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Korua Escalator Split Plus 2021-2022 Splitboard Review

Tested and selected for our top 100 snowboard products of the year: the Korua Escalator Split Plus

  • Price: €999
  • Category: Splitboard
  • Sizes: 152, 157, 162
  • Flex: 8/10
  • Shape: Directional
  • Profile: Setback Camber
  • 3D: No
  • Base: Sintered

Why we chose the Korua Escalator Splitboard Plus: A super light-weight splitboard that’s focussed on earning your turns as much as yearning for them.

While the other splitboards in KORUA’s fleet have been brought directly across from the solid lines, the Escalator is their first split-specific shape that’s been built purely for time spent on the skin track. It’s the board that KORUA’s head honcho Nicholas Wolken uses for most of his backcountry objectives – be it a multiday objective deep in the Swiss Alps or a fast and light dawn-til-dusk-day mission.

“As far as carbon injected snowboards go, this one’s pretty rideable for intermediates and up”

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KORUASHAPES.COM

Who Is The Korua Escalator Split For?

As far as carbon injected snowboards go, this one’s pretty rideable for intermediates and up. But as is the nature of the Plus Line, the Escalator is made with the lightest, most responsive and fastest materials at KORUA’s disposal. Naturally, then, the price jumps up a bit too. Riders who are going for the occasional yomp outside the resort ropes or investing in their first split will have more than enough to keep them frothing in the Classic Line. This one is targeted at those who are looking to shave minutes off their ascents and add several km/h to their descents.

Shape, Profile and Sidecut

It retains many of the features that give KORUA their mantra of ‘Made For Turning’, such as a directional outline, a lightning-fast sintered base, and that iconic understated design. Things break from the norm when you pull out the measuring tape, though. Most noticeably, it has a narrower waist width than many of their other shapes, and the taper is far less pronounced. Both of these factors have real benefits on the ascent thanks to thinner ‘skis’ to break trail with and more effective grip along the edge when you’re making a hairy traverse with no margin for error.

Thankfully, the way back down still has many of the hallmarks of the KORUA turning experience. The Float Camber features a long rockered section in the nose designed to keep you gliding on top of the snow, but ample camber through the mid-body of the board for a confidence-inspiring ride in more challenging conditions.

“This one is targeted at those who are looking to shave minutes off their ascents and add several km/h to their descents”

Construction and Materials

The core feels impossibly light, but it’s reinforced with a multiaxial carbon weave throughout to keep the response levels dialled up. Even the edges are a little thinner to further reduce the weight.

Perhaps one of the most innovative features is the topsheet constructed from base material, allowing you to wax your topsheet according to the local conditions that day and prevent snow from building up and weighing you down on the ascents. Pretty smart stuff.

The mounting points have also been designed to let you put on and remove the skins when the Escalator is still connected in ride mode. So if you find yourself in a precarious, windy and exposed transition zone, life should be a little easier thanks to that. That notch that’s cut out in the nose of the board? That helps to reduce the friction or likelihood of snagging up at the front when you’re in hike mode. Every detail really has been considered with the Escalator Split Plus, and it shows at every stage of your day out in the backcountry.

“The core feels impossibly light, but it’s reinforced with a multiaxial carbon weave throughout to keep the response levels dialled up”

Roundup

Of course, you can talk about weight reductions, skinning efficiencies and countless dimensions that all go into making a quality operator in the backcountry, but the bottom line is that the Escalator Split Plus also absolutely rips on the way back down. It carves about as well as any solid from KORUA’s line and delivers in a huge variety of conditions. We all want to reach the summit faster, obviously, but only so we can enjoy even more turns on a day out. This is a splitboard that squeezes every drop of potential out of the ups and downs. The end result is pretty sublime.

Trade Secrets

Geoff Brinkhaus – Marketing and Media, Korua Shapes

“The name “Escalator” was actually the working title during the conceptualization & design process of this board, and it fit so well once the shape came to life that it just stuck… so the name “Escalator” was there before the actual board.”

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