Most of you guys who have been with this blog for awhile know I’m still a big supporter of regular camber snowboards.
I’ve always preferred traditional camber for the better pop and precision it gives, particularly when hitting jumps. Hybrid/flat camber has always felt less poppy and less precise for the type of riding I enjoy.
However, that said, there are times when hybrid camber saves you, particularly when you land a little unbalanced and get close to a painful edge catch.
Basically, camber is great because it’s more powerful and more precise, but that can be a double edge sword because it can be very unforgiving to mistakes and that sometimes leads to edge catching and bails when you’re not on your A-game.
That’s why I’m really excited to check out this camber tech coming out from K2 this year.
They call it a lifted flat camber or ‘precision baseline’ if you want to use their name for it:
What is it a ‘Lifted Flat Camber’?
It’s basically a sort of mix between traditional curved camber and flat camber. They’ve taken their flat camber and raised it off the ground to sort of copy how a traditional camber board would be raised off the ground.
The difference here is instead of being curved, it’s totally flat after being raised off the ground. This basically translates to a slightly more forgiving, playful nature like that of a flat camber board, mixed with the pop, power and precision of a traditional camber board.
This may finally fill that gap in flat/hybrid camber boards where those boards never felt as poppy or powerful as a traditional camber board.
Does it work?
Well, I’ll have to wait to try it, but early reports from other bloggers who I respect seem to say the technology actually works to some extent, which has me pretty excited to try it out myself.
Avran over at Angrysnowboarder.com actually has a review of the new K2 Happy Hour using this new camber technology if you want to check it out more (see: 2014 K2 Happy Hour Snowboard Review).
This is one technology that might be worth a demo next season for those of you who like hybrid camber/flat camber, but still miss the pop and power of a traditional camber board.
– Jed