Debuting next year for their 2012 product line, the Capita Totally FK’N Awesome is an all mountain, quiver killing snowboard that promises to be rideable in all conditions all over the mountain. The Totally FK’N Awesome lives up to its name; this board is at home in all conditions, from icy steeps to park booters.
The Totally FK’N Awesome can be described as the little brother to the Black Snowboard of Death, Capita’s flagship freeride board. The Totally FK’N Awesome is softer and retains a more twinish shape than the Black Snowboard of Death while maintaining the Capita’s freeride flatkick, a hybrid camber. This hybrid camber places camber between the feet, and slightly rockered tips past the bindings. The shape is a directional twin- it is made of a twin sidecut and directional core with an inch setback on the reference stance. This means the sidecut, or the curve of the board that affects how it turns, is symmetrical over the middle of the board. While riding, this translates into a board that is confortable to ride regular or switch. The directional core means that although the shape of the board is almost symmetrical, the flex in the nose in tail are different. In the Totally FK’N Awesome, this means that the softer nose is forgiving, but the stiff tail allows for more snap out of turns. The reference stance, or the recommended placement for bindings, has a one inch setback. This gives the board one more inch in the nose than in the tail. This lets the nose float through choppy snow and powder, and keeps the tail turning down the mountain.
So far, I have put about five days on my 159cm Totally FK’N Awesome, and it has left me impressed. As a Southern California snowboarder, my pursuits of snow often leave me in many different shred situations. I rode the Totally FK’N Awesome through slush, scraped off ice, and deep days old wet powder. Throughout all of this, the Totally FK’N Awesome more than held its own.
My first turns with the Totally FK’N Awesome were scary. I had trouble getting the elevated contact points to fully carve in the snow, and I felt like I was sliding around more than turning. After about five turns, I gained control and was soon confident. The board was easy to get used to, and once I did it felt natural.
On slushy mountain high groomers, the Totally FK’N Awesome surprised me. On the large moguls that form in warm snow from high traffic, I used to have to go slow and still risk danger of getting bounced around. With the Totally FK’N Awesome, I sped down the mountain freely, as the damping of the board absorbed the shock form small bumps in the snow. As I grew more confident, I was using the small moguls as platforms for ollies, and I soon looked for natural features to use as jumps. The Totally FK’N Awesome did take some time for me to get the ollies down though; the elevated contact points made the board hard to control while flat-basing, and I had trouble finding the pop. Compared to traditional camber, I could not just lean back, weight the tail, and explode. With Capita’s hybrid camber, I had to make the pop a more fluid motion- instead of weighting the tail I slapped it down while lifting my front foot, similar to skating. Once I had the pop down, I found that the Totally FK’N Awesome has similar boost to a cambered board, and does not suffer from the lack of pop like other reverse cambered boards.
What impressed me most about the Totally FK’N Awesome was its stability and grip. On a particularly icy day on Cornice Bowl, I dropped and made my first turn- a deep toe side carves. I did not expect the snow to be so scraped off, and as I began my turn I was ready to fall. However, I kept the edge tight, and I managed to make the turn. I was completely surprised that I was able to hold such a critical turn on such a board. The Totally FK’N Awesome is not just a playful all mountain destroyer, it can rip the mountain as well.
When I finally got the Totally FK’N Awesome into some decent snow, the board floated through day old sunbaked Mountain High powder beautifully. With the Totally FK’N Awesome I descended into tree deep tree runs that I previously did not think were makeable. With the Totally FK’N Awesome, I loved the float that the reverse camber and setback gave, but the best part was still having a tail to pop off of and to land on.
Overall, the Totally FK’N Awesome has led me to be a much better rider. The 2012 Capita Totally FK’N Awesome is the epitome of a quiver killing snowboard. It has the pop and playfulness to play with through the park and flats, but when things get steep, deep, and critical, the Totally FK’N Awesome charges the mountain without skipping a beat.
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