Board: Rome Artifact

Size: 156

Camber Option: Camber. Good ole fashioned traditional camber.

Bindings: Rome Black Label

Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy

Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10

My Weight: 200lbs

Resort: Copper Mountain

Conditions: The day started off sunny and bluebird but clouds moved in. It was average spring temperatures and snow that was firm and fast, icy and deadly, or slushy and soft depending on where the sun was sitting on the run.

Flex: This is your standard run of the mill jibstick with camber flex making it slightly below a middle of the road park flex. You have softer tips that stiffen up outside the insert pack and keep a consistent flex through the middle. The torsional flex is playful and highly abundant.

Stability: It’s stable to a point but keep those knees bent. You will feel the chatter in the tips and it does resonate back underfoot. In rutted out terrain this board will get knocked around if you have anything resembling speed going on.

Ollies: The snap is there and while you do have to load up the camber profile it’s so easy to engage you never notice that you’re loading it up. This effortlessness makes the board have an almost skate-like pop to it. For being a slightly softer jib board the pop is more than abundant in it.

Pop On Jumps: Small and medium jumps are this decks strong suit, but the camber profile gives you enough pop off the lips to get it into the air and do your thing.

Butterability: With the flex and camber of this board you want to get your weight out towards the contact point and push hard into it. That’s when you notice the Double Kink tip shape taking over and acting almost like a small rocker zone. This lets you get a solid butter going as you swivel and sizzle. Now if you’re really aggressive the second part of that Double Kick which is way out at the tip will let you get up on it and really give you a platform for playing around. The flex and camber will give you some fight as you press into it so be prepared for that.

Jibbing: This is what this board is known for and bringing it back to being a full camber board is beneficial in my opinion. It’s going to force you to know how to engage the camber and push your weight into the nose/tail for presses. That Double Kick does help with these so utilize it to your advantage. When you get sideways the camber profile perfectly cradles the feature and you feel locked in. If you’re looking to press like a champ this is a solid board, if you’re lazy and want something with rocker you’re going to want a different deck that’s for sure.

Carving: While it’s a jibstick it still carves OK for what it is. What’s nice is that you can still steer it underfoot for it being camber. It does engage out at the noses contact point and that lets you push through the carve. It’s fluid and smooth but not overly quick and nimble. At the end of the day it’s got enough power to let you lay it over if you need but that will be hitting the limit of its ability. Short tight quick carves or mellow set up turns are its strong suit.

Rider in Mind: Jib focused park rider that wants camber.

Personal Thoughts: It’s nice seeing this board with full camber again and makes it ride more predictable. It’s still effortless to ride and it’s a deck you can throw most things at and it will get the job done. The Double Kick I was skeptical if it did anything but it’s not so nuanced you don’t notice if if you’ve ridden a lot of camber, if you haven’t well think of it as having a rocker like effect only when buttering or pressing.

Comparable Boards: Ride Kink, Capita Scotty Stevens, Nitro T1

Binding Recommendations: Rome Vice, Union Contact Pro, Flux DS