for a do-all board for EC. It is the next generation of the Concept TMS and big-footers Yukon's. These boards have been the flagships for all-terrain versatility/one-board quivers. The addition of the Slimewalls, Membrain topsheets, CarbonArray and Silencer tuned cores gave them that capability to have a poppy, playful flex with the dampening to hold up against the worst of crud, ice and big mtn speeds. This is the turning point I found with the '08/'09 to '09/'10 Yukon. It went from a stiffer, big mountain flex in '09 to an all-mountain freestyle flex in '10. (Not to mention the weight loss from dropping the heavier topsheet!)
THe HighLife is slated for sizes 155 through 172 with wide versions available in 159, 163, 168 and 172. It will have LowPro Rocker Tech, Slimewalls 90A, Silencer 5, CarbonArray5 and the Membrain topsheet.
As for graphics... it's Spacecraft. Those boys put a serious amount of thought into this deck; layers upon layers of mind-altered NW aesthetics. The 2010 Insano Focus Boa as well as the Optimo Contraband have been dialed-in to work as a total package as well as matching colorways for the HighLife.
If you are riding EC, need a versatile, do-all deck that will be just at home in Mt. Creeks parks, Hunter's icy groomers or Killington's misty-tight tree runs... reach for the HighLife.

[DustyRyRy]

So they will not be making a Concept TMS for 2011? and how much can I expect to pay for this?

[Mr_Tidbit]

Ok... Time to post up my review.

I demo'd this board back in February and I've been lucky enough to be riding the Highlife 158 for the past month. I've been a huge fan of the Timeless and Concept TMS/UL family for quite some time and fortunately the Highlife hasn't let me down.

The first run I took this board out my first impression was, wow I don't even notice the rocker at all! But then I quickly realized that I've spent the majority of the season on the Machete and I was just used to the lowrize rocker on the nose with the turn initiation. The demo day at Snowbasin I liked the board a lot; it carved well, poppy in the nose and tail, stable at highspeeds, base was fast in all the conditions I took it in. But I really didn't start appreciating how great this board was until I switched back to my Machete.

When I started riding my Machete again the difference in the tail was amazing. I couldn't believe the difference in how loose the tail was when exiting turns and on landings on the Machete compared to the LowPro on the Highlife. Those of you that have seen my 2010 Crashes video have seen all the footage I have washing out on various drops I've done this year. I had chalked it up to bad technique all season, but then started to think with how different it felt after riding the LowPro that it could be partially because of the LowRize on the Tail.

Flash forward a bit and I've been riding the Highlife for a month straight now. I haven't even remotely thought about switching back to my Machete since mounting up the Highlife. I won't deny that it could be partially a mental thing, but since I've switched I've been stomping every drop that I try. The tail is extremely stable and tight yet doesn't hook or "fish Tail" when exiting a turn on firm groomers. Flying through crud & choppy snow, icy patches, etc... is a breeze and popping off the tail is effortless and almost exactly the same as when you olly on a regular camber deck. The CA5 & Pop glass provide enough oomph to spring right off the tail with ease.

I plan on finishing out the Utah season (which hopefully is about another 5 weeks, maybe longer with all the snow we've had recently) on this deck. There is a very high probability that this will be the only deck I ride during the 2010/2011 season, it's that great and crushes everything you throw at it!

[Mr_Tidbit]

Bump...

[CoopersTroopers]

Bump...

Is the HighLife the board you were riding in your pretty awesome Easter video (which isn't posted any more)?

[Mr_Tidbit]

Yes... The Highlife is the board I'm on in the Easter Video I posted on my Facebook page.

[CoopersTroopers]

Yes... The Highlife is the board I'm on in the Easter Video I posted on my Facebook page.

So now that you're through pretty much the whole season on the HighLife (well... I'm sure and Tidbit are loving the extra 2+ feet dropping in UT this week), how are you finding the HighLife? How does it compare to the SlackCountry in terms of pow performance?

