YES Hel Yes Snowboard Review

Who is the Hel Yes Most Suited To?

The Hel Yes is best suited to anyone who likes to do a bit of everything and go everywhere, but wants to do all of it on one board and not have to have a quiver of boards. 

But could just as well be used as a groomer only board, if that's your thing. It's super versatile. 

Not for beginners but well suited to intermediate and up. 

Bindings angles: +15/-12

Stance width: 510mm (20.1″)

Stance Setback: Setback 10mm

Width at Inserts: 248mm (9.8") at front insert and 250mm (9.9") 

Weight: 2500g (5lbs, 8oz)

Weight per cm: 16.78g/cm

Average Weight per cm: 17.29 grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of around 30 women's boards that I've weighed in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 models. The Hel Yes is lighter than normal and that could be felt on snow. Didn't feel ultralight or anything, but a little lighter than normal. 

Tester: Jade

Rider Height: 5"7" (170cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (59kg)

Rider Boot Size: Women's US6.5 Thirty Two Exit

Bindings Used: Burton Lexa, Medium 

Powder

We got a little bit of powder to test in which was great. It wasn't epic, waist deep powder or anything, but enough to get a feel. Based on that feel and looking at specs, the Hel Yes is a board that can handle powder fairly well. Certainly above average but not something that's going to match it with more specialized powder boards, naturally. 

It's got a small setback stance and a directional twin shape plus rocker in the nose and tail, all help. But it's not setback a long way - and there's no taper or anything.  

Carving

The Hel Yes is very capable on a carve. And it belies its flex and profile in some ways. It rails carves like it's a stiffer, more camber dominant board. But because there is that rocker and because it's not super stiff, it's also very capable at slashing turns at slower speeds as well. 

Turning

Ease of Turns/Slashing: As mentioned above, the Hel Yes has a great balance between being able to rail higher speed carves, but at the same time is something that you can happily slow down with and slash around when you want to. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Really good maneuverability at slower speeds. Not up there with the quickest edge-to-edge at slow speeds, but still really decent - and when you couple that with how well it rides at moderately fast speeds, it strikes a really good balance. 

Skidded Turns: Pretty easy to skid turns on. Jade didn't find it felt catchy at all.

Speed

Whilst it's never going to be an out and out bomber at its flex, it handled good amounts of speed really well. Felt stable at most speeds and got up to speed fairly well too.

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: It wasn't bucked around super easy, but it could bucked around when the snow was really churned up. But it was pretty easy to correct when that did happen. 

Bumps/Trees: Pretty quick edge-to-edge, so it weaved between bumps and trees well. And hugged bumps well too. 

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Overall the Hel Yes performed well on jumps.

Pop: There's not oodles of it there. But there is a good amount that's easy access. And then when you wind it up you get a bit more. But overall it's not epic pop, but not lacking pop either. 

Approach: Was a good mix of stable but also maneuverable, so that you could make adjustments to speed or line when necessary.

Landing: Solid when you need it to be and forgiving when you need it to be - when you get the landing a little wrong. 

Side-hits: Good maneuverability and enough easy access pop - as well as being able to handle less than ideal approaches and landings. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Medium jumps is its sweet spot, but can handle smaller and larger jumps as well. 

Switch

It's pretty good riding switch. It's not exactly the same in both directions, but feels pretty natural. Transitioning to switch was fine too. 

Spins

Pretty good setting up and landing switch, decent enough pop and overall felt pretty easy to get the spin around. Thanks in part to it being light. 

Jibbing

It's not the ideal jib board. But it held its own OK and if you're an experienced jibber should be fine on it. 

Butters

As is the case with a lot of YES boards, pressing the nose and tail feels easier than you think it's going to, given the overall flex of the board. Quite easy to press and lock into that press once you're there. 

Overall, the Hel Yes is one of those boards that just doesn't let you down wherever you take it and whatever you throw at. It's really the definition of do-it-all and probably the best out there at doing it. 

The ultimate one-board-quiver for riders who like to do a bit of everything.