REVIEW: 2012 Gnu Billy Goat 156

One of the new boards I am going to be riding and doing some reviews on this season is the Gnu Billy Goat. I am going to admit to something I rarely ever do and that is migrate toward a board on it`s graphics, but in this case I could not resist! This board is to Washington State what Never Summer boards are to Colorado and the hook for me was the wolf; gotta admit it.

The artwork on this board was done by a local PNW artist in Bend, Oregon and I find it quite simply breath taking. The base has the tailgate of your typical Washington pickup truck complete with our old ugly green and white plate.

Okay, that is what caught me eye and made me look at this board in detail and after doing my homework concluded this board is totally designed for my preferred riding style; big mountain lines off piste through trees, chutes, SMALL cliff drops (I hate heights and anything over 6 feet turns my legs into Jello).

Here in the PNW, I ride anything and everything from dreamy waist deep pow to the most horrendous churned up, refrozen, conglomerated death cookies to gooy, rain soaked sludge and I need a board that can deal with it all. Generally that means a tank of a board but I also have ridiculously small feet so I still need a fairly torsionally soft board. My Never Summer Heritage has so far been the best board for my needs that I have ever ridden and I thank Vince daily for hooking me up with that board. This Billy Goat is going to have a lot to live up to to stand next to that Heritage, but the tech data sound pretty damn good. Now all I need is some damn snow.

Like My Heritage review, this will be a work in progress. Rumor has it I may have a set of 2012 Rome Targa`s on the way to test along with this board and I am hoping to work with Vince again later in the year with something if given the opportunity again. So to start with here is the basic introduction to the board. This comes in both a standard snowboard and is also a factory splitboard. As a split, it one Back Country`s “Editors Choice” award. I have no idea if that really means anything; the proof is in the riding.

The MSRP for the standard board is $539

The MSRP for the split is $839 which does not include hardware or skins but is pre drilled for standard hardware.

Available sizes:

Standard: 156, 159, 162, 165

Split: 159, 162

For now, I will use a factory stock photo until I get a few shots on the mountain:

Graphic by Bend, Oregon’s Adam Haynes of Stickfort.com

The board I am riding is the 156 and here are the specs:

General Construction

C2BTX
MAGNE-TRACTION
DIRECTIONAL TWIN SHAPE
SINTERED 9900 ALLOY BASE
EISS 9 UHMW SIDEWALLS
SANDWICH CONSTRUCTION
QUASI GLASS
ASNER DAMPENING
MERVIN BA SUSTAINABLE WOODCORE: BIRCH / ASPEN

Technical details:

Overall Length: 156 cm
Construction: C2
Contact Length: 116 cm
Sidecut: 8.2
Nose Width: 29
Waist Width: 24.8
Tail Width 29
Stance Range: 19″-24″
Setback BOC: .75″
Flex: 6.5
Weight Range: 130-220