Notes from the Field: Gentemstick in NZ Pow

Notes from the Field: Gentemstick in NZ Pow

Any trip to the New Zealand southern alps the board choice is always a tricky one. A mix of resort riding, Back Country and generally very variable NZ conditions is usually on the menu.
 
This year I packed the Gentemstick XY 157cm in both solid and split options along with a 145cm Rocketfish. The XY 157cm is a versatile all rounder designed by Taro Tamai and Alex Yoder from Jackson Hole, It can handle the steeper stuff and also the deeper stuff. Great rail control on the groomers too and can punch through chop. The Rocketfish is an all time favourite that rides like a 5’6” Fish, fast, nimble and crazy float. It gets you to lines and terrain you’ve never been.
 
This trip we lucked in 5 days of pow with endless bluebirds and light winds up at a remote hut deep in the Alps. Straight out of the heli and into 20-30cm of the good stuff. The days were much spent splitboarding to the top of various bowls to ride some good NZ pow in various terrain.


The XYZ 157cm splitboard was smooth as silk and held rail for some of the biggest turns I’ve done. NZ snow and terrain allows for speed and big open turns. It had an effortless float putting you on top of the snow allowing for maximum control. It has a tapered outline and flat tail rocker making it feel almost fish like, a really smooth silky ride but with a feel that when you need it to step up it’s there for you. It smooths out your riding as with all Gentems and generates natural flow.


It felt really similar to the solid XY model but as with splitboarding you’ve got on a lot of gear and the binding set up was a little stiffer than normal. It was definitely nice to ride a split and solid in the same model outline.
 
Overall the XY is a great one board quiver able to tackle everything you can throw at it. It definitely will be in the board bag every trip along with a Fish swallow tail to keep things mixed up and those super deep days.
 
-Cuz

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