[TopHatPlus]

awesome vid =D

i am loving the video quality on the go pro helmet cam hehe its like 2nd on my list of things ot get for the summer

tidbit 1 > pow 0

[CoopersTroopers]

i am loving the video quality on the go pro helmet cam hehe its like 2nd on my list of things ot get for the summer

Ditto. My wife and I are planning on going to Hawaii end of May and doing some surfing, scuba diving, and maybe paragliding/powered hang gliding, and this would be pretty awesome for all of those. Super waterproof, shock proof, very good video quality (even while scuba diving); very tempting!

Best price I've found in Canada so far, without having to order from the US. With the Loonie at par to the greenback though, if you can find it for significantly cheaper and cheap shipping, might be worth a US order.

http://www.gpscity.ca/gopro-helmet-hero-hd.html

[Mr_Tidbit]

So now that you're through pretty much the whole season on the HighLife (well... I'm sure and Tidbit are loving the extra 2+ feet dropping in UT this week), how are you finding the HighLife? How does it compare to the SlackCountry in terms of pow performance?

Not to rub it in, but we've actually had about 8 feet of new snow fall in the last 8-9 days in Utah. I've taken the Highlife out in dust on crust and had it in as much as two feet of fresh snow.

I love the Slackcountry, it's a great board. But the one thing that would get me on it was how loose the tail is when you're carving, exiting a turn or plowing through crud. You still get tons of float on the Highlife, the Lowrize on the nose is plenty to blast right through two feet of snow, but the flatter stiffer tail is great to steer with and performs better when you need to steer through crud and carve it up on a groomer to another stash.

By no means am I going to get rid of my Slackcountry... But I'll most likely keep it ready for dumps of 2+ feet and have the Highlife ready to go for anything under that since it's a lot more versatile when everything gets tracked out or I have to search for fresh stashes.

As far as the Go Pro goes, I like it but wish it had a bit more. I really wish it had a zoom feature on it... you really have to ride someone's ass when following them with it or they look like they're 20 feet away even though you're only 10 feet behind them. I've had no issues at all with the headlamp style strap staying on. You do need to make sure that you clean the inside and outside of the case before each use as condensation does build up and can blur up your video quality. For the price it's worth getting over the other cameras that are out there, but you may want to have a small cannon or backup for certain kinds of shots.

[TopHatPlus]

Not to rub it in, but we've actually had about 8 feet of new snow fall in the last 8-9 days in Utah. I've taken the Highlife out in dust on crust and had it in as much as two feet of fresh snow.

I love the Slackcountry, it's a great board. But the one thing that would get me on it was how loose the tail is when you're carving, exiting a turn or plowing through crud. You still get tons of float on the Highlife, the Lowrize on the nose is plenty to blast right through two feet of snow, but the flatter stiffer tail is great to steer with and performs better when you need to steer through crud and carve it up on a groomer to another stash.

By no means am I going to get rid of my Slackcountry... But I'll most likely keep it ready for dumps of 2+ feet and have the Highlife ready to go for anything under that since it's a lot more versatile when everything gets tracked out or I have to search for fresh stashes.

As far as the Go Pro goes, I like it but wish it had a bit more. I really wish it had a zoom feature on it... you really have to ride someone's ass when following them with it or they look like they're 20 feet away even though you're only 10 feet behind them. I've had no issues at all with the headlamp style strap staying on. You do need to make sure that you clean the inside and outside of the case before each use as condensation does build up and can blur up your video quality. For the price it's worth getting over the other cameras that are out there, but you may want to have a small cannon or backup for certain kinds of shots.

i fully understand what you mean by the zoom, having the 170 degree angle makes it look super fish eyes and everything in the middle looks spaced out, but its such a clear image and on your head it is SO stable. and for those other shots my buddy has a 12mp cannon point and shoot we use that takes ok video as well =D and i have my nikon dslr for those SUPER stills hehe but i am still very impressed with your videos and the angles are pretty great =D hehe plus its so versatile, and i heard of a place in vaughn cooper not sure on spelling but apparently they sell them for like 350 and i am talking to some guys at my local bike shop who have some hook ups at some local 4x4 truck stores who buy lots of them and i may get a sweet deal there i will let you know what i find.

