The Official CAPiTA Thread

[SprockingCrail]

Aeronaut is a ripper. Posting from the lift at Palisades, I’ll have some more concrete first impression when I get home. But quick version is not too gnarly at slow speeds and holds up beautifully going fast. Top speed today is 50 mph in relatively firm conditions and never felt sketch…

…because of the board. Misjudged a couple side hits in the shade and crowds are out in force with holiday and limited terrain. But I feel super comfortable holding back on narrow cat tracks with jerries every which way and also opening up the throttle.

Hell yeah, good to hear that. I wanted to take mine out today at Sugar Bowl but went with the rock board again just in case.

How was SB? I went back and forth riding a new deck this early in this and a season, a local buddy convinced me I was fine as long as I stayed on piste and was careful on side hits. Palisades really upped their snow making game.

It was actually pretty rad at SB. Felt like spring, party vibes, Passholder party. Almost slushy in the afternoon, great coverage considering lack of storms , shoulda run the Aero. Next week.

[kimchi]

Aeronaut is a ripper. Posting from the lift at Palisades, I’ll have some more concrete first impression when I get home. But quick version is not too gnarly at slow speeds and holds up beautifully going fast. Top speed today is 50 mph in relatively firm conditions and never felt sketch…

…because of the board. Misjudged a couple side hits in the shade and crowds are out in force with holiday and limited terrain. But I feel super comfortable holding back on narrow cat tracks with jerries every which way and also opening up the throttle.

I'll eventually organize these thoughts and post a most robust review on my blog, but random impressions on the 161. Early season conditions, good coverage on groomers, some decent cord up high but lots of firm spots in the shade at lower elevations. Lots of jerry dodging on narrow cat tracks, finding open pockets of space between groups, and whipping off 3-4 good turns before hitting the next group.

• Rides bigger than its nominal length. The 161 Aeronaut has 20 mm more effective edge than my 163 K2 Instrument or 163 Korua Stealth.
• I love the way this thing turns. More precise than "surfy". Really excels at low to moderate speed ankle turns to navigate jerries, and higher speed medium radius carves when I got some space. Pretty much my perfect carving all-mountain board as a mostly weekend warrior at crowded Tahoe resorts. That 8.7 m entry radius means I'm not worried about getting hooked into turns riding fast, the 7.7 exit radius provides a ton of snap and zip once laid up on edge. First blush I don't quite love it on arcing long radius carves or really deep euro carves, I assume because of the tighter tail radius-- but I got the Instrument for that. Aero is a lot more fun at slower speeds and in tighter spaces than the Instrument.
• Out-of-wrapper flex feels perfect for me... I'd call it a 6.5 / 10. Really easy to ride but handles the input when I push it. I'm mildly concern it'll settle in a hair soft, especially the nose-- felt the nose twitch on me a couple times when I hit some unexpected turbulence while not 100% on. I rode everything out and didn't go over the handle bars at all, but something I'll keep an eye on as it breaks in.
• Personality is really nice happy medium between lively and damp. Plenty of feedback on the terrain and snow, but never felt too sketched out even when riding or landing with some speed into firmer bumps. I'm curious how it'll do when I get it more into late day mashed potato chop.
• Digging the narrower waist (259 mm) after my last couple daily drivers being the K2 Instrument (266 mm waist) and Korua Stealth (268 mm waist). I can't lay it over quite as far on a deep carve, but I felt far more comfortable in firm conditions with plenty enough clearance to turn on size 10 boots.
• Tail BOOSTS and the pop is pretty easy to access. A dream popping and landing off sidehits, as you'd expect.
• Didn't butter it much, but I could hold a tail press on it without too much effort. That softer than expected nose feels like it'd be a really sweet butter pad, but I'm not comfortable enough with nose butters to putz around with them in tight crowds in less than optimal snow.
• Rides switch ok. Ain't a twin, but it's fine if you know what you're doing.
• Holds an above average but not exceptional edge in firm snow. Never lacked for control and had the bite when I needed it, even on some weird double fall line wind buff. I'd rather have the flow of cleaner sidecuts than the grabbiness of extra contact points personally, so I'm ok with this.

I'm really looking forward to getting this thing into the park once Palisades builds some features. I don't expect much out of it as a pow board, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Right now, this is definitely my default board as long as coverage holds up. It'd be what I'd grab if I didn't know what to expect out of conditions. The Instrument will still get some play, but only when I'm confident I'll have some space to turn and won't have to worry about firm conditions or holding edges on extended traverses.

[YukonCornelius]

nice review Kimchi.

i am trying to figure out what to add to the quiver for groomer/park/sidehit type days. aeronaut looks very fun, but might explore something more twin oriented.

love the mercury, used to have a horrorscope way back when, but that was an overcooked piece of rigatoni on a good day (very fun when i lived in the northeast).

i spent most days on my korua tf 154 last season as the DD, but had too many instances of having to escape riding switch from a high speed landing or getting a wee bit backseat and washing out with the very tiny tail. love that thing to death and turning on it is an absolute dream.

even considering a burton custom for this purpose as i have a set of Genesis EST's i can mount....

[Muskrat]

Nice writeup Kimchi. That's very intriguing and sounds like what I need to add to the quiver. Planning to relegate my old, soft BSOD to midwest/jibby/fun riding, and replace with a directional AM style deck to bring on trips with the powder decks. On paper I wished the aeronaut had a little early rise in front, but your description of how it handles slow speeds calmly puts some of that concern to rest. I cant remember the last time I was on a full camber deck, some adjustment is expected no matter what I pick up.

