Nov 08, 2024 BY Luke Rees
I love a new board day. Particularly when testing for a brand like Borealis Snowboards who’s kit is always excellent. In this Borealis Artefact review I ask an important question: is this the best freeride snowboard for all mountain riding?
To give you a bit of background, I am happiest when off-piste in fresh snow. That’s not to say I don’t love a bit of piste riding or park action. I have specialist boards for all types of snowboarding, however I love having one board to do everything.
Obviously it is not possible to have a snowboard that is the best at everything. However, you can have a freestyle or a freeride board that is also good for all mountain riding. The Borealis Artefact fits into that latter category – designed for freeride but enjoyable where ever you ride it.
There is no better way of testing a snowboard than riding it almost exclusively all season. So last winter I did just that, getting around 25 days riding on the Borealis Artefact.
This included a nine day, nine resort, adventure in Austria. We had a couple of powder days, plenty of piste riding, side hit sessions and laps of parks. On the piste it was everything from soft and slushy to icy and treacherous, with the perfect conditions from time to time.
To test in proper off-piste I spent a week of this Borealis Artefact review on a Turkey backcountry adventure with Powder Mad. Based in the remote Kackar Mountains it was snowcat assisted riding. So each day we had plenty of uplifted laps, then got extra vertical under our own steam.
Riding a new board can be love at the first turn. The Borealis Artefact took a bit more persistence, but once I fell for it I was head over heals!
At 161 cm it is not as long as my 163/164 big powder boards, but it felt fairly unwieldy. Getting onto an edge was more of an effort than I liked. But to qualify this, we were riding on a dusting of sticky fresh snow over a hard icy base. It was also my first turns of the season.
The #1 blue run at Mieders was, to be honest, hideous. It shouldn’t have been difficult but I struggled, and so did my mate.
As it opened into a red, the slightly steeper slopes helped me maintain more speed. But the Borealis Artefact still felt cumbersome. Even when the ice became slush lower down it still felt unwieldy and difficult to ride.
On the gondola on the way back up I had a look at my bindings. Having previously used them on a small freestyle board the highbacks were at their least aggressive setting. Adjusting them for a more aggressive lean was the easiest and most obvious change I could make.
It worked! Suddenly I could crank onto the edges with ease. The snow was still rubbish, but at least I could ride it without feeling like an out of control newbie.
With poor snow we hopped on the bus to Schlick 2000, a nearby higher resort. To our surprise the dusting of snow at Mieders was 30-50 cm of fresh stuff in Schlick. It was a weekday at a less well known resort, and despite not getting there until after lunch there was untouched pow!
We spent the rest of the day exploring the off-piste, and discovering that the Artefact loves the fresh stuff. The large rockered nose keeps your tip up and out of the snow, no need to shift your weight back or get dreaded back leg burn.
The Artefact has a fairly pronounced traditional camber for most of its length. Which provides great power and pop when you use it right. On little hits in the backcountry I was jumping bigger than I expected, this transferred to lots of side hit fun.
But off-piste isn’t always perfect untouched pow. Sometimes to access the good stuff you need to be able to ride in cut up icy conditions where holding an edge is difficult.
While in Turkey we had some lovely snow, but also some icy sections. And during this Borealis Artefact review I found the board handled ice excellently. It is a 7/10 stiffness and the hardened steel edged, combined with Sidewaves (extra contact points), meant I trust the grip in any conditions.
This is not a board for beginners or lower intermediates. While it is fairly forgiving because of the rocker in the nose and tail it is stiff and has an aggressive sidecut. All of which makes this more difficult to ride. But it’s also why I found it the best freeride snowboard for all mountain riding that I have owned.
Once you are carving, it will hold that carve come what may. You can power through crud, accelerate through the turn and pop out with almost dangerous power. At slow speeds particularly on ice, it can feel a bit unwieldy. But once you learn to trust it and harness the power you’ll have a lot of fun.
The Borealis Artefact shape is slightly tapered which combined with a setback stance should make switch riding difficult. While riding in reverse was not as easy as my twin boards it was nowhere near as hard as I expected.
Blasting around the piste on the super-fast, structured, Durasurf 4001 sintered base was a joy. You have incredible control so can weave in and out of slower mountain users. On the downside you need to put more effort into riding the Artefact than other boards, but equally you get more out of it.
The Artefact is not made for the park. But it is still a lot of fun on kickers and boxes. I am not really a jibster so I kept away from rails, but I enjoyed a couple of runs through the half pipe.
However, hitting off-piste features or side hits is where the Artefact is in a league of it’s own. The pop you can get is massive and for a big board it feels light and spins well.
But where it really excels is in the landing, which feels solid, cushioned and forgiving. There is no twitchiness you can get from smaller boards, and I never felt in danger of catching an edge even when I landed off angle.
That said, due to the set back stance and tapered shape I found landing switch in powder a big challenge. A couple of Tomahawks later I stopped trying 180s in pow – on the piste it was fine.
Where I struggled was doing ground tricks as the Artefact takes more effort to butter. The long rockered nose enables creativity but it’s not really built for low speed intricate manoeuvres. But high speed side hits, popping from aggressive carves and going big and landing solid are all in the Artefacts repertoire.
Borealis Snowboards are big on the environment so the Artefact ticks plenty of sustainability boxes. The Ultra Light Forest Core is made from FSC© certified wood (paulownia, beech, ash and vertical bamboo.) Furthermore the best freeride snowboard for all-mountain riding is held together by Zero-VOC Resin.
The Artefact is armed with recycled steel edges that are hardened with a ceramic finish. And it’s factory-waxed with One Ball® Green biodegradable wax which stops bad stuff entering the water cycle.
If you buy the Artefact snowboard on the Borealis website they’ll also donated €5 to the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA).
This board it a dream off-piste, the deeper the pow the more fun and it is all effortless thanks to the 25mm setback stance and large rockered nose. Without the need to think about your weight, it gives you time to pick your line and use the Artefact to get playful.
On the piste it is a carvers dream, although carving switch was not as natural as other boards, but better than most powder boards. It does beg to be ridden fast, and with speed it gets easier and more fun to ride.
It is good in the park, particularly going big off kickers. And you’ll feel so dialled in on landings that going big becomes the norm… But it is not for a board for jibsters.
To conclude this Borealis Artefact review I’d say it is the best freeride snowboard for all mountain riding that I have owned. The Borealis Shaman was my favourite, but the Artefact is longer, stiffer and more agressive, making it slightly less playful but a lot of high octane fun!
I hope you found this review of the Borealis Artefact useful. Have you ridden it? Do you think it is the best freeride snowboard for all mountain riding? You can buy it direct at: www.borealis-snowboards.com/artefact then ride it on one of these snowboarding holidays worldwide.
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