Board: Capita Ultrafear
Size: 157
Camber Option: Freestyle FK (Flat Kick). Flat through the center of the board to the outside of the insert packs and then rocker (they say reverse camber) to the upkick in the tips.
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 22.5 Wide 18 Negative 15 Goofy
Boots: K2 T1 DB Size 10
My Weight: 170lbs
Resort: Breckenridge
Conditions: Dissipating clouds, blue skies poking through, sun, warmer temps that made the snow a little soft and heavy, zero wind, and over all perfect park conditions.
Flex: This board feels a little bit softer than middle of the road for a park board, putting it more in favor of jibbing than jumping. The tips have the most flex it stiffens up under foot and then the middle of the board matches the tip flex. Take that tip/middle flex and that’s how the torsional flex felt as well.
Stability: At speeds through chunder the tips were flailing everywhere. This caused the vibrations to resonate back to your feet and made you feel everything. By and large this board isn’t damp, it’s just lively and playful.
Ollies: There’s two types of pop you can get out of snowboard these days: Loaded and skate pop. Loaded means you preload the tail and use the board to get the snap you want, while skate pop is very last second you slap the tail down and it helps drive the board into the air. This board has skate pop which makes it playful. While it isn’t an overly poppy board there’s enough to have fun hitting side hits, boosting rollers, tossing 180’s around on runs, and getting up onto urban rails.
Pop On Jumps: Small to medium jumps are not an issue with this board. It has enough pop to get you over the knuckle, anything more though and you’ll want to upgrade to something with more snap. The loose feel of the tips sucks up trannies excellently which leads into letting the lip either throw you or you skate pop off it. I found half the time it was better to just let the board use the lip to get you over the jump than it was to pop. It just made it easier to fly through the air.
Butterability: Softer tips, rocker, and the Wah-Pow upkick give a great platform for buttering. The one downside is that pointed tip sometimes catches if you’re not paying attention. Otherwise this board can butter at any speed and play around.
Jibbing: This is where the Ultrafear is at home. You know it, I know it, and Capita knows it. Want to press? This board presses easily and locks in perfectly. It’s not so soft in the tips you over power it, but not so stiff that you have to man handle it to lock in. There’s enough snap from the rocker zone to pop you out of any press. Going sideways isn’t an chore and you have no problem playing around on boxes or rails.
Carving: If you know how to carve you can carve this board. The caveat is that the softer flex will have you bending it more through the arc which if you’re not aware of you will probably wash out. I personally like a flex of this nature for doing hard Euro-carves because it lets me really drive my back knee through the center of the board. Leaving the park as well as playing on groomers I constantly found myself dragging my arms on the ground pushing this board to its limits.
Rider in Mind: The park rider that wants a softer than middle of the road flex for a board you can play with all over the mountain.
Personal Thoughts: The last time I rode this board it was a limited release. A lot has changed since then, and I mean A LOT! Other than the lack of stability at faster speeds this board was super fun, playful, and lively. This made it a treat in the park when I was boosting tranny’s, hitting rails, and buttering around.
Check out the past review of the Ultrafear from 2009.
Comparable Boards: Flow Verve, Rome Artifact, Ride Kink
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This snowboard was loaned to us for review by Capita Snowboards marketing department.
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