[J0_Zehp]

Hello there,
Anyone rode the Fucking Awesome and the new Spring Break Twin resort ?
Need feedbacks, is the Fucking Awesome softer or stiffer ? which one is easier ?
I ask for my son because next season he is going from a Children of Gnar to an adult board, and he doesn’t like the DOA graphics (he is 12 y.o)
So any feedbacks would be appreciated,thank you guys

[Jean77]

Hello there,
Anyone rode the Fucking Awesome and the new Spring Break Twin resort ?
Need feedbacks, is the Fucking Awesome softer or stiffer ? which one is easier ?
I ask for my son because next season he is going from a Children of Gnar to an adult board, and he doesn’t like the DOA graphics (he is 12 y.o)
So any feedbacks would be appreciated,thank you guys

Cover it with stickers!

[SprockingCrail]

day 2 on Aeronaut:

15"ish at Sugar Bowl. Like a different board on soft snow. It is a weapon, still reminds me of a Terje Balance. Love this thing, unreal in pow for a full camber deck, feels like I have new springs in my legs. 10/10

[J0_Zehp]

Hello there,
Anyone rode the Fucking Awesome and the new Spring Break Twin resort ?
Need feedbacks, is the Fucking Awesome softer or stiffer ? which one is easier ?
I ask for my son because next season he is going from a Children of Gnar to an adult board, and he doesn’t like the DOA graphics (he is 12 y.o)
So any feedbacks would be appreciated,thank you guys

Feedbacks are welcome, hoping to get some..

[kimchi]

Second day on the Aero. Bad visibility, alternating between decent wind drifts and maybe a foot of wind-compacted pow, soft groomers, with some crunch groomers and late in day legit icy spots.

Palisades unexpected opened KT today, if I'd know that was happening I would have been on the Instrument. Both for performance and because I was afraid of sharks on a new board. But I didn't want to head back to the car and miss opening, so I just rolled with it.

Took a 4 laps on KT, ranging from maybe 6" of wind compacted faces to 3-4 ft of wind accumulation, with a few sketch encounters with avy debris. It ain't a pow board, but it did fine especially for a full camber shape. I think I'd be ok on it except in REALLY deep storm cycles or low angle accumulation.

It's a relatively lively board compared to the damper decks I've mostly ridden the past few years, my legs definitely felt more feedback in firmer bumps and especially the one time I accidentally popped into a debris field.

In firm bumps I noticed I needed to hook turns a little more backseat. The more open entry sidecut wants to go fall line, so I need to hook a little more aggressively to get into more deeper part of the sidecut.

Got a little more open space to carve. I wasn't trying to elbow drag today, but I like the way this thing turns.

Sucker has pop. I accidentally sent to the bottom of a jump hucking the knuckle. Rode away but that was my sign to leave the park lol. The landings were bulletproof, the wind was erratic, visibility sucked, and I kept either casing or overshooting. Not the board, the jumps seemed a little iffy and I don't have my park legs under me yet.

Felt its aggressiveness a little more today, jiujitsu'd my way out of going down a couple times. Only when going slow, like just getting moving after strapping in sort of slow. As long as I had a little bit of pace I felt fine. Still don't think it's that aggressive a board, just got little flashes of it. Wondering how I'd feel if I was on softer boot, only ridden Acerras so far and will try Tacticals when I get the chance.

On the whole, loving this thing. I took 2 laps on the Free Thinker and couldn't wait to get back on the Aeronaut. Initial plan was to commit second half in the day to the FT, but I went back to the car and swapped back to the Aero.

[SprockingCrail]

Second day on the Aero. Bad visibility, alternating between decent wind drifts and maybe a foot of wind-compacted pow, soft groomers, with some crunch groomers and late in day legit icy spots.

Palisades unexpected opened KT today, if I'd know that was happening I would have been on the Instrument. Both for performance and because I was afraid of sharks on a new board. But I didn't want to head back to the car and miss opening, so I just rolled with it.

Took a 4 laps on KT, ranging from maybe 6" of wind compacted faces to 3-4 ft of wind accumulation, with a few sketch encounters with avy debris. It ain't a pow board, but it did fine especially for a full camber shape. I think I'd be ok on it except in REALLY deep storm cycles or low angle accumulation.

It's a relatively lively board compared to the damper decks I've mostly ridden the past few years, my legs definitely felt more feedback in firmer bumps and especially the one time I accidentally popped into a debris field.

In firm bumps I noticed I needed to hook turns a little more backseat. The more open entry sidecut wants to go fall line, so I need to hook a little more aggressively to get into more deeper part of the sidecut.

Got a little more open space to carve. I wasn't trying to elbow drag today, but I like the way this thing turns.

Sucker has pop. I accidentally sent to the bottom of a jump hucking the knuckle. Rode away but that was my sign to leave the park lol. The landings were bulletproof, the wind was erratic, visibility sucked, and I kept either casing or overshooting. Not the board, the jumps seemed a little iffy and I don't have my park legs under me yet.

Felt its aggressiveness a little more today, jiujitsu'd my way out of going down a couple times. Only when going slow, like just getting moving after strapping in sort of slow. As long as I had a little bit of pace I felt fine. Still don't think it's that aggressive a board, just got little flashes of it. Wondering how I'd feel if I was on softer boot, only ridden Acerras so far and will try Tacticals when I get the chance.

On the whole, loving this thing. I took 2 laps on the Free Thinker and couldn't wait to get back on the Aeronaut. Initial plan was to commit second half in the day to the FT, but I went back to the car and swapped back to the Aero.

Glad you are stoked on it!
The rest of my quiver is def bummed I picked it up for sure.