UPDATE: Check out our review of the 2018/2019 YES Greats here
- Price: £435
- Sizes: 152, 154, 156, 158
- Flex: 8
- Profile: Hybrid Camber
- Shape: Asymmetric Twin
- YESNOWBOARD.COM
It’s always been one of the highlights of the year to see who YES have chosen to honour with the latest incarnation of the YES Greats. Whether it’s for Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe or Noah Salasnek, their topsheet tributes always make this one of the winter’s most talked-about boards. This time, the snake is eating its own tail; Romain Di Marchi, DCP and JP Solberg are proclaiming that they’re “still UnInc”, and have paid graphical homage to the anything-goes collective of which they were key members while still at Burton.
The Yes Greats features an asymmetrical design, which this year has been made stiffer on the heels to extra carbon. It therefore has an asymmetrical flex, which YES reckon will perfectly compliment the different sizes of sidecut (for those unfamiliar with asym boards, the heel edge radius is shorter and deeper than the one on the toes, to better match your body’s mechanics).
“The asym sidecuts make even simple turns a joy, and the high-quality sintered base rockets over everything”
While that might sound like something best suited for a carver, the Greats is first and foremost a freestyle board. The mostly-poplar core is enhanced with both bamboo and paulownia, increasing its pop and lowering the overall weight. The profile is definitely park-friendly too; with rocker sections at each end that make it easier to press, while the camber between the feet comes in handy on park kickers and in the pipe.
Not that you can’t enjoy it on the pistes or in the pow, of course; the asym sidecuts make even simple turns a joy, and the high-quality sintered base rockets over everything. Those who couldn’t care less about tricks should perhaps choose something else, but park fiends may find that the YES YES Greats is the perfect weapon with which to explore other parts of the mountain when the lines are closed.
It’s unlikely the YES brand would ever have surfaced if it weren’t for the UnInc years, so it makes sense that they’d tip the cap in this way eventually. We’ll have to wait a while to see how they follow this, but until then enjoy the YES Greats in all its hoggy glory.
