The 2023 Nerd Relic Snowboard Review

Board: Nerd Relic

Size: 151

Camber Option: Directional camrocker. Rocker in the nose and camber under foot.

Bindings: Rome Black Label

Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy

Boots: K2 Thraxis

My Weight: 200lbs

Resort: Copper Mountain

Conditions: Sunny bluebird skies, average temps, zero wind, 3 to 5 inches of fresh snow, perfect corduroy, heavy left over powder, chop, chunder, and icy crap.

Flex: Full directional ever so slightly below middle of the road flex. You get more flex in the nose which is accentuated by the rocker then it stiffens up from just outside the front insert pack back to the tail. There’s a clear defined flex point in the dead center of the board as well which helps with the drive. The torsional flex is highly abundant.

Stability: With the wider shape it gives some stability. What you have to know is this board is lively. The nose flaps at high speed and that reverberates back under the front foot. The middle of the board does a better job but a lot of that is due in part to the camber profile. The most stable section of the board is right in front of the back inserts through to the tail.

Ollies/Pop: The camber profile is easy to engage, almost too easy. This gives it a skate-like pop that you don’t have to preload aggressively to get it to snap. The downside of this board is the flex can be so forgiving you can over flex it and it loses that rigidity to rebound aggressively. Basically be mellow with how you pop and you’re fine, be assertive and you’ll probably fold the board too much and not get the snap you want. In powder this board porpoises like no other.

Butterability: The nose has that elongated rocker section which gives you a huge platform to press into, but it’s also the softest section of the board. So if you’re getting aggressive you’ll over flex it and it can get hooky. I had this happen once in a high speed pow butter and it bucked me a little. Now if you’re more finessed and mellow you’ll get more out of it than you thought. The tail on the other hand allows for high speed pow wheelies or just getting sideways and sitting on it.

Carving: Here’s the thing with this board, it can carve but there’s some nuance to it. There’s a slow initiation outside the front foot but as you get it on edge and drive it from inside the front foot back through the tail the power comes out of it and it lets you hammer it over and rail a turn. That center flex point is the driving force for deep hard carves so flex your back knee into it and let it grip. This board at high speeds becomes zippy and just holds a carve. It’s the deep hard Euro carves that you notice the real nuances of this board and how the torsional flex coupled with the camber profile come into play. If you can carve it’s awesome, if you can’t it will help you compensate for bad skills.

Rider in Mind: Resort ripping carving powder hound.

Personal Thoughts: My former podcast co-host Kevin designed this board. We had joked for years about making a board called the War Orca, this is essentially what that would have been, but Yes beat us to the punch by creating the Warca. This is that volume shifted, zippy carver, resort tree riding pow board. I think the flex could be a hair stiffer in the nose and through the front foot. The rear flex has that right mix of rebound and reactivity to flex. Overall I dug it.

Comparable Boards: Yes Warca, Ride Warpig, Telos Backslash

Recommended Bindings: Rome Vice, Now IPO, Ride C-6