YES Pick Your Line Review

Hello and welcome to my YES Pick Your Line Review.

In this review I will take a look at the Pick Your Line as a Freeride snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Pick Your Line a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and also see how it compares with other Freeride snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: YES Pick Your Line

Price: $599 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: Medium-Stiff (7/10 on YES’s flex scale)

Flex Feel: Medium-Stiff (7.5/10)

Rating Score: 91.8/100

Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards

Out of the 36 Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Pick Your Line is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: YES Pick Your Line 2019, 159cm, 253mm waist width

Date: March 14, 2018

Conditions: Raining at bottom snowing from half way up to top . Good snow up top. Visibility actually OK. A good 4-5cm fresh up top. Some powder to play in.

Bindings angles: +18/-6

Stance width: 570mm (22.4”)

Stance Setback: 10mm (0.4″)

Width at Inserts: 260mm (10.2″) at the back insert and 263mm (10.4″) at the front insert

Weight: 2900grams (6lb 6oz)

Weight per cm: 18.24grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.21grams/cm*

*based on a small sample size of 24 boards that I weighed. So pretty much bang on the average of the boards I weighed.

Powder

Even though the setback on the PYL is only 10mm, it still has great float in powder.

And that’s not a big surprise, given that, whilst it’s only setback 10mm on the effective edge, the nose is considerably longer than the tail. So where you sit on the board is a good bit further back, when in powder. Set up on the reference stance I had 54cm to the nose from my front binding and 48mm to the tail from my back binding.

That plus a reasonable amount of taper and more rocker in the nose than the tail, all help this board to float well in the deep stuff.

Carving

The Pick Your Line is a fun, fast, aggressive board to wield. You can lay down big carves on it, but at the same time you can actually slow it up a bit and it’s surprisingly agile and quick edge-to-edge.

And that maneuverability made this board super fun in trees – something that not all freeride boards are.

It’s also got great edge-hold in hard/icy patches. I didn’t have any of those for the 2019 model, but I did when I rode the 2017 model.

This is one of one of the most fun boards I’ve ridden for turning and carving on – it’s on of those boards that can just instantly make me a better carver. Just gave me heaps of confidence to lay into carves.

Learn more about the Pick Your Line in the Video Below

Speed

This board just feels so good at speed. It bombs!

Feels really stable at speed and felt so comfortable really opening out, even on chopped up snow. Really good and confidence inspiring on steeps too.

Uneven Terrain

Surprisingly good in uneven terrain. I don’t usually like stiffer boards in messy snow but this board just creamed it. Felt confident to bomb and carve even in messy, chopped up snow and felt good through undulating terrain.

Jumps

At risk of over using the term “surprisingly good”, this board jumps really well for a freeride board. Again, I’m don’t often love jumping with freeride boards, but the PYL is better than most. It’s stable on approach and landings, like most freeride boards, but what I liked more was that it had the maneuverability to find trickier side-hits that I would often skip with other freeride/stiffer boards.

Not great for spins though and especially not if you’re wanting to land or take off switch.

And it’s got good pop, but you do need to put in a bit of effort to extract that pop. When you do, it is there.

Switch

Switch is doable on this board, but not natural. I’ve ridden worse though – and the fact that it’s only setback 10mm on the effective edge helps for riding switch on the groomers. Worse for riding switch in pow though.

Changes from the 2020 Model

The 2021 model looks to be exactly the same as the 2020 model, even the graphic.

Changes from the 2019 Model

The 2020 model looks to be exactly the same as the 2019 model, except for the graphic.

They have also brought in a new size – 164W – which might open this up to some that couldn’t find the right size previously.

Changes from the 2018 Model

Apart from the graphic, the 2019 model is the exactly the same as the 2018 model, as far as I can tell.

Changes from the 2017 Model

The 2018 model is mildly stiffer than the 2017 model but subtly so – this was already a quite stiff board. The reference stance has also been narrowed – as it has on a lot of YES boards.

Changes from the 2016 Model

The 2016 model changed quite a bit from the 2015 model and the 2017 model has also had some tweaks. The 2015 model was actually quite decent at riding switch and was a little less directional.

But the 2016 changed to be a more pure freeride deck and brought in that Tapered Underbite tech. I personally think it was an improvement.

Hello and welcome to my YES Pick Your Line Review.

