CAPiTA Ultrafear Snowboard 26/27

Common Questions

Is the CAPiTA Ultrafear softer than the D.O.A.?

Not on paper. CAPiTA rates both boards Twin 5.5 on its own 1-10 scale, and they also share a core, a laminate, a camber profile and a centered true-twin shape. What differs is the additive: the Ultrafear gets a 1.5 mm cork band and the D.O.A. gets 2 integrated carbon fiber beams. Two independent riders, a generation apart, do report the Ultrafear feeling softer on snow than its rating - one lists that as an explicit finding - and PTO's read is that cork damps where carbon stiffens. That is a real and useful thing to know, and it is a different statement from 'it is the softer board', which it is not.

Ultrafear or Pathfinder for jibbing?

Ask what kind of jibber you are, because CAPiTA builds two kinds of jib board and its own 26/27 catalog gives the 'LEGENDARY JIB MACHINE' label to the Pathfinder - the cheaper one, at $449.95. The Pathfinder is Twin 4, reverse-cambered and carries no additive: it is soft, catch-free and forgives a bad landing, which is what a rider learning rails needs. The Ultrafear is Twin 5.5, cambered and armored with a full-length cork edge band: it has pop, it locks onto a rail, and it is built to survive the abuse. PTO holds This routing is read off CAPiTA's own specs and its own label - not off how it rides.

Ultrafear or D.O.A.?

The D.O.A. is $599.95, $50 more, and the flex is not the difference - both are Twin 5.5, on the same core, the same glass and the same camber. Three things change. The D.O.A. gets 2 integrated carbon fiber beams where the Ultrafear gets its cork band; it gets a Blended Radial sidecut with tuned blend zones at the contact points, where the Ultrafear gets a single plain arc; and it gets a higher-density Quantum Drive base - also sintruded, but the faster of the two - which CAPiTA's own catalog ranks above the Ultrafear's SuperDrive for speed. It also runs to 164 where the Ultrafear stops at 157. Rails, boxes and a board that survives them: Ultrafear. Edge hold on firm snow, speed, whole-resort duty, or a rider over about 190 lb: D.O.A.

Do I need the Ultrafear Wide?

Your boot decides, and on this board nothing else can. CAPiTA's boot column runs the standard 153, 155 and 157 to a US Men 8-10, and starts every Wide at US 10+, so a US 10.5 and up wants the Wide. The catch is that the Wide run - 153W, 155W and 157W - has no length of its own: 153, 155 and 157 all exist as standard boards too, at the same $549.95, so the number tells you nothing and only the style code does (21040301 standard, 21040401 Wide). The Wide is a pure width change: same effective edge, same sidecut radius, same reference stance, 1.0 cm more waist. PTO stocks four of CAPiTA's five standard lengths - the 149 is the one we skip - plus a single Wide, the 157W.

Is the Ultrafear any good on ice or for carving?

No, and the parts list says why before any tester does. It runs a plain Radial sidecut - a single arc from contact point to contact point - and CAPiTA gives it no Death Grip and no blend zones at all, which makes it the simplest edge geometry in CAPiTA's park line. A rider who had ridden both this board and the D.O.A. reached the same conclusion from the snow: it 'doesn't carve so well on ice or rutted-out terrain' because 'it doesn't have any extra technology built into its edges to help it gain traction'. Carving is a bottom-three mark on the sheets that score it. If your home hill is firm, look at the D.O.A. or at the Indoor Survival, which is the freestyle board CAPiTA gives Death Grip.

Does the Ultrafear have metal or carbon in it?

No metal. Its additive is cork - a 1.5 mm band running the full contact length, seated at the seam where the steel edge meets the ABS sidewall. The titanal belongs to the Indoor Survival, and any claim that the Ultrafear carries a titanal plate is describing a different board. There is carbon in it, but not as an additive: it is woven into the Hybrid Carbon HolySheet BI/BI laminate itself, which is the same glass CAPiTA uses on the D.O.A. The carbon beams are the D.O.A.'s.

Is the 26/27 Ultrafear the same board as last year?

Yes. Every construction row, all eight sizes and the $549.95 price match the previous generation; the graphic is what changed. One warning about the reviews you will find, though: CAPiTA's catalog page still describes the board as reshaped, with all-new tech, and that language is a year old - the reshape landed on the previous model year. So reviews of the current board describe what we sell, but a great deal of Ultrafear content online was written about the shape this one replaced, including the most rigorously scored test of it in existence.