i would take the never summer summit off your list. it’s quite directional/freeride, with a fair amount of taper and setback.

the rest of the boards would most likely work for what you want. as far as camber styles and skinning grip, boards with flat (k2, venture) and cambered in the center theoretically have better skinning grip but i think people who have boards with rockered centers usually adjust and do just as well once they are used to the shape.

i would size your board based on at least your powder sizing. but make sure to consider how far out of bounds and how much gear you will most likely be traveling with, what the snowpack and terrain you are usually riding in consists of. then consider how much of that playfulness you want to keep vs what kind of stability/float could be necessary for where your are. at your weight you’ll probably still be able to throw around a 158-160 pretty easily and lower-to mid 160s should still be a bit playful with more stability and float. I’m a bit taller and the same weight and my first split is a DIY 156cm, but we don’t get a steady supply big powder days where I am and mostly all my splitting was from the resort boundary out. so it all depends on what you need it for.

as far as board choice, good luck. somebody on here loves every one of those boards so there are positives to all those models.

I would highly recommend adding the Voile Palindrome to your list. I rode it at a demo a few weeks back and that board rips. The added flat section under the touring bracket makes the boart quite a bit more stable than full reverse camber boards. I didn’t get a tour on it, but I can only imagine the skinning to be improved over a full reverse camber or the c2 type (never summer/lib).

I have never really been impressed with the combination rocker/camber boards, in my opinion they do most things ok, but nothing really well. They lack awesome float in deep snow, but do ok, and dont feel as stable on hard pack as a full cambered deck. Boards that are cambered under foot with “early rise” are hands down my favorite splits though, its the ones that make their boards look like a piece of bacon that I have never liked.

Don’t buy anything until you get a chance to ride it, every board, even similar profiles (like the rocker/camber available from Never summer, Lib, Gnu, and Voile) all ride differently. There are probably no less than 10 twin boards that would fit your needs. Head to your local SplitFest or demo day and spend some time on each board you are looking at. When you are dropping $1000 on a board, waiting a little until you get to ride a few is worth more than you can imagine!

Good luck on the search :thatrocks:

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I have a Libtech TRS, is a playfull board that’s really easy to ride and you can still ride icy slopes and traverses pretty well with the magnatraction. But I don’t think it’s the best for the uphill to be honest. I seem to slide back a lot more than people I tour with, not sure why this is.

On my other LibTech this seems to be a little better, even with the same skins. I’m lighter than you and ride a 164, it floats just enough but I wouldn’t go any smaller to be honest for the TRS.

Also it’s kinda slow if you need to ride out of flat bits. I don’t know if it’s the factory wax/grind, but it’s a lot slower than my other boards. Maybe a stonegrind and a few good waxes will solve this, but I should think it would be a little better from the factory as it’s not a cheap board.

Just some feedback on the TRS, no experience with the other boards. So it’s not perfect, but i still slightly prefer it over my Dark Series Libtech as it’s not as stiff in the tail and a bit easier to turn.

My experiences with the never summer RC profile (same overall idea as lib’s c2 profile) have been good for float, but with twin models you don’t get the added benefit of a lot of setback or taper for extra flotation. I kind of agree with the seesaw description to an extent, I think it’s a really fun design but like provotrout said you ride it differently.

And I don’t know how S-rocker would translate to ‘fun’ and ‘playful’ for you spinning around on it; its a very directional camber profile (cambered with only the nose rockered). But the Rome Whiteroom is a twin-ish shape with the directional S-rocker and slight setback (2cm), so if that type of design lands well enough switch you could consider that board as well.

when comparing board length preferences, don’t forget to think about your snow vs their snow. where are you riding anyway? west/east coast, continental/rockies? you said there isn’t tons of deep snow in your area, you could be fine with what you originally thought. lots of light fluffy snow is where more surface area is your friend, and with gnarly steep terrain more edge contact with a stable ride is your friend.

if you know you like the feeling of camber with rocket nose/tail (camrock) over the central camber boards maybe just choose that design. Prior’s AMF is a good board, and comes in 159 or 162, and for an extra investment you can carbon the 162 for more surface area and float while reducing the weight to throw around better. Or you can always find your favorite board and DIY it. 160wide Yes-The Greats splitboard??

Testing a bunch of boards out and picking your favorite like B-P said is your best choice, although not always possible for most people.

i think stance width is another factor you haven’t considered
the ns/lib styles of r / c are imo best with wide stances, they even out the pressure along the edge b/w the feet
where as with the mid deck camber, tip / tail rocker, if you have a wide stance, you end up with 2 areas of increased edge pressure, at each foot, which makes for a bit of an uneven ride, especially relevant when low speed billy goating, but for one of my friends it was a deal breaker in powder specifically.
flat / rocker less so, and of course the stiffness of the deck will also come into play in evening out the edge hold

id be interested to see peoples stance width along with their preferred camber / flat / rocker preferences… my stance is 23.5 – 24″, ns r/c works for me

also honestly if you give almost any shape a few daze for getting used to it, you’ll probably love it… we’re talkin about snowboarding after all.

regarding length, sure a bigger board will float more, but you do gotta carry the thing around all day, and however much snow piles up on it too… i tend to go as small as i can with a split ride, with the rocker in the mix you don’t often have to worry much about float…
stability at speed yah trade off…. i guess the solution is a happy medium… or a quiver!!

To clarify what I was referring to as my favorite, the poster who answered was correct, I like full length camber under foot with an early ride nose and tail. That setup gives hands down the greatest versatility in a split board while maintaining awesome float in deep snow. Granted they don’t have AS much float as a full reverse camber board (rocker, v-rocker, banana or whatever the marketing term is for a particular brand) but in my experience in testing boards for the past 3 season, they have as much if not more than the rocker/camber contraptions. The biggest difference is an early rise board that gets submerged will rise back towards the surface, the rocker/camber boards would just bury deeper unless you lean waaay back to get the nose back up. In the pnw when you get that famous cascade concrete, a board that nose dives can be the death of you! hahaha I have notice that with every variation of a rocker center, camber just under the foot type of board. Again, they do everything ok, but excel in nothing.

Powlash nailed it too, when you one foot one of the combo decks, its super squirly and difficult to hold a line one footed. The same thing happens when in ski mode. If you have a long traverse or a long ski out, those things are impossible to control! My current split is a full reverse camber and neither the tip nor tail is anywhere close to the ground in ski mode. I have had to re-learn skinning it difficult terrain and also buy new skins with higher grip and less glide to keep the things under me. My split for spring/summer will be a flat kick with early rise nose. If you have ever toured with a skier or somene with a cambered split in the spring/summer, you will notice how easy they move accross difficult hard terrain or up steep icy skin tracks, because you will be struggling!

I feel (and this is an honest opinion) that a full cambered/flat board with early rise OR the voile palindrome with the added flat section underfoot would be the best option for a true ALL AROUND setup. I ride a full rockered board and love it in our deep heavy snow, but I take the sacrifice of knowing in the spring I will be carrying my Mr. Chomps on every tour until my new split comes haha