Borealis snowboards have a mission statement: 'Borealis is engaged into using eco-friendly materials sourced as locally as possible. We carefully study the materials available on the market to try and reduce our impact on nature.'
It's a statement that we like, but not as much as how the board looks and rides, as on test, while tackling a backcountry route through the Tyrol, the Viking took all we threw at it.
All bar one of their snowboards have a sustainably sourced organic bamboo top sheet, with Viking's artwork keeping it plain and simple. In construction, fibreglass has been replaced by Basaltech (a 100% natural organic triaxial basalt fibre) and the 'Forest Core' is made of a blend of the finest FSC woods available. All this makes the Viking possibly the greenest snowboard ever constructed.
The underfoot profile is a flat skim rocker: The rocker keeps you up in the powder, whilst the flat skim underfoot holds well, both while on an edge, and while trashing the powder. The sidecut has a slight wave by each foot, which offers enhanced hold on hardpack and ice.
The break down to skis is fast and easy, with two metal hinged clips, plus your standard plastic nose and tail clips. We toured on the Viking Split in deep powder and it performed very well, especially with the 157 length making for easy kick-turns. One thing we're unsure of was that the fixed metal clips slightly protrude the edge when set as skis; it didn't effect touring in powder, but might be a little annoying when traversing a steep icy mountainside.
All in all, the Borealis Viking split snowboard is a near perfect green minded friend that you'll want to take on your next splitboarding adventure.
