# Salomon HPS Takaharu Nakai



## FourT6and2 (Nov 6, 2020)

*Location Used: *Bella Coola, Canada
*Size: *158
*Rider: *6' 2", 190 lbs., 11.5 US boot

*Thoughts:*
I initially grabbed this board (2021 version) because I liked the artwork and wanted it as a home decoration. I did a heli trip with Bella Coola Heli Sports last season and took this board with me since hey... it's a powder board. Using Burton Cartel X re:flex bindings. First... the board didn't come waxed. Like at all. And I didn't notice, which is my bad. But it ruined my first day riding some pretty sick glaciers in B.C. Once I realized the problem and waxed the board, it was mostly great.

It's playful and surfy. Good powder board. Fairly stable. Not quite fast enough for my personal taste, though. I'm used to charging down the mountain. On my Burton Flight Attendant, I can hit faster speeds and its a bit more stable (stiffer board). The Taka is a bit slower. It's also stable but not quite as confidence inducing as the FA. It turns great. Carves great. Nose stays up and it floats in deep snow. What more can you ask for really.

Only real negative for me was that it's too soft from the nose to your front foot. The board flexes way too much for me. I even had video I captured where I took a big fall because the front of the board literally folded in half. I watched the video in slow motion and you can see the entire front of the board cave in when I rode over a small depression in the snow. The fall didn't cause the board to fold, the board folded because of the terrain and caused the fall. It's just too soft if you're not paying close attention. If this board stiffened up a bit, it would be perfect. They also need to offer more sizes. They only have three.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

You probably should have been on the 161, and it's a board designed with Japan conditions in mind...not hauling ass as fast as you can. Wrong tool for the job you want it to do, apparently.


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## FourT6and2 (Nov 6, 2020)

Phedder said:


> You probably should have been on the 161, and it's a board designed with Japan conditions in mind...not hauling ass as fast as you can. Wrong tool for the job you want it to do, apparently.


Hi, looks like you're from Canada? So you probably know Bella Coola is glaciated alpine terrain. We're talking knee-to-waist deep powder and 30-50 degree pitch. So when I say I was riding fast, I don't mean straight lining down groomed resort runs. I've ridden in Japan as well (spent an entire season in Hokkaido). The 158 is spec'd for 220-lb. riders and I'm 190 with all my gear. Maybe a 161 would've been better. Maybe not. But the board doesn't care what country it's in.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

FourT6and2 said:


> Hi, looks like you're from Canada? So you probably know Bella Coola is glaciated alpine terrain. We're talking knee-to-waist deep powder and 30-50 degree pitch. So when I say I was riding fast, I don't mean straight lining down groomed resort runs. I've ridden in Japan as well (spent an entire season in Hokkaido). The 158 is spec'd for 220-lb. riders and I'm 190 with all my gear. Maybe a 161 would've been better. Maybe not. But the board doesn't care what country it's in.


Live here, but not from here. I'd actually never heard of Bella Coola, but assumed northern BC and seems I was right. 

Boards don't care what country they're in, you're right, but my point was it's designed for a certain style of riding, and that style of riding isn't wide open glaciated terrain at high speeds. 

Since you've ridden in Hokkaido as well, do you think you would enjoy that board more darting between trees in Japan, or riding it as you did in Bella Coola? 

My point is as a 190-200lb rider myself, I'm not going to blame a 158 mid flex japow board for not feeling stable enough, I'm going to understand the demands placed on it were outside it's ideal use case. That's all I'm saying.


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## FourT6and2 (Nov 6, 2020)

Phedder said:


> Boards don't care what country they're in, you're right, but my point was it's designed for a certain style of riding, and that style of riding isn't wide open glaciated terrain at high speeds.


Point taken.



> Since you've ridden in Hokkaido as well, do you think you would enjoy that board more darting between trees in Japan, or riding it as you did in Bella Coola?


Hard to say without doing it. But from what I experienced with this board, hard/sharp/fast turns would be easy since the board is nimble and playful. However, I do think it's _too_ soft. I rode in the trees in the Purcells last season too. That's closer to where you are I imagine. This board would have done better than my Flight Attendant, but my personal preference is a stiffer deck. If the Taka were 25% stiffer, it would be great for me.