[Cbalke]

I agree about the zoom. Its too bad that they don't sell a replacement Lens that is not quite as wide. It would make it harder to aim and capture your target, but would help when following others.

I have not compared the difference, but the 1080p setting is only 127 degrees versus the 170 degrees.

The camera is great for POV (its intended function) its just too bad that it can not do better with distances.

[JoeR]

Flash forward a bit and I've been riding the Highlife for a month straight now. I haven't even remotely thought about switching back to my Machete since mounting up the Highlife. I won't deny that it could be partially a mental thing, but since I've switched I've been stomping every drop that I try. The tail is extremely stable and tight yet doesn't hook or "fish Tail" when exiting a turn on firm groomers. Flying through crud & choppy snow, icy patches, etc... is a breeze and popping off the tail is effortless and almost exactly the same as when you olly on a regular camber deck. The CA5 & Pop glass provide enough oomph to spring right off the tail with ease.

Thank you for the review. How do you expect the HighLife will compare in performance to the 2010-11 Antic? I understand that this board also will assume the LowPro shape. It appears that the Antic will continue to have slightly lower-tier technology (e.g., Carbon Array 3 instead of the HighLife's Carbon Array 5), but how will that affect the way the new Antic rides?

Two other questions, if you don't mind:

1. What will be the MSRP of the HighLife?

2. Any idea how it compares to the new Jeremy Jones Flagship or Mountain Twin? These two boards appear to employ restrained reverse camber in a way that's similar to Ride's implementation (the Flagship has more rocker in the front, like the HighLife, while the Mountain Twin seems more like the Machete), but also have "mellow Magnetraction."

My current board is a 2006 Decade. It's a nice board, but at 162W it's perhaps a little long for some of the tight-quarters East Coast freeriding I usually do. I'm looking for a new deck with a bit more maneuverability, so my plan is to get a 159 or 160 with a modest amount of rocker, since reverse camber is clearly the direction the industry has chosen for the time being.

[CoopersTroopers]

2. Any idea how it compares to the new Jeremy Jones Flagship or Mountain Twin? These two boards appear to employ restrained reverse camber in a way that's similar to Ride's implementation (the Flagship has more rocker in the front, like the HighLife, while the Mountain Twin seems more like the Machete), but also have "mellow Magnetraction."

The Jones Snowboards are actually - if I've read everything written about them correctly - using something more like Never Summer's Rocker/Camber than the three-stage rocker design that Ride uses. Ride reverse camber is completely flat under foot.

DIRECTIONAL ROCKER

A hybrid rocker/camber flex pattern defined by more tip rocker then tail rocker and slight camber between the bindings. The rockered tip gives the nose added float and improves maneuverability while the camber underfoot gives you added edge hold and response. A slightly rockered tail maintains the power and stability of a traditional board but helps keep the tail catch-free initiating turns and landing switch.

BTW: WTB Jones Hovercraft. And a Flagship. I'll take a Solution too.

[JoeR]

The Jones Snowboards are actually - if I've read everything written about them correctly - using something more like Never Summer's Rocker/Camber than the three-stage rocker design that Ride uses. Ride reverse camber is completely flat under foot.

Yes, that was going to be my follow-up question, if I got a bite on the first part: What's the practical difference between flat and traditional camber in the middle of the board, assuming slight rocker at the tips?

I've never ridden any type of reverse camber configuration, so I'm trying to learn as much as possible about the bewildering variety of options before I buy (demo days are scarce out here, and when they do occur seem to involve only Burton anyway).

[CoopersTroopers]

Yes, that was going to be my follow-up question, if I got a bite on the first part: What's the practical difference between flat and traditional camber in the middle of the board, assuming slight rocker at the tips?

I've never ridden any type of reverse camber configuration, so I'm trying to learn as much as possible about the bewildering variety of options before I buy (demo days are scarce out here, and when they do occur seem to involve only Burton anyway).

Heheh... Ok, here is my simplified understanding. To really understand why you would want one technology over the other, you need to understand what each of them actually does.