In this review I will take a look at the Pick Your Line 2017 model as a Freeride snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Pick Your Line a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and also see how it compares with other Freeride snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: YES Pick Your Line

Price: $599 (USD recommended retail)

Style: Freeride

Flex Rating: Stiff (4.5/5 on YES’s flex scale)

Flex Feel: Stiff (8/10)

Rating Score: 91.8/100

Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards

Out of all the Men’s Freeride snowboards that I rated:

• I looked at 20 different Men’s Freeride boards
• The average price was $599 (USD)
• The average score was 82.1/100
• The highest score was 91.8/100
• The lowest score was 57.1/100
• The Pick Your Line ranked 1st out of 20!

Overview of the Pick Your Line’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Pick Your Line’s specs and available sizes in the charts below.

Specs

Sizing

Who is the Pick Your Line Most Suited to?

This board is for anyone who wants to adventure and explore the backcountry – and rip it up on the groomers when the powder’s not around – but it’s in the powder that this board really comes into its own.

For anyone who needs a board that is fast, stable at speed, a great carver and performs brilliantly in powder – the Pick Your Line is a great choice.

Definitely not for the park and not for the beginner or intermediate rider.

The Pick Your Line in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Pick Your Line is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: YES Pick Your Line 2017, 159cm, 253mm waist width

Date: Tuesday March 30^th

Conditions: Groomed on piste – hard packed but slushy especially in the afternoon. Icy patches in spots particularly in the morning. Mostly slushy conditions on groomers and off the trails. Very slow conditions in general (bar the occasional icy spots) – cascade concrete for sure. Which made it a point and shoot day in order to keep up speed. But there was plenty of slush to float over.

Bindings angles: +18/+3

Powder

Had terrific float in the slush. You could really just point and shoot this board and it floated over effortlessly.

And that’s not really a surprise given the boards specs – a hybrid camber profile (great for powder with the rocker sections tip and tail) and a 25mm setback stance.

Carving

The Pick Your Line was a fun, fast, aggressive board to wield. You really feel like you are wielding this thing – and like a large sword it is harder to control until you’ve built up the strength to control it and the technique to control it – but once you do you have a more powerful weapon.

You really feel like you have a powerful weapon under your feet with this deck. Opened out into a carve like the best of them.

In the icy patches I encountered in the shady spots it held an edge really well – better than most boards I’ve had to deal with ice on. Part of that is down to the underbite edge tech that YES now uses on their boards.

In terms of flex, YES say this is a 4.5/5 (which in my mind translates to a 9/10) but I would say it’s more of an 8/10.

The board isn’t technically tapered, even though I’ve said it’s tapered directional. They use gradually tapered sections in the side-cut, instead of just pinching in the tail. This helps to stop that washy feel you can get with a tapered board, which part of the reason why it’s so good on hard and icy snow as well as in powder.

Learn more about the Pick Your Line in the Video Below

Speed

This is a really fast deck. Even though I had very slow cascade concrete conditions on the day it was still fast – and I was very thankful to have a fast deck that day.

It has a sintered base which is nice and quick – so long as you keep it well waxed. The directional shape and stiff flex help to make this deck quick too.

Uneven Terrain

Too stiff to really hug the bumps so you want to just fly over them. You really want powder or groomed hardpack with this board so when you get that you won’t have to worry too much about it.

That said, it didn’t feel too bad in the bumpy stuff.

Jumps

It’s the kind of deck that’s designed to grip and lock into the snow – not leave it. But it actually jumps pretty well and landings felt pretty stable.

Of course this is great to have, not so much for jumps in the park, but for popping over lips and the likes.

Switch

Switch was possible but felt unnatural and weird – not what it’s made for and not something I did a lot on it!

Changes from the 2017 Model

The 2018 model is mildly stiffer than the 2017 model but subtly so – this was already a rather stiff board. The reference stance has also been narrowed – as it has on a lot of YES boards.

Changes from the 2016 Model

The 2016 model changed quite a bit from the 2015 model and the 2017 model has also had some tweaks. The 2015 model was actually quite decent at riding switch and was a little less directional.

But the 2016 changed to be a more pure freeride deck and brought in that Tapered Underbite tech. I personally think it was an improvement. The 2017 hasn’t changed as much as from 2016-17 but the setback has changed from 10mm to 25mm making it just that bit better at floating in powder.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Pick Your Line is a great choice for those that want a board that rips it up when they’re in the powder but also if you want to still be able to have a blast when riding it on the groomers when the powder isn’t around. It’s one of the better free-ride boards I’ve ridden for groomer riding.

Of course freeride boards, in my opinion, should also be good at carving on groomers (or they’d be a powder board in my books) but the PYL just does it that little bit better than others.