> My point is as a 190-200lb rider myself, I'm not going to blame a 158 mid flex japow board for not feeling stable enough, I'm going to understand the demands placed on it were outside it's ideal use case. That's all I'm saying.


Forget stability at high speeds for a second. I think this board is fine at high speeds. Just not as stable as some others. My real gripe is how soft it is. Salomon says it's mid-flex. But compared to other boards that are also rated mid-flex... the Taka feels much softer. And that affected my experience at all speeds. This is my personal opinion/review. If they stiffened up the front end of this board a bit, I'd be a much happier camper.


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## DJ_Dup (8 mo ago)

Ive got the 2022 version in 158. Fantastic board imo. I actually love the flex... its what makes that board fantastic, but to be fair im only 145lbs with riding gear 
The only down on the board, is icy groomer where the softer flex and almost flat bottom doesnt help with edge hold...


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## philw (8 mo ago)

Sounds like you needed to swap it for the next size up.

That said, if you liked the tail on the 158 then the 161 may not work so well, and the bigger board would likely have very different overall flex characteristics. There's not one ideal board for all shapes, sizes and styles of rider. In my experience "fit" is probably more important than the overall board design even.

It's like reviewing a pair of jeans: what fits one person won't fit someone else.


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## FourT6and2 (Nov 6, 2020)

philw said:


> Sounds like you needed to swap it for the next size up.
> 
> That said, if you liked the tail on the 158 then the 161 may not work so well, and the bigger board would likely have very different overall flex characteristics. There's not one ideal board for all shapes, sizes and styles of rider. In my experience "fit" is probably more important than the overall board design even.
> 
> It's like reviewing a pair of jeans: what fits one person won't fit someone else.


Yeah the middle and tail on the 158 I have are fine. Just the nose... the section right in front of the front foot flexes a LOT. I think it would be worse on the 161 because it'd be even longer.


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## Etienne (Apr 2, 2021)

Thanks for the review! It's a board that I always want to test but never got the occasion. It seems in the same flex range as my Sickstick, whick I love, but with different character. I have a few pals who really like it. I see it as on of those good middle ground between japanese powsurf/carving and big mountain freeride. On of those smooth freeride, that can still handle quite some mountain, but maybe in a Xavier style (which it seems to be according to your review).

For your use I would have definitely sized up though. At 75kg I ride 162 Sickstick and still consider it a playful freeride.

P.S: I don't dream/save on heli anymore, but damn the terrain covered by Bella Coola seems incredible!


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

My snowboard is grumpy when traveling abroad. It has a very sensitive stomach.


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## FourT6and2 (Nov 6, 2020)

Etienne said:


> For your use I would have definitely sized up though. At 75kg I ride 162 Sickstick and still consider it a playful freeride.


Well, like I said... I bought the thing to hang on my wall and it was the only one the shop had. I normally ride a Flight Attendant in 159W (favorite board), so I figured the 158 Taka would be ok and grabbed it for my BC trip. I just picked up a 3D Deep Daze for this season's pow.



> P.S: I don't dream/save on heli anymore, but damn the terrain covered by Bella Coola seems incredible!


Bella Coola is absolutely incredible. Their tenure is massive and if you fly there from Vancouver, all the giant glaciers and mountains you see out the plane window is part of their terrain. Their terrain is something like 300+ times the size of Whistler-Blackcomb. I was able to do a few first descents there last season and rode a few famous lines from some films. I highly recommend them if you ever want to do a heli trip. I have a few trips with other operators this season, but I'm going back to Bella Coola in the spring and will continue to go there every year if I can.

If their guides trust you, they'll take you to some exciting terrain. My group kept pushing to do steeper and steeper stuff. They brought us to a legit knife-edge peak that the helicopter couldn't land on. The pilot just balanced the skids on the 3-foot-wide peak and we jumped out one by one. That run was 50 degree pitch and about 3,500 vertical feet. We were all very quite standing there at the top, strapped in. I was like, "Uhh... guys is this steep enough for you?" Best time of my life.

Lunch break:











This was a chill run. And if you look close, you can see our tracks winding down from that peak. And for scale, that open face drop at the very bottom, toward the left side of the image spits you out onto—not a glacier—but an actual ice sheet, where the helicopter picks you up. And that one small face you ride down is bigger than a 10-story building. And the crevasses at the bottom right can swallow a house.


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