The Rome Gold has pop, carving ability, edge hold and borderline excellent performance in powder due to the decent rocker between the feet and the -20 set back stance. The only draw back with the Gold is it can be a little loose between the feet. To us it’s worth it because you have one of the more springy/poppy boards out there because of that rocker and it carves really well for such a loose ride.

The Rome Gold is a very unique board and especially for a the women’s category. If you look closer you will see it has a unique side cut that makes the ride different than all the other hybrid rocker boards we tried. Rome calls it “QuickRip” and it is difficult to describe. There is a very small radius side cut that extends a bit past the feet. It also extends out from the edge a bit to create better edge hold. Then there is a second side cut after that. When you look along the edge the side cut extension after the bindings is rather visible. We find this tech to be a new approach to riding a hybrid rocker board and very versatile compared to other boards. It has a loose feel when not on edge and a very aggressive all mountain feel when laying into a carve. There are many Hybrid Rocker Women’s boards out there but this is one of the only Hybrid Rocker boards with a set back of -20mm. This makes it much more fun if you want to ride one direction in powder because you have almost an inch of setback. You can also set up a more directional ride when carving.

On Snow Feel: We found this to suit 2 moods. If you want to cruise, play around, butter and make easy turns the Rome Gold will accommodate you. If you want to be a bit more aggressive and take a more freeride/all mountain carving approach to the groomers the Rome Gold will work well. The one thing we would like to see is a bit more stability between the feet. There is a lot of rocker going on here and it makes for a very loose ride until you put this board on a serious edge. This is a positive and also a negative in some cases. Most will like this feel but some might not. Getting on and off the chair is a more difficult with the Rome Gold because of this loose feeling. You have to make sure your back foot is as close to the back binding as it can get so you have more stability.

Powder: Many could argue that the Gold is excellent in powder. The serious bend between the feet and a good set back makes the Rome Gold a very floaty ride. This could be a powder specific board. Let’s face it Powder days are so precious that unless you really rip it’s usually more fun to set the bindings back and surf it. The almost super easy turn initiation makes the Gold great in between trees and fun with chutes. As you pick up speed the Gold will be just fine.

Turn Initiation and Carving– We touched on this a bit on the Groomer section but lets elaborate. To start off with “Quickrip” is not a gimmick. When it comes to making short quick turns this board is about as easy as it gets. The Rome Gold is very loose and very easy to transition from edge to edge but we might say it’s almost too loose compared to some of the other hybrid rocker boards we tried. As you lean into the turn to make a wider turn you start to feel the side cut engage. If you lay into a carve you feel like you are riding a different board and you almost get a surprise as the side cut grips in and accelerates your turn. We both really liked it but can’t say for certain that it’s for everyone. All we can say is we had as much or more fun carving with the Rome Gold as we did with almost any other hybrid rocker board out there.

Speed: The Rome Gold has a very fast base and picks up speed very fast. We like this for hitting a little jump right near the chair or getting up speed for hits in the park. The serious rocker makes for a bit of a loose ride unless you are committed to an edge so this isn’t the best for bombing a hill. There is also some chatter you can experience at higher speeds. This is not ideal if you are a bomber rider.

Uneven Terrain: Very good when dealing with a mostly tracked out powder day. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that day that has almost turned into mogul riding most of the run to find only a few turns in the better snow. If it’s the end of a crowded Saturday like at Mammoth which is one of the most crowded places in the country it handles the churned up snow very well.

Approximate Weight– This isn’t a feather weight but it’s definitely light. The Rome Gold is well built though and looks like it will last a 100 day season of average to rough riding.

Edge Hold: The “Quickrip” side cut really increases edge hold. We haven’t been on ice but found this board to be pretty grippy in snowment conditions. It’s right there with Never Summer’s side cut but we feel a step down from Magnetraction side cuts. Still this will perform well in just about any condition the average rider will want to be out on and we never felt like the edge wanted to give up on us.

Flex: The Gold is almost borderline Medium but it’s a little bit on the aggressive side. Still the shape makes it easier to butter than you would think.

Switch: This is a directional shape but the rocker lifts the tip and tail up a bit so it makes for a little easier ride than you would think switch. It’s still very different from riding regular but it is rather easy to get use to.

Jibbing– There are better boards out there for jibbing. The flex is a bit on the aggressive side but it can be done if you don’t attack the big technical jibs.

Pipe: There is enough edge hold to get up and down the pipe. The Rome Gold also has a lot of forgiveness with it’s rocker. We don’t go big in the pipe but we had fun transitioning from wall to wall.

Jumps: The Rome Gold is very poppy. We could generate our own air just about anywhere on the mountain and found this to be one of our favorite boards for springing off any bump we could find on a groomed run. Like the pipe we dont go that big in the park but we could tell this could be fun with just about any size kicker. It’s so easy to Ollie around the mountain, hit natural kickers, and if it was a little more like a twin it would be practically a perfect jump board. For those who don’t take off or land switch this is excellent. For those who do it’s still pretty good if the stance is centered.

All in all this is a fun multi personality super poppy durable board. If you are an all mountain rider the only thing that might turn you off is the loose ride between the feet. Everything else about this board is great and this is a top choice for an All Mountain to Freeride board.