Kaane King Dog Wide

Lunghezza 183
Punta          25.5
Centro        19.5
Coda          23.5
Lamina      154 a 176
Raggio       13.2 a 15.5
 

Monday 16 January, Day 1 of the Soulboarders Ultimate Carving Experience in Innichen Sud-Tirol.

Last night the guys organising the event said with smiles as big as slices of
watermelon that the 22 boarders on the event (and one skier) had:

12 boards from Kessler (SBX, SL and RS)
4 boards from Nidecker
4 boards from Jones,
1 board from Yes
and 3 boards from Kaane that was just fetched from the valley to the south.

The boards were just on the other side of the mountian, but it was still 4 hours round trip!! Sometimes I want to be a crow (Fritz the cat).
Sigi is sorting out some full carves and Race titans for the event. (maybe send us some of the Cult boards!)

With the majority of the boarders riding on Kessler, SG and some F2s, the new Kaane boards were inspected with verve.
There is a 162ish SL, A 173 RS and a 183 RS supplied as demo boards.
The boards are finished in nice style, the 173 with the Italian flag in the sidewall round the nose!!
The top sheets are of a material that looks to be treatable with wax which would ensure less build up of wax on the board that might affect the ability to follow the snow due to extra weight.

I looked at the boards and the 183 was markedly softer than the 173.
The sides were tuned to perfection and even the whole nose was sharpened to a rasor. Hats off guys on supplying the boards like Italians Pistenbully drivers supply cordroy in the morning.
I chose the 183, since my reasoning was that with my 120kgs I'd be able to get the board curving at lower speeds that would make the ride less hectic.
This would make the board nice for freecarving, I thought.

One of the intersting aspects of the Kaane boards is a perfectly flat tail with absolutely no kickup.
The board has base to the tail.
The nose is not as blunt as the SG or Kesslers and has no camber on the tail or nose. This could affect the dampening.
The 183 board has 4 rows of inserts per binding in close 4×4 spacing. In the evening I placed my bindings and ensured that everything was set for the next day, today.

We took the bus to one of the areas closer to Austria and were there for first lift.
At the top there was a slight sun on our domes and with -18, it was nice and cold.
The snow was crispy and the pistes were maintained to absolute perfection with billiard table quality hardpack. On the first section of the run, the sun baked the slow bit and 4 of us had to lie down and enjoy the snow (well, we fell).
The next bit is a section that is ridiculously wide and I got the Kaane on its heel rail and experienced one of the most impressive backside carves I have ever had.
My style is still quite rough (hence the slogan: "Brake fluid drained… GO!!" on my SG SL) but has improved immensely in the last few months thanks to quality training.
Even so, the carve was so completely out of this world that I am happy to say, my holiday is made!

Further down the run, it became evident that I could not control the front hand with the same precision as the back hand.
This was caused by 2 aspects.
1: The back hand carve was so pure that my speed was too high for my limited technique.
2: My bindings were too close together, partly caused by the spacing of the inserts. This did help me to open up my back knee.

The back hand would chatter under the speed and I would end up a few times on my belly. Playing around with my stance in the front hand turns did result in a number of them getting purer, but it was a bit of struggling the whole time.
On the one run we had some nice photo opportunities and we took the hill one at a time.
My previous run here produced another absolute corker on the backhand that is recorded on film.
The second time, I wanted to get the front hand right and scream into an even more impressive backhand.
The first part of the carve I found that piece of heaven in the Kaane that was ready to launch me into warp speed… shortly before the nose dug in and threw me in a spectacular top side.
I somehow ended on my feet again, but unfortunately full on the nose taking the Kaane's nose into a 90deg bananabend for a second time and sent me flying again. The board is miraculously unscathed.
How I did not manage to break it is an absolute miracle!!
The crash did take out my foot joint and this report is now being written with a fat ice pack on my ankle joint.

The board is clearly a very interesting board.
Somehow the board loses absolutely no pace in the carve, no matter how hard you stomp the tail. I expect this is a result of the absolutely flat tail.
The board thus has no drag on the tail slowing you down.
Just this aspect of the board would make me advise anybody keen on purchasing a new stick to consider this majestic piece of Italian craftsmanship for their quiver.
I know that most people would say "I don't loose speed in the carve…" This message is especially for you!! Do check that you can mount your bindings wide enough, though!
The binding positions is a major problem and more of the riders reported that they were very frustrated with the possibilities for binding positions and how close together one's feet are together.

Ratings:
Quality of build: 11 (would've given it an 8, but there are very few boards that wouldn't have broken under the crash)
Quality of the carve: 7 (could not get the front hand stable)
Would I purchase?: 5 (this beast bit me badly!! Inserts are too close together. Maybe with my bindings more favourable, I could control the frontside better but other riders also report issues with the frontside.)