REVIEW: 09-10 GNU Park Pickle 156W

I've heard numerous people tell me how much they enjoy the GNU Park Pickle.   I decided to take the board out myself and give it a spin.   I picked up a 156W Pickle on the advice of a good friend.  The Pickle is one of the Transworld Good Wood winners  for boards over $400, and also has a Platinum Pick Design Award from Snowboard Magazine.

While I haven't ridden many boards from GNU, I find myself in a love hate relationship with the Pickle.   There were aspects of the board I absolutely loved, and other aspects that drove me mad heh. You really have to either love the topsheet pickle graphics or dislike them.

The pickle uses Banana Tech, which for those of you not familiar with that term, it's the term used by GNU/Lib for their "rocker" design. The Banana Tech (rocker) is  between the bindings, while out to the tip and tail is flat.  The design does allow the board to "float" and as with most rocker designs, makes the board more forgiving when it comes to catching an edge.  One thing I really found I loved on the pickle was  the flex, and responsiveness of the board torsionally. For a wider board, the responsiveness is there. The waist on the 156w is 26.5, providing pretty ample spacing for a XL size binding. I rode the pickle with Union Force DLX bindings in size L/XL. The wider versions of the board list a flex rating of 6,out of 10, which I would agree is spot on.  The flex pattern and twin tip design makes the board easy to butter, and especially fun for "flat tricks."  It's pretty much effortless to load up for an ollie, and the board pops without issue.

This was my first foray into the Magna Traction world.  For those of you who are not familiar with Magna Traction, the picture below shows the Magna Traction edges.  Essentially, you have the "wavy" edge, which provides additional contact points for edge control. GNU says standard snowboards have two contact points, and Magna Traction provides seven contact points.  The Magna Traction is a noticeable difference when riding, especially if you've never ridden a board with this feature. The edge control tends to feel a bit more "secure" although on some icy groomers, the board would get "squirrely."  Initiating turns seems a bit easier, and edge to edge feels a bit more fluid.  With that being said, I would recommend tuning the edges on the pickle prior to really getting down with it.  The edges on this board are somewhat intense, especially with the magna traction. Don't be surprised if you catch an edge on rails, or other park features.  Tuning down slightly makes a huge difference in the control of the board, or at least did for me.

One of the features I don't know if I really find all that interesting on the pickle is the asymmetric heel edge. The basic premise of this design, it takes more force to ride/control your heel edge. GNU says the asymmetric heel edge (not really noticeable visually) helps in this area.  While it is noticeable during the ride with the board (easier to engage heelside), because GNU has modified the core in this series for this design, I don't know if it's a feature that I absolutely love.  The heelside has a softer/damper wood, to help you ease into heelside turns etc. While the board topsheet does have a graphic pointing to the heel side,  this is not set in stone, as you can ride the board either way since it's a true twin design. I think it's just more of a fun design and attempt at innovation (although this has been done before previously in the past by other companies.)

So to kind of wrap up this review, a few other odds and ends. I've been riding this board during early season here in Colorado, and the conditions aren't exactly pow, but are mostly groomers/icy conditions. The board is pretty light, and has a good spin factor.  It's easy to get the board in and out of spins.  I'll keep riding this board, throughout the season to get a complete review in all conditions.  At this point, I can say it's  not my favorite park board yet, but perhaps it will grow on me, the more I ride it?   I love the pop and fun factor of this board, but there were times I didn't like the ride itself.  Since it's still early in the season here, I'm definitely going to keep riding the board through-out the season and post an update later in the year.

The Final Dish:

As a wider/freestyle board, GNU definitely delivers a punch with the pickle, albeit a wickedly interesting punch.

Disclosure: **Board was Purchased at 720 Boardshop with my own funds**