- Price: £499 / €559 / $650
- Category: All-Mountain, Freeride/Powder
- Ability Level: Intermediate, Advanced
- Size: 154
- Flex: 7.5/10
- Shape: Directional
- Profile: Directional CamRock
- Base: Sintered
- BUY DIRECT FROM BOREALIS
It’s no secret just how much we bloody love this snowboard. The Marauder was the 2019/20 curveball that earned a place in the Whitelines 100 on its debut season. For those who missed out on the hype, fear not. Borealis have kept it on a two-season cycle, meaning the exact same board is available this winter, too. The tiger shark inspired, all-mountain freeride snowboard is hungry to sink its tail into some freshies, and bite hard into the groomers.
Currently, the Marauder only comes in a 154 size (hey, Borealis, you reading this? We want more!) but it strikes a happy medium for larger footed fellas right down to more confident female shredders. As is the trend with many snowboards these days, the volume is shifted from its length into a more compact outline, while increasing the waist width to a pretty sizeable 272mm. Combined with it’s tapered shape, fishtail backend and the long, progressive nose rocker, it’s a no brainer just how effortlessly it floats in powder.
“It strikes a happy medium for larger footed fellas right down to more confident female shredders”
While the Marauder’s performance in Hokkaido’s powder fields or Europe’s back bowls was never in doubt, where it turned up to surprise us was just how well it operates as a daily driver. The boffins at Borealis put their heads together and came up with a solution to keep the Marauder performing on hardpack days and spring slush laps, not just those epic blower mornings.
There’s a combination of carbon and Kevlar stringers running for the length of the board along the sidewalls and a central stringer that runs from the end of nose to the front inserts. For such a directional snowboard, this helps to keep the inevitable chatter to a minimum and allows the edge to engage more effectively and rail your carves.
Moreover, there’s the addition of the Carbon Power Beams, configured in an ‘X’ formation in the around the rear inserts which magnify the snap and power you get from the directional Blizzard Camber profile and create that surfy, back foot drive you can crank up on the pistes or in the pow.
“It’s a snowboard that delivers well beyond the sum of all its parts and will surpass expectations virtually every day of the season”
Of course, there’s all the bells, whistles and eco-credentials you’d expect from a brand like Borealis too: a lightning-fast nano sintered base, triax laminates, a sustainably sourced wood core and Greenpoxy bio-resins.
It’s easy to wax lyrical about this one, but it shouldn’t take a breakdown the tech ‘n’ spec for most riders to appreciate the stoke inducing good times on offer here. It’s a snowboard that delivers well beyond the sum of all its parts and will surpass expectations virtually every day of the season.
