Endeavor Next Snowboard

Endeavor Snowboard Design is a small grassroots company run out of Vancouver BC with the ambitious goal of making the best snowboards in the world. Endeavor has a heavy focus on the Urban and Park aspects of snowboarding, but I think it is likely pretty hard for them to ignore the mountains in their back yard so the designers at Endeavor gave birth to the Next; a stiff, all mountain board designed for the natural terrain.

The Endeavor Next is has a very nice traditional, directional shape to it. It has full-length camber, a slightly higher profile nose and an aggressive tapered side cut. It features a poplar/fibreglass core with a Y shaped carbon stringer. That core is sandwiched between a Sintered 7500 base and a beautiful bamboo top sheet.

I tested the Next in many different snow conditions. Groomers, chop, dust on crust, resort powder days, and of course a variety of backcountry conditions from sun crust to bottomless pow. My general impressions of the Next are very positive. The board is quite versatile. The poplar core in combination with the carbon stringers and the bamboo top sheet, give this board a serious amount of stiffness. This stiffness translates nicely into responsiveness when partnered with a complimentary sidecut and camber. In most conditions, I felt very comfortable going fast on this board, it always felt dialled and I rarely had trouble finding an edge. The Next does not have a strong pop off of more packed features, but it makes up for that shortcoming by feeling very solid underfoot when pushing down pillow lines. The Next performed well in all conditions I took it out in, with the exception of dry powder. If the snow had any kind of consolidation the board handled very well, but I had trouble keeping the nose of the 161cm Next I was testing out of fresh cool pow.

The Aesthetics of equipment is not something that I usually worry about too much, but Endeavor is a company that goes to great length to make sure their products look good, so I paid a little more attention to the look of the Next. I didn’t care for the art on the Next when it first came out of the box, but it has really grown on me. I really like the bamboo top sheet and the more I ride it the more the complex graphic seems to compliment it.

Verdict:

Overall the Endeavour Next is a great board that is a lot of fun to ride and ride hard, but this is a backcountry focused site, and I don’t think that the Next can be defined as true backcountry board. The Next is great on any terrain that the ski hill can conjure outside of the park. It is a nice light board that is great in the often-used slackcountry, but it is certainly not a true pow slayer. The Next is a great board for anyone who is not ready to give up the comfort of the chair lift for most days, but can’t resist the call of the backcountry on blue bird days.

SPECS:

Price: $549.00 CAN
Available Sizes: 154, 157, 159, 162, 165
Waist Width: 24.9cm (161)
Camber: 1.3cm (161)

PROS:

- Stiff and Responsive for great control in a wide range of conditions
- Lightweight

CONS:

- Not built for deep pow

Rating: 7.5/10

Innovation        1.5/2
Function           1/2
Aesthetics         2/2
Features           1.5/2
Quality / Price   1.5/2

This is only our opinion. Do you disagree? Did we miss something? Are we totally out to lunch? Join the discussion in the forums here, and let us know what you think. People like/dislike gear for different reasons so chime in and we'll get a well-rounded evaluation. 

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