Location: Steamboat, Colorado
Snow Conditions: Variety of snow conditions, some powder to hardpacked groomers to slushy snow.
Setup: I rode the Capita Saturnia with Union Forces and my Rome Vamps size 8.
First Impression: A women’s park board you can take out of the park.
Size: 152cm
Weight: light
Flex: The saturnia had a stiffer nose than tail, I found it easy to press on the tail but harder on the nose. Overall the board wasn’t stiff, but wasn’t a soft board either. The flex allowed it to be capable of park but also handle groomers and being able to ride outside of the park. Torsionally was easy to flex and that handled in the turning, very easy to lay over on edge and get a result quickly.
Turning: It excelled on really quick turns, short radius felt the best. Longer radius were fine but I liked the quick response from short radius better. I had one time where the sidecut surprised me and mixed with slush, I found myself carving an edge quickly and in slush…that is not good cause you’ll catch and crash.
Stable: Over some bumpy terrain in the trees, I was more careful with maneuvering through them. On groomers, it rode fine for me. Through really choppy cruddy conditions, it wasn’t handling as good definitely not cutting through it like other boards would. I wasn’t going very fast with the board either. On some icy spots, it held an edge and I was still in control of the board.
Pop: This board has pop, no arguing with how easy it is to pop and stable on landings. I played with it, doing tail grabs while riding and being able to hold it. I wasn’t able to play with this board in the park and pipe specifically, but used the whole mountain as a park. I’ll try to ride it again in the park and definitely in the pipe.
Switch: The saturnia is a true twin, so it rides the same switch as it does normal. I could ride switch without any issues on the edges grabbing.
Overall Impression: I ended riding the saturnia with a variety of conditions from groomers, to slushy snow to hardpacked ice and to very heavy powder. Even with the smaller size, it handled the mountain and made the mountain more fun. With the small size, it made it very playful and fun. I ollie’d over some rock patches and ollied onto a log, the base held up very good through some end of season terrain.
Shay’s Honesty Box: Its starting to get more rare that I find a regular camber board a lot of fun, reverse camber to me is fun but with the Saturnia I found myself on a board that was fun, charging and really handled the whole mountain surprisingly well. I’m not a fan of the 09-10 graphic but that’s just me.
*This Review was done in April 2009, please be aware that products may change.
Ready to buy? Head over to evo for the 2011 version of the Capita Saturnia or shop their full line of CAPiTA snowboards