Regular Camber - The board, when laid flat on the ground, is convex and arcs upward peaking somewhere in the middle. When you stand on the board, it flattens. The strength of camber will always be in carving. When you are deep in a carve, your weight and inertia compress the board to be flat, creating a very long, stable platform against the snow running fully from contact point to contact point. As you initiate the turn to the other edge, your weight shifts and the camber springs back, effectively launching you into the next turn. Disadvantage: contact points are much lower, more likely to catch an edge if you aren't careful, and can be more difficult to do things like butters/boxes/presses.

Reverse Camber (Banana/V-Rocker) - The board, when laid flat on the ground, is concave and bows upwards from somewhere in the middle. You can probably spin the board in this position like a top. The advantage of this design is that the contact points are always raised, making them somewhat easier to learn on since the board's contact points won't catch as easily. This is great for park progression, and powder riding (at least in the nose). The disadvantage of this design is that it has a tendency to feel very loose when carving/washing out. When you are in a deep carve, the amount of contact your board has with the effective edge is much shorter as the contact points are rockered up rather noticably.

Reverse Camber (3-stage rocker, Flatline) - These are somewhere in between the above two extremes. The board, when laid flat on the ground, is predominantly flat to the floor, and rockers up as you approach the nose/tail contact points. It gives you a longer contact area when carving than a Banana or V-Rocker style alternative camber, but still has the forgiveness and float of raised contact points. It's not so loose like a full Banana, and can still hold a good carve/edge.

Rocker/Camber (Never Summer R/C, Jones Snowboards, Nitro Gullwing) - Camber between the bindings, rocker outside the bindings. Another blend/best of both worlds attempt. NS fanboys swear by it. I can see the appeal.

Reverse Camber with Magnetration (Mervin), Pressure Distribution Edge (Burton), GripTech (Arbor), etc. - Rocker board, but with a wavy edge between the bindings. This creates additional contact points along the effective edges of the board, and purportedly helps eliminate some of the rocker washout by putting more edge in contact with the snow. Another thing that Mervin diehards swear by, and is getting more popular with other manufacturers to varying degrees of implementation. Mervin I believe put in 5 waves, Burton and Arbor only put in 2 waves.

[JoeR]

Heheh... Ok, here is my simplified understanding. To really understand why you would want one technology over the other, you need to understand what each of them actually does.

Thanks. Ironically, the diversification of reverse camber into many different niche applications makes the consumer's choice more, not less, difficult. (This is often the case with overspecialization.) If I only had to choose between regular camber and "pure" reverse camber, no problem -- I'd have to stick with traditional camber for the type of riding I do. But all the in-between flavors mean I have to consider the decision more carefully, and of course it's all just on paper, because of the demo deficiency I alluded to above.

My approach at this stage is simply to trust that the manufacturers are recommending boards appropriately. I.e., if a board is touted as an all-mountain deck with a freeride emphasis but a more playful feel, I will assume that the camber configuration has been designed and tested for that specfic application. I think Ride traditionally has been strong in freeride and all-mountain boards, so I'm hoping that the company is correct when it pushes something like the HighLife for that type of riding. Similarly, I have to hope/assume a rider like Jeremy Jones knows what he's doing when he selects a particular camber/rocker combination. Anyway, the reviews here are helpful because they test my assumptions about the manufacturers' design decisions.

[skip11]

@ CoopersTroopers: "Rocker/Camber (Never Summer R/C, Jones Snowboards, Nitro Gullwing) - Camber between the bindings, rocker outside the bindings. Another blend/best of both worlds attempt. NS fanboys swear by it. I can see the appeal."

NS R/C, Nitro Gullwing, and Lib C2 are reverse camber between the bindings and camber outside the bindings. Jones are camber between the bindings and rocker outside the bindings.

[Mr_Tidbit]

Hey Everyone,

Work has been really busy lately and I haven't had as much time to post during the day. I'm getting ready to head up to the mountains to take some turns, but I'll try to get on here tonight and catch up.

