Yes its worth it...

By Martin Drayton Ranked #455 - All Mountain Snowboards February 10, 2009

Ok, I hope this helps....A kind Rep let me borrow the Platinum LE for a few days and I rode it here at Park City Mountain Resort. The board is incredibly light and came in a stealthy, understated matt black. From a security point of view, probably a very good thing! The board was remarkable in that it has many contradictory characteristics...Nose to tail flex is surprisingly soft for the board that got Shaun Palmer back on the US SBX Team, you can actually butter it! However, torsionally it is very stiff allowing you to hold an edge and carve aggressively on hardpack. Despite the soft longitudinal flex you still get lots of drive out of the tail, dynamic carved turns are rewarded by the board trying to leave the ground - I'm guessing this is due to the mainly Carbon construction. It worked well in bumps too and in fact did everything well and was rediculously agile.
Yet at slow speeds this board turns as easily as a Burton "Learn-to-Ride" beginners board. This is due to the ingenious "Klothoid" side-cut, the brainchild of Hans-Joerg Kessler, the man who has revitalised snowboard racing. He hand builds boards in his Swiss mountain hideaway (including these Palmers, hence the price) and has had his own brand of boards on the podium of EVERY Alpine and Boardercross Race since the Olympic Gold in 2002!
The concept? When initiating and leading through a turn, resistance due to snow deformation increasingly opposes the motion of the turn. Put simply, because of the shape of the sidecut at the contact point, the Klothoid sidecut actually dissipates the pressure making the turn easier and much less effort, not to mention less tiring by the end of the day. This was a consideration for me as I teach 140 days a season, sometimes riding 20+ days in a row, 7hrs a day.
Would I pay this for a board? Does the price warrant it? Bearing in mind that Kessler's Race boards cost $1400 and there is a waiting list....YES. If you can get it cheaper, discount or Pro Deal, HELL YES! I'm making the Rep an offer as I write this...
Strengths-
Light, very easy to turn at ALL speeds. Super quick edge-to-edge, soft enough to butter yet torsionally stiff enough to carve like a race board!All condition/all terrain board, you name it...it does it. Despite being directional still easy to ride switch due to the sidecut, even carves switch easily.
Weaknesses
Price.... :( However it is hand-made and that alone gives you a unique quality.
Similar Snowboards Ridden-
I have ridden hundreds of boards over 20+ years as an Instructor and Magazine tester, too many to list. This board is in my top 5 along with the Rome Design, Atomic Rapture, Rossi Works and Burton Michi Albin.

View Details: Palmer Platinum LE Snowboard

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