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I finally got out on my Freebird 162 yesterday on Togowotee pass. I must say I was skeptical of the soft flex as I have always liked a stiff board.... but this board rode like a dream! Riding it felt effortless and the weight of it skinning was amazing. I weighed the board with my spark bindings in at 12.6lbs. The taper on this board along with the rocker kept the nose on top of the snow with no effort. I am very happy I purchased this board.

Going from riding a Voile with plates to the Freebird with Sparks, WOW!!! I felt like I could skip up the mountain, I tried, it's tiring. It is seriously such a nice change on the skin up, so light!

I was skeptical of the lightweight board though (we'll just have to see how it holds up) and the big flex was something I wasn't ready for. I usually ride hard charging big mountain boards and I also like to ride switch alot. Not a good start.

But then I got on this board. It's a fun board! I've only got 4 days out on it so far, alot of varying conditions though. It's been fantastic in every situation! It's certainly taking a bit of getting used to, it turns quick and snappy. I've lost the nose under the snow twice, but never went over, easy recovery. I really like that I don't have to lean back in pow, it floats so nice!

I dropped a few little cliffs the other day and was very comfortable landing balanced and with some speed, didn't go over, didn't ass check, it felt really solid.

The skin up is where this board impresses me the most! The approaches here are long, usually 2-6 miles before starting the main ascent. The light weight of this is awesome! And the flex really helps in breaking trail and skinning over uneven terrain.

So far I'm very happy with the Freebird and would certainly recommend it. It's way way better than the older Voile I was riding before, way better!