At the end of last season I was lucky enough to get one of Sean's Nomad Prototypes.

My board is the Green one that Sean is riding in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYX2FaEj7tk

I took my son Brady (6yr old, on skis) up to Loveland on Friday (28/10) and with the new snow, I took the Nomad prototype instead of a carving board thinking that there would a fair amount of soft stuff around. When we got there we discovered that there was only one chair open, one green, one blue and it was all groomed. No powder or soft snow except in the roped off areas.

The last time I rode this board was at Loveland at the end of last season and it went great in the powder and through some trees - as many as my confidence would let me ride through. I remember not feeling too confident on the hard groomed runs for some reason but really liking it in the powder, softer snow and slush.

Looking at all of the groomed snow and remembering the last time I rode this board made me think that I should have brought a different board but I'm glad I didn't.

Friday was our first day on snow this season so we stayed on the one green run that was open. I started the day with the bindings roughly centered on the board - 2nd last set of holes on the front and middle set on the rear - and had fun but felt that I was leaning back a lot. After lunch I moved both bindings back one hole and it felt better.

I spent most of the time doing slow skidding turns behind Brady and when the slopes were clear I managed to get a few higher speed carved turns in before stopping and waiting for him.

The board is easy to carve and felt very solid and smooth. It looked weird having so little board behind the back foot but it went great. I was worried about it getting squirrely at higher speeds but it didn't. I just tipped it up on edge and away it went! I think the 14m sidecut at the back (info from Sean's video) really helped.

The board has a VSR and I had a go using the shorter radius at the nose by pushing my weight forward and doing some shorter slalom type S turns and I was surprised by how fast the board turned. The first time I tried it was an eye opener. I started with a few shallow turns to pick up speed, pushed my weight forward into a toe side turn and the board turned so fast I was half way across the run before I realised what had happened!

Overall it was a great first day and I had a heap of fun on the board.

Sean has now put the board details up on his website and I wholeheartedly agree with his description of the boards performance in powder and on groomed slopes.


Setup details:
Board: Donek Nomad Prototype
Colour: Green
Length: 163cm

Bindings: TD3 SI with yellow elastomers
F: 50deg, full 3deg inward cant
R: 45deg, full 3deg inward cant
Stance: 20in

Binding location:
F: Last two holes in the insert set
R: 2nd last two holes in the insert set

Boots: Raichle SB324 with Fintec heels

Rider: Intermediate with some powder and very little tree riding time