[Mr_Tidbit]

Thank you for the review. How do you expect the HighLife will compare in performance to the 2010-11 Antic? I understand that this board also will assume the LowPro shape. It appears that the Antic will continue to have slightly lower-tier technology (e.g., Carbon Array 3 instead of the HighLife's Carbon Array 5), but how will that affect the way the new Antic rides?

Two other questions, if you don't mind:

1. What will be the MSRP of the HighLife?
I don't remember what the MSRP is off the top of my head, but it should be close to the 2010 TMS.

2. Any idea how it compares to the new Jeremy Jones Flagship or Mountain Twin? These two boards appear to employ restrained reverse camber in a way that's similar to Ride's implementation (the Flagship has more rocker in the front, like the HighLife, while the Mountain Twin seems more like the Machete), but also have "mellow Magnetraction."
Doesn't compare at all... Ride's rocker is completely different from the reverse camber that Burton uses and you get a completely different feeling.

My current board is a 2006 Decade. It's a nice board, but at 162W it's perhaps a little long for some of the tight-quarters East Coast freeriding I usually do. I'm looking for a new deck with a bit more maneuverability, so my plan is to get a 159 or 160 with a modest amount of rocker, since reverse camber is clearly the direction the industry has chosen for the time being.
The 159 wide is what you should take a look at if you feel like the 162w decade. The Lowpro feels like you're carving with a board that is 3-5 centimeters shorter, but it also floats like a board that is 3-5 centimeters longer.

Comments in Red

[JoeR]

2. Any idea how it compares to the new Jeremy Jones Flagship or Mountain Twin? These two boards appear to employ restrained reverse camber in a way that's similar to Ride's implementation (the Flagship has more rocker in the front, like the HighLife, while the Mountain Twin seems more like the Machete), but also have "mellow Magnetraction."
Doesn't compare at all... Ride's rocker is completely different from the reverse camber that Burton uses and you get a completely different feeling.

I'm not referring to Burton's JJ boards, but rather to the new, freeride-oriented boards from the Jones Snowboards company -- the "other" JJ. As noted, they have regular camber in the middle and then rocker at the tips. But they haven't hit the market yet, so no reviews are available. I thought you might be familiar with them.

The 159 wide is what you should take a look at if you feel like the 162w decade. The Lowpro feels like you're carving with a board that is 3-5 centimeters shorter, but it also floats like a board that is 3-5 centimeters longer.

That sounds pretty close to perfect. Thanks.

Any comments on HighLife vs. 2011 Antic?

[Mr_Tidbit]

I'm not referring to Burton's JJ boards, but rather to the new, freeride-oriented boards from the Jones Snowboards company -- the "other" JJ. As noted, they have regular camber in the middle and then rocker at the tips. But they haven't hit the market yet, so no reviews are available. I thought you might be familiar with them.




That sounds pretty close to perfect. Thanks.

Any comments on HighLife vs. 2011 Antic?

Ah Sorry... I haven't ridden any of the Jones boards, but they are coming from Nidecker and I believe they are using the same CamRock tech that they are putting in the YES boards. Which I liked a lot on the Great Dudes YES board I rode back in February.

The Antic is going to be to the highlife just as it was to the TMS. Just a toned down version that isn't as stiff or responsive. But will have all of the other features. It's a great deck that gets overlooked a bit.

[JoeR]

The Antic is going to be to the highlife just as it was to the TMS. Just a toned down version that isn't as stiff or responsive. But will have all of the other features. It's a great deck that gets overlooked a bit.

Well, the HighLife probably will be my no. 1 choice for a new board, provided it isn't priced through the roof. Since I already have a Decade (which I assume was the Antic's predecessor), I may as well take the opportunity to step up a level. Also, the HighLife comes in 159W, whereas the Antic would require me to stay at 162W or step down to 158W, which is a wee bit less than the 160/159 I was aiming for.

My second choice might be the Jones Mountain Twin, depending on price and availability. I have a suspicion that those boards might be difficult to come by here in the east. I purchased my 2010-2011 season pass two days ago, but it will be eight months before I get to use it.

