For my money The Wave in Roseville blows away all the other places in Sacramento. The staff take their time and are helpful. Talking to the staff there you feel as if they're explaining their view point and applying it to your needs. Other places that I've been make me feel like I'm buying a used car, or they simply don't care.

The Wave has the largest selection of snowboards and accessories around. All of the products on their shelves are quality items. The line of snowboards they sell are all top quality because of their philosophy "If I won't ride it, I won't sell it."

I'm not saying that The Wave is the only place you should buy from, or that you shouldn't shop around. The Wave is there to make money, but if you only have time to go one place The Wave is your best bet.

The design includes a front zipper pocket that is the size of the bag. Inside the bag is a velcro pouch that was made to carry a Camelbak 70 oz. water bag. Da Kine and snowboard shops that sell the Heli Pack do not carry the Camelbak water bags. They have to be purchased separately from a speciality shop like REI. And they're not cheap!

The harness system rivals that of the North Face packs. It's that good. The back has support and all the straps are adjustable. There are several little accessories that make this pack so functional, without any extra shit to make it look better, but add wieght or bulk.

There are three things that I would change. The first being the shape of the pack should be more contoured to the body shape with the widest part being low and narrowing towards the top. The only other improvement that Da Kine could make would be to include webbing to hold a water bottle or radio. The last design change Da Kine should have made is to include webbing or gear that can be attached to the Heli Pack to make carrying a snowboard easier.

In summary, if you want a pack for half-day type of uses buy this one. Since it's the only pack that I've seen design specifically for helicopter snowboarding it's the best of it's kind by default. But that doesn't mean that the Da Kine didn't make a good pack, beacuse they did.

© 1997 Sierra Powder /NorCal Snowboarding