Slash Happy Place 2014-2019 Snowboard Review

The Slash Happy Place is a fun board that reminds us like a more fun shaped version of the older Yes Basic when it was made by Nidecker but with it’s own new twist. The 2017 isn’t much different from the 2016 and 2015.

2015-2017 Slash Happy Place Review

Size: 156
Days: 4
Conditions: Hard snow at the top and softer snow at the bottom.
Riders: James, Peter and Ginger
Boots:  Burton Imperial, Nike Kaiju
Bindings: Union Contact Pro
Set Up: centered about 23″ wide 15 -15

Approximate Weight: Felt normal.

On Snow Feel: Felt like a stable forgiving freestyle to all mountain freestyle board. It’s stable between the feet and has a consistant feel in all conditions you ride.

Powder: We had no powder but I have ridden many hybrid camber boards just like this from Yes, Jones and Nidecker. It’s going to be very good for a centered board and has a very easy float that doesn’t want to sink. For centered stance riders that like to ride switch as much as regular this will be great to excellent but if you like to set the stance back then it might not be the best.

Turn Initiation and Carving: There isn’t much camber going on and it ends before the bindings. It then transitions to flat for a little bit and then rocker. That means it’s not the best when it comes to laying into a hard carve but it holds ok if you treat it like a much smaller board. Edge to edge transitioning is quick and easy and it’s fun making quick turns. Medium and wide radius turns aren’t bad but aren’t anything special.

Speed: It’s not super damp nor does the base glide super well but that’s expected for this price range and this type of ride.  It starts to get chattery under the feet when picking up speed and it doesn’t give you big wide open groomer type of mountain comfort. It’s mostly at home in the park or taking your time on a smaller mountain and treating it like a park.

Uneven Terrain: No problem here with slow bumpy messy groomers. It’s no chunder buster but it’s fine weaving in and out of moguls.

Edge Hold: The edge hold in our opinion is perfect for most good mountains in the US.  It’s not too much to where it grabs in softer snow but it also holds in harder conditions. Ice isn’t ideal but it can hang a little.

Flex: Pretty mellow medium/soft flex that is very easy to butter. It might surprise you at first and you might butter your way right to your ass.  Once you realize how easy it is you will be fine.

Switch: Perfect either way as all twins are.  The only ride better is an asymmetrical twin.

Jibbing: Great easy jib board that isn’t bad with most hits of all levels. Peter had no problem sliding on some semi-technical rails and even I was comfortable hitting small to medium size boxes.

Pipe: Pretty fun pipe board. It’s very forgiving and the edge hold is enough to climb walls. The mellow camber doesn’t drive super well wall to wall but its fine for those that are just looking to get better there.

Jumps: The more I ride this board the more it feels like it’s more poppy.  It’s got nice spring from between the feet like a continuous rocker board.  It’s really fun and forgiving on small to medium sized jumps or making the best out of natural features on the mountain but it doesn’t feel like a really solid big jump board.