The Lann 162 first test - conception to first turn!
Riding a board that you’ve put all your riding philosophy into is very of exciting… This is the first Lann proto, the shape and flex has changed a little since this one, but the concept is exactly the same
I’ve been testing the Lann 162 (in secret) for a couple of seasons.
Riding a board that you’ve put all your riding philosophy into is very of exciting whilst at the same time a bit worrying as you’re always waiting to see if your ideas work or not.
With the Lann, I was basically designing a board suited very much to my way of riding, a turn based board with a stable and large volume nose, allowing easy and conscious turn initiation through the front foot to the soft long contact point, a swift transfer of energy and flex through the middle of the board into a sharp, short exit sidecut under and behind the rear foot, combined with a matching camber profile blended into a short stiff, yet surprisingly supportive tail.
Think, surfing a wave or slashing a perfect windlip, beautiful smooth rounded arc into sharp finishing cut in the lip and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what the board is designed for.
The first Lann protos that Phill made came to me with the exact dimensions that I had designed and discussed with him.
The first 2 prototype Lann 162’s hot off the press in Phill’s lab
Phill’s attention to detail was so spot on, even the 4mm of camber under the inside edge of my rear foot was bang on point. The boards looked amazing, they looked fun to ride with their long nose profiles and short sharp tails. Just looking at them sitting there on the floor in the garage got me excited and I couldn’t wait to set them up.
The boards however felt pretty stiff, especially in comparison to what I’d become accustomed to riding, with some of my current boards even running reverse or flat cambers, and softer spongy flexes than I’d have chosen, but that I’d learnt to adapt to and quite enjoy and so I was a bit hesitant to ride the new protos just in case…well just in case I couldn’t!
Most of the time when I’m riding, I am also infact working. To go out on the board that doesn’t work, would mean spending the whole day trying to ride said board in demanding terrain and conditions with a group of madly excited riders looking for that next level shred.
When making a new board, the one thing you can’t appreciate straight away and the hardest to get right is probably the flex. The flex of the board and where and how it bends has to match the sidecut and the camber profile.
Flex is supported by the thickness and structure and materials of the core, different wood laminates, different grains can change everything.
Core thickness, transition and depth of the core have to match your camber and sidecut profiles.
On top of this you have to direct pressure to where you want it from both the front and rear foot to influence the flex of the board directly over the edge and for this we were experimenting with both Carbon and Basalt stringers and for this Phill had made up test cores with different layups and materials and graded them against each other.
The turning arc and feel of the turn comes from a mad combination of how the board bends and runs along the edge and how you influence and manipulate the flex through your feet.
With the Lann, I was trying to design a board that should carve the perfect turn without me having to adjust my riding too much.
Most boards that I’ve ridden have very different ride properties that you have to learn and adjust to. Some boards you have to learn to back off the pressure on the turn entry or learn not to push to hard on the exit to avoid the tail washing out. Some you have to spend longer in the middle of the arc, follow a longer exit curve or watch your speed so the board doesn’t over flex or vibrate.
With the Lann, I was hoping for a board that I could just push on first through my front foot and then as powerfully as I could with my rear foot and simply crank some nice sharp feeling arcs.
Like I said, the boards felt pretty stiff in comparison to what I’d been riding and I wasn’t sure how they would perform.
You always need a starting point to work from and that was what these two prototypes types where really about. From here we could adjust shape, profiles and flex and so this was it, I just needed to get out on them and ride.
I set up the Softer flexing of the two, the one with the Carbon stringers, bounced about on it a little in the garage and decided that i’d try it for a couple of runs in the morning, but stay relatively close to the van so that I could switch back to my regular board if, well basically if it didn’t work! After all, I was trying a few things with the design profile, that I’d often wondered why nobody did, but also figured I might find out straight away why this was the case.
I felt excited and also a little anxious as I exited the cabin at the Grand Montets the next morning. I can normally tell what a board is like straight away, sometimes as I’m strapping in, but definitely within the first few turns. As I strapped in I could feel the board felt sharp on the edge, the extra width meant there was no chance of me washing out due to heel or toe drag under foot and it felt kind of nice.
The first 100m or so from the lift is a traverse, trying to keep height and slow a fight between trying to slide and yet not loose height, feeding the edge I like to think of it. Immediately the board feels good on the edge, but stiff torsionally and definitely wider in the nose compared to my usual rides and I have to adjust a little, I can also immediately feel the extra sidecut and arc in the rear, the traverse is like a balance of easing the long entry side cut in the nose down and edging into the sharper arc in the rear to cut back up, it feels easy and it works, my foot movements are smaller than normal, interesting!
Now I’m riding, a few turns on the piste, feeling out the edge, the width the sidecut, small turns to assess the flex, so different from my other boards, so different.
I start to work the front, flex the back, the board gives back, the edge sharp and true. I gain speed, bigger turns, feels stiff so I move for and aft more and bang it drives the turn, Ahh, this is what I’ve been missing from my riding, the ability to push and drive the board without having to constantly balance and back off.
With each new run, each new turn I’m curious as to what I can do with the board. We take a few warm up runs on the pisted trails, probably spend a little longer on the pistes than I normally might, its the morning and they’re groomed nice and the snow is firm, perfect for carving. By now, the board is feeling good and I’m gaining speed and pushing hard. The edge holds firm and the turn shape feels amazing and I know I’m not going to be heading back to the van to change back to my regular board.
Lann Proto types in various stages of completion, the Black board pictured here is now my go to ride whilst Gromm wouldn’t give the white board back after his first test!
I’m still a sceptic, I’m still waiting to find the limits of what we’ve built here, I’m still waiting for that ‘Ah I see now, that’s why nobody does this’ moment but 2 seasons in and a couple of prototypes later, Phill delivered my perfect ride and with it I’m simply trying to carve harder, sharper and faster than I ever have before whilst searching out the limits of the board, whilst infact the limits seem only to be my leg power and ability to drive the board harder and deeper on the edge. This board is as fun to ride on hard pack as it is to ride in deep powder, riding the piste I’m often searching out the firmest, almost icy, banks to see how much I can get the edge to grip and cut, whilst in the pow, the short tail drops in balance with the large volume nose and the board challenges me to slash deeper, ride faster and harder than I ever have before.
It feels strange, it makes me realise that I’ve been holding my progression back for quite a few years, learning to ride boards that I have had to find a balance between push and absorb in the turn, where now I feel that I can just crank the edge and just push.
I’m still always waiting for that ‘Ah, that is why’ moment, I’m still waiting for the limits to show themselves and unfortunately it is in my nature to be sceptical of anything that I do, to try to find criticism and weakness, but maybe that is what also makes me strive to be better both in myself and now in the boards that I ride.
Only time will tell, but for now I can hardly wait to get back out on that Black top Lann 162 that Phill made me last season!
I feel like I can now just push harder and ride smoother and faster with more flow… I realize I’ve been holding back, trying to balance between push and absorb, rather than just being able to apply maximum power through the turn.