It only took me six years, but I finally love my Huck Knife!
It's no secret that buying a Salomon Huck Knife as my first board was a mistake. In the beginning, I was simply unsure if I had done a good purchase, but the feeling really crystallized when I got into watching snowboarding films and competitions.
All of the sudden, I started to see a bunch of Huck Knifes being used by pros in both Slopestyle and Big Air contests. The boards were exactly the same as mine, same graphics, everything. I'm not gonna lie, at first it was cool to see my board on TV, but eventually I thought to myself, I'm never reaching this level. Not today, not in a couple of years, not in my lifetime! Actually, if I'm completely honest, I'm not even getting close to that.
I let that feeling sink in... now it was already too late anyways. I would look for reviews online and would trust the ones which would say that this board is a fine all-mountain freestyle board, ok for intermediate-to-advanced riders to validate myself.
The reality, however, was a bit different. If conditions were not ideal I would just eat shit. Slope a bit icy? Sliding I go - this motherfucker has zero grip. Slightly deep pow? Nose down - this board refuses to float.
Look at this beauty. You broke my heart so many times, but I learned to love you just the way you are <3
It got to a point which I started to get frustrated. All my friends were progressing much faster than me and I was still skidding every turn. They were already doing ollies & (some) indy grabs and I could barely pop.
"It can't be that hard". "I will learn this shit". "I will tame this beast".
Eventually, we started to adventure ourselves in some "off-piste" riding, taking any opportunity to sidetrack the slopes and I found my jam. I figured that I "disliked" free-style (as in, since I can't do it, I don't like it) and actually loved exploring the mountain in its natural state.
That was the excused I needed to look for a new board. After some more informed research and becoming a fan of Austen Sweetin, I decided to grab a Lib Tech Dynamo.
It was love at first sight ride. The grip was unreal, the speed was crazy, the float insane. I was lucky enough to get a huge dump in the end of the season and experiencing powder with a proper free-riding board was orgasmic.
The Dynamo is stiffer, so you fell more locked-in. You to have to have better posture and be more intentional in your turns, otherwise, make a guess... you eat shit. It was like this board was forcing me, or even better, teaching me, how to be a better snowboarder.
The Huck Knife became wall art and I didn't touch it for nearly two years.
Then I had a brainwave. After all this time, why not? Why not giving my first board a second chance?
Low-effort memes are also my jam!
I packed the two boards and off I went. In the first days, no surprises. Dynamo was riding as good as ever and I even (unintentionally) broke my top speed PR (85,9 km/h accordingly to Slopes app. Hot damn.). Last day arrived and I promised myself to ride switch all day, so naturally the Huck Knife was the perfect board for the job. I set up a duck instance and unpretentiously started my switch drills.
After a couple of runs riding switch, I rewarded myself with a normal goofy run...
It... it clicked! Holy shit. Let me try this ollie real quick. This thing POPS. Wait, let me try this tail press. Locked in. Riding this thingy in my stance felt natural and fun.
The board was asking me.. no, let me rephrase that... the board was begging me to do fun stuff with it. I finally understood what this board was meant to do and I had the most fun day of the trip just trying out silly things.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still terrible at free-style and not even my ollie looks good - but for the first time, I just felt connected with this board.
Returning from this trip gave me a feeling that - finally - at some point - I can unlock some of the Huck Knife's true potential!