Korua Elevator Splitboard Review

Who is the Korua Elevator Split For?
Korua’s founders Nicholas Wolken and Stephan Maurer were already in their 30s when the brand started, and specifically set out to build boards aimed at riders their age and above. The concept was inspired in part by a trip to Japan, where they were wowed by the homegrown, snow surf culture, with its emphasis on carving (both on piste and off) as opposed to conventional freestyle.

All Korua boards are built primarily for turning, and the Elevator Splitboard is no exception. What sets this apart is that it’s been shaped not just for the descent, but for the climbs too. An evolution of the brand’s Escalator splitboard, it’s super lightweight. (The 162cm version weighs just 2.6kg, almost a full kilo lighter than the Korua Dart splitboard, for example). It also features a sidecut designed to make the split skis easier to handle on the climbs.
If you’re someone who spends long days in the backcountry and values climbing efficiency—or even if you’re just sick of falling behind your mates on touring skis—then the Elevator split is for you.

Shape, Profile and Sidecut
The notches at the tip and tail and the holes for the z-hook skins (sold separately) are the most obviously distinctive features of the Korua Elevator Split. The nose notch, lined with metal on the base, helps the board handle more like skis on the climb and prevents the sharp corners from snagging, while the tail notch acts like a miniature swallowtail. The z-hook skin holes, meanwhile, make getting your skins on and off easier. As handy as all of these are, it’s the less obvious features of the board’s shape that really make a difference to how it behaves.

The sidecut is shallow, with a lengthy, 9.4m average radius on the 162 that we tested—over a metre longer than the average radius on a “normal” board, like a Burton Custom, of the same length. What this means in practice is that the board favours long carves, making it perfect for hooning it down open faces or straight-lining couloirs.

The shallow sidecut also helps when you’re skinning back up, allowing the split skis to handle more like, well, skis. They grip better on icy skin tracks, and help you feel more confident on sketchy, steep kick turns.

There’s a significant taper to the shape, with the nose a full 20mm wider than the tail. This helps the nose float and the tail stay down in deep snow, and like most splitboards, it’s directional, with a 35mm setback stance, which helps to reduce the dreaded back leg burn further. The profile features classic camber between the bindings, and a rockered rise towards that big, floaty nose.

Construction & Materials

The Elevator split features the same Paulownia/Poplar wood, lightweight core featured on many Korua models, and the brand’s fast, ‘Perlatech’ sintered base. But there are a couple of clever little split-specific additions that set it apart.

One is the use of a hybrid carbon construction in the glass-fibre layers around the base, which helps keep the weight down. The other is the brand’s new, snow-repellant topsheet, designed to stop heavy, wet snow sticking and adding extra weight while you climb.

The Union Pro Splitboard Clips holding it together are a relatively new model from the Italian binding brand, and feel solid.

Roundup

The Elevator clearly represents a step forward for Korua’s splitboard line. Rather than taking an existing shape and sawing it down the middle, they’ve thought through every element, and it shows, both on the climbs and the descents

If you’re looking for a split that’ll do super-deep days cutting between tight trees (in British Columbia, or Japan, for example)) then other models, with tighter sidecuts, may be better suited. But if you’re splitboarding in the Alps, or really anywhere that boasts high-alpine terrain, this is the dog’s bollocks.  

Pros 

Carves like a dream on the downhills, floats like a boat in powder, and handles ice and crud with aplomb. On the uphills, the lightweight materials and split-specific sidecut and shape make a discernible difference. 

Cons

It’s not cheap, for starters. And while it’s perfectly capable of handling all conditions, it’s clearly optimised for open alpine touring over long distances. So if all you’re likely to be doing is short split laps through tight trees, you may be better off looking elsewhere.

Tester’s Verdict 2024/25

Tristan Kennedy, former Whitelines deputy editor

​

Size: 162

“I’ve owned a Korua board—an early model called the Puzzle—for about 10 years, and have ridden it on some of my best-ever days in the backcountry. I wouldn’t call myself a total stan, but I like what I’ve seen of the brand and the products they’ve put out in the years since. So I definitely came into this test expecting to enjoy their latest splitboard offering, and I wasn’t disappointed.

What I wasn’t expecting was how different it would feel to the Puzzle. The pair share a similar tapered shape, but you could feel the longer sidecut on the Elevator split straight away—its ‘natural’ turn radius was much longer, making it feel super comfortable on wide, sweeping turns.

The first time I rode this was on a heliski day in the Accursed Mountains of Albania (I know, I’m a lucky bugger, not all Whitelines test days are like that!). We had about 50cm of deep, fresh snow, but there were wind-scoured patches, so you had to be on your guard. The Elevator handled both the scratchy surfaces and the soft powder easily, feeling solid underfoot in a way I wasn’t expecting for a lightweight board.

While I didn’t use it in split mode that day (for obvious reasons) I’ve subsequently taken it out several times on a backcountry run I regularly ride in my ‘home’ resort of Passo Tonale, Italy. It climbs beautifully, handling ice with ease, and makes kick turns feel easy.

This is the first board I’ve ridden with Union Pro Splitboard clips, which felt solid on the downhills and were straightforward to manipulate on the changeovers. And I really liked the pre-cut z-hook skins—made by Austrian brand Kohla—that Korua sent over with it.

I’d say this board would suit riders who are serious about the uphills, and anyone who spends a lot of time touring in the Alps.”

Rating: 10/10

Header Photo : Aaron Scwartz