Location: Breckenridge, Colorado
Snow Conditions: Bluebird skies with hardpacked groomers.
Setup: I rode the Monument Memento Mori with Rome Shifts and my Rome Vamps size 8.
First Impression: Light and fast
Size: 158cm
Weight: lighter than average
Flex: Overall a stiffer flex, longitudinally and torsionally. I found it harder to turn torsionally, not allowing as much quick response for me. With the stiffer flex, it helped make it more stable when carving but also great for superpipe which I was content with how it rode there. I tried to tail press and it was doable but not easy.
Turning: The best turns for me were the long drawn out S turns on the memento mori, when I took it into the trees where I needed some quick response and quicker turns I didn’t feel as confident in getting those turns. The bamboo sidewalls were fun to ride, it was hardpacked groomers but they held an edge just fine. The board made consistent, predictable turns and those felt the best.
Stable: I had no problems with feeling stable on the groomers and hardpacked snow. When I took it through some trees and crusty old snow, the maneuverability was a bit harder for me and I found the board riding me. Even with the dampening system, I still felt very connected to the snow and I noticed the dampening wasn’t as much as say never summer’s but it still held stable over bumps when riding faster.
Pop: I just played with it in the superpipe, good pop and easy to load up and pop off the tail of the board. I played with it on some rollers for pop which was fine. The flex was harder to butter with, tail was stiffer and I didn’t try with the nose butters.
Switch: I didn’t have any issues switching around into switch riding but I didn’t spend a lot of time riding switch either with it. I was too busy trying to keep up with the Monument guys.
Overall Impression: Out of the two Monument boards I rode, this was the more stable board and was really best in superpipe for me where the lightness and stability came into play. For freeriding I had no issues with how it rode and only once I took it in the trees did I wish I had some quicker edge to edging. As a freestyle board, it’s on the stiffer side and with the lightness, it was awesome in pipe and I’m sure off jumps the same thing. For my first time riding a Monument, it was great to see a smaller company with a board that I could rally on…I just need to catch up to those guys more often.
Shay’s Honesty Box: I’ve ridden a couple light, fast and freestyle based boards. There’s a certain board I can think of that costs double of this board and reminded me of it but without the techy terminology and big name behind it. It was really fun in halfpipe, light, fast, stable and held an edge on the icy early morning walls.
This Review was done in March 2009, please be aware that products may change.
Ready to buy? Head over to evo for men’s snowboards or shop their full line of snowboards