I gotta say that I don't like the topsheet graphics of either the HighLife or the Antic, although that will not dictate my purchase. On snowboards, I don't care for blobs/snarls of color that aren't recognizable as anything from more that three feet away. There's a reason why Jackson Pollock worked on enormous, wall-size canvases. I'd much rather see some iconic central image that shows up at a distance.

[TopHatPlus]

I gotta say that I don't like the topsheet graphics of either the HighLife or the Antic, although that will not dictate my purchase. On snowboards, I don't care for blobs/snarls of color that aren't recognizable as anything from more that three feet away. There's a reason why Jackson Pollock worked on enormous, wall-size canvases. I'd much rather see some iconic central image that shows up at a distance.[/QUOTE]


i own an 09 antic and lvoe the board and the graphics, was not a fan of the 2010 antic graphics but have you seen the 2011? omfg i love it also its looks DEF bad@ss and kind of reps more of the 09 feel but in black and super fluorescents... lol it just looks sick and its int he prorize i believe? or the low rize but im pretty sure the pro rize, which could also be very fun to use hehe.

[JoeR]

i own an 09 antic and lvoe the board and the graphics, was not a fan of the 2010 antic graphics but have you seen the 2011? omfg i love it also its looks DEF bad@ss and kind of reps more of the 09 feel but in black and super fluorescents... lol it just looks sick and its int he prorize i believe? or the low rize but im pretty sure the pro rize, which could also be very fun to use hehe.

Yes, the 2011 Antic is the one I'm talking about. I agree it's colorful, but to quote Gertrude Stein, there's no "there" there. I would prefer an image to random graffiti. The HighLife is really no better, IMO, despite the highly touted "Spacecraft" collaboration. The bases of both boards are OK, however.

To answer your question, the 2011 Antic is LowPro, same as the HighLife, not ProRize. Or, you could just think of it as LowRize in the front and ProRize in the back. I guess that means if you ride it switch, it becomes ProLow.

[Mr_Tidbit]

I wasn't very into any of the Spacecraft colab stuff when I saw it in the catalog. But when you see it in person it's very different... There is so much detail in it that you cannot see until you're holding it in your hands. I would suggest reserving judgment until you see it first hand.

[JoeR]

I wasn't very into any of the Spacecraft colab stuff when I saw it in the catalog. But when you see it in person it's very different... There is so much detail in it that you cannot see until you're holding it in your hands. I would suggest reserving judgment until you see it first hand.

Sure, I would expect that a catalog photo is far from a perfect representation of the look of the actual board. Most objets d'art (if you consider a snowboard one ) look far better "in person," since colors, textures, etc. take on new life. But I think your comment suggests why the HighLife's style of graphic design probably isn't my cup of tea. I don't really want a lot of intricate detail that shows up only on close inspection. My personal preference is for a big, bold statement that "pops" from a distance, whether crisp & elegant (e.g., the Yukon, RIP) or off-beat & unsettling (e.g., the Dinosaurs Will Die "Redrum" boards). Different tastes, I guess.

Anyway, in the end the graphics for me are just sort of along for the ride (no pun intended). The graphics on my 2006 Decade are quite lame -- barely there, totally bland -- but I still bought the board.

[BuckWild]

I was going to ask the same thing as Tidbit. You need to hold both boards to pass real judgment. All though I guess your general gut reaction is you don't like it. Our board designers are print designers IE they design boards with certain ink combinations of pearl, clear UV inks or even Softtouch inks to give the graphic the desired effect in a physical environment. None of that transfers to the the catalog or online. This also goes for most Spacecraft art... It's splattered all over Seattle.

I do love the 2011 Antic more than I usually do.

But at the end of the day I agree with JoeR in that graphics are largely "Along for the Ride" I buy the right board for me if I like the graphic it's a bonus.

[TopHatPlus]

well one thing i have noticed having my antic 09 which is just a collaboration vs my buddies rome which is more of a picture theme is that my board really does not seem to shows its age, vs his board that definitely fits a certain year of boards, and i find that the graffiti look is just so go with the flow, i much prefer it and i will add more when i do finally get to see them in the fall.

[Mr_Tidbit]

Last day of the 2009 - 2010 Season at Brighton.