Burton: Malolo Snowboard

Some people can afford to buy a board exclusively for powder days. For the rest of us, there's Burton's unisex Malolo. While the Malolo has a wide shape for blasting untracked face shots, it borrows the best of freestyle elements and all-terrain versatility. There are other all-terrain snowboards that lay claim to doing it all, but the Malolo has the width and powder-specific gravity to get you there with more float and less leg burn than those so-called utility tools. Inside the Malolo is a Powder Fly II Core that moves the Malolo's center of gravity back, resulting in a softer, lighter nose that promotes easy float in deep snow. The surfy Burton Fish snowboard offers the same core with a little more float potential, but the Malolo remains true to its wonderfully wide freestyle shape. This season Burton added a shorter, 149-cm. size for lighter advanced riders. They also installed 10:45 rounded sidewalls with two distinct angles to minimize abuse, especially if you tend to seek out powder in gladed runs. If you could cut the Malolo open (don't do it…) you would see that the wood grain along the toe and heel edges runs perpendicular to the rest of the wood core in a design called DualZone™ Edge Grain Direction, a process that enhances edging while adding durability. This is wrapped in long layer of Triax Fiberglass topped off with two more diagonal layers, resulting in a torsional stiffness that translates to intuitive carving and easy turn initiation. Beneath all this high-float goodness is Burton's Sintered WFO Vision Base (the "Vision" means that you can see the graphics clearly without losing anything in the warp drive output). If you live for backcountry adventures and helicopter ascents into places that the tourists can only dream about, the Malolo snowboard is your ticket to winter bliss. If you're looking for a powder board with a surf style, check out the Burton Fish.

• Burton "feel" rating: 6 on a scale of 1 to 7
• An exceptional choice for powder days and groomed runs--but less adaptive in the park or pipe
• Nose/waist/tail widths in 158 cm.: 302.8/250/282.8 mm.
• Sidecut radius in 158 cm.: 7.94 m.
• Stance width in 158 cm.: 505 mm.
• Powder-specific Powder Fly II™ Core moves center of gravity back for better float
• Negative core profile for softer flex and torsion between bindings resulting in more independent foot control, tapered profile (20 mm. from tip to tail) for better nose lift in deep snow
• New 10:45™ sidewall design features two angles to help absorb impacts without diminishing performance
• Burton Infinite Ride® technology for consistent and lasting flex
• Burton Pro Tip profiled tip and tail reduces swing weight
• High-grade Sintered WFO Base saturated with a pre-conditioned, wax-impregnated base
• Dualzone™ Edge Grain Direction at toe and heel edges for enhanced edging
• Triax™ fiberglass for torsional stiffness and near-effortless turn initiation
• For proper sizing, Burton suggests choosing a Malolo length 2 to 4 cm. down from your normal board length
• Suggested weight range: 75-125+ lbs. (34-57 kg.) in 149 cm, 210+ lbs. (95+ kg.) max in 166 cm. length