Board: Marhar Darkside

Size: 154

Camber Option: New Age Camber. Traditional camber into a flat section before the contact points.

Bindings: Rome Black Label

Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy

Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10

My Weight: 200lbs

Resort: Copper Mountain

Conditions: Bluebird skies, warmer temps, zero wind, fast firm snow, and spots where it was a little lumpy.

Flex: A middle of the road park flex that has some clear defined flex points. The core was overhauled this year making the tips have a bigger sweet spot that goes from the contact point to just before the insert pack. It stiffens up from there to the dead middle where it gets softer again. The torsional flex is highly abundant.

Stability: This board has a bit of a damp ride to it which helps absorb micro vibrations. Bigger ruts and lumps in the terrain cause this board to send some shock waves into the insert packs. Overall it’s still a lively board but damp where it counts.

Ollies: Having a new age camber it makes the engagement of the pop off the tail easier. You don’t have to aggressively load this board up like you do other decks but it still snaps. While not the most snappy deck out there it does get the job done.

Pop On Jumps: I found that if you load this board up just a little on the lip you’ll get some added pop. Otherwise if you let the jump do the work it was average at best.

Butterability: That huge sweet spot in the tip and the tail locks into presses and just holds. There’s no fight, you’re just holding that press and going for it. You can be laid back with your buttering and it still gets the job done.

Jibbing: Those sweet spots lock into presses with ease and you don’t have to be as methodical as you would with other boards of this nature. It holds a press, it lets you pop out, and continue on your way. When you get sideways it fully hugs the feature and you feel locked in. Basically this is a board that can jib when you want to.

Carving: This board grips under foot due to the Dual Arc Edges so you feel it lock in to a carve. With that being said it’s quick edge to edge, holds on for however long you want, and lets you drive as need be. I will say this with the new core being slightly softer this board loses a little bit of power off the back foot through a carve this year. It’s not enough that most people would notice, but it’s there. So if you really like railing Euro carves you might find an issue with this. But otherwise short quick carves and set up turns to long hard drawn out ones its got you covered.

Rider in Mind: The camber loving park guy that wants a board they can press on.

Personal Thoughts: The biggest thing I noticed is that the tips got softer this year. That changes how the power comes off the nose or tail and effects its snap. So you have less snap, but you have more play for presses, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think on the quest to refine this board they’re getting there.

Comparable Boards: Rome Agent, K2 Broadcast, Telos Chillum