Snowboard Review: 11-12 Never Summer Lotus

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Location: Mammoth, CA & June, CA

Snow Conditions: Mixture of fresh powder to hardpacked to soft groomers.

Setup: I rode the Never Summer Lotus with my Union Team bindings and Vans Veil Boots size 8.

Size: 157cm.

First Impression: Rides like the same board as last year, dominant freeride board for women.

Weight: average.

Flex: The Lotus is the women’s freeride board in the Never Summer lineup, stiffer than the infinity with a whole lot more dampness in the board.  It’s softer than the men’s version, the Premier F1.  The softer nose gives it more float in powder and a stiffer tail for control on the mountain.  The carbon gives most of the stiffer flex underfoot for a more stable ride and you have good torsional flex so turns aren’t as difficult to engage.  The dampening in the board helps absorb any rough terrain on the mountain.  Never Summer’s RC technology features rocker between the feet and camber outside the bindings.

Turning: The Lotus delivers with quick response for the mountain.  It’s easy to engage into turns and the flex delivers control and stability on the mountain.  The sidecut allows for quick turns for shorter radius turns or if you want longer drawn out turns, it can deliver those too.  The sidecut takes some adjustment since it goes from deep to shallow to straight to shallow to deep.  But it does deliver powerful turns and the stiffer tail lets you rally out of turns.

Stable: When the snow gets waist deep powder in spots, you know it’s going to be good and can be bad at the same time.  The Lotus endured this March June Mountain day that was easily knee to waist deep in spots and it did better than expected.  The 157cm size stayed afloat through some heavy powder and choppy spots.  It floated which is the rocker having a helping hand.  It wasn’t as good as a powder board in the deep stuff but it did better than expected.  Later when I took the board to Mammoth for cruising groomers and freeriding, the Lotus handled just fine without problems.  It handles speed with grace and the dampening helps absorb any rough terrain.

Pop: The Lotus got to experience Forest Trail park with me which meant this line:  jump, bonk, corrogated tube, jump, jump, jump, flat box or pipe for most of the park riding.  Despite being a freeride board, the Lotus has decent pop and could handle the runs through park just fine.  No catching on the boxes, stiffer flex for stability on jumps and pipe.  The RC helps a lot in the park when it comes to playfulness.

Switch: I am used to the Lotus so I feel comfortable riding it switch but it is a directional board with a setback stance so there is some adjustment to how it handles.

Overall Impression: The Lotus is the women’s premier, it’s meant to give an aggressive ride for women wanting to charge the mountain and ride with the men.  It’s a freeride board that can handle the occasional park/pipe lap.  The RC technology is enough playfulness for those rare park days and enough float for the waist deep powder days.

Shay’s Honesty Box: The Lotus has been my main women’s board in my collection for years and for good reason, it’s a dominant freeride board that handles the mountain.  This was the first year I rode the board outside of Steamboat’s light fluffy snow and a good test to see how it held up in some heavier conditions.  Quite honestly I rode the board over the past couple months of winter from the waist deep pow days to park/pipe days and it didn’t let down.

Ready to buy? Head over to evo for the Never Summer Lotus or shop their full line of Never Summer snowboards

 

On Snow Photo

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The snow was that deep when I rode it

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Never Summer Lotus description (click on it to pull it up)

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Review Disclosure: This board was given to me by Never Summer Snowboards.