Shaper’s Notes

Canada’s Columbia Mountains have bred our crew of guides with certain characteristics; highly competent backcountry travelers, with a preference for steep, deep, committing lines that are ridden smoothly at speed.  An earlier incarnation of the DumDum, our super-radius volcano board, caught the attention of Aaron Chance who then spent several seasons teasing out his very own big-mountain shape; The Hermit 165.

The huge ‘super-radius’ side-cut increases edge contact and provides a large surface area between the feet. Combined with a mid-taper shape, this produces a super stable platform and massive lift through to the back foot, giving The Hermit endless float, reduced tail drag, and maximum stability at speed.

A hybrid camber merges a 3mm camber under each foot with a flat section between the feet, allowing for rapid and responsive turns and maximum edge hold.  While the Hermit is well-suited for riders with larger feet, it has been shaped for a broad range for weights and boot sizes.

Big-mountain conditions are often not pretty. For the splitboarder who eats up inclement weather and crappy snow, spends as much time in crampons or verts as in bindings, and for whom riding loose is absolutely not an option, we produce The Mace; our big-mountain board built for exposed, committing, YFYD lines. The 11m radius sidecut and deep camber increases edge contact and hold, while the relatively narrow waist ensures lightning fast transitions from edge-to-edge. A slight (4mm) nose taper and directional shape and stance location, combined with a fine-tuned torsional stiffening and nose / tail damping, keep The Mace on track and easy to control through the worst conditions, at any speed. The Mace is well balanced in ski-mode, and includes stiffening structures under the toe-piece and heels to deliver a snappy pop in kick-turns and promote traction on ice skinners.