Capita Matriarch Snowboard Review With Joe

An In Depth Breakdown of how the Capita Matriarch Rides Review by The Good Ride

• User Reviews
• Product Specs
• Product Images
• Questions?

Overview

How The Capita Matriarch Was Tested

I rode this primarily with Union Force bindings and Nitro Team BOA boots. I got this in a decent amount of conditions, the best I could for the crappy season we had.

Got it in a little bit of powder. Then I got it on some good groomers and I compared it against a decent amount of boards. You can see those in-depth comparisons on Patreon or YouTube for the paid member tiers.

Sizing

When it comes to the sizing, this 58 was my size. It turned really well for my size nine boots in all conditions and never felt too unmanageable or unruly in tight spots, or as conditions got uneven, which some boards that are a little bit wider can.

So overall, great balance for me and my specs. I do wish there were more sizing options for this other than three regular and two wide, but hopefully this board is here to stay in Capita’s line and they’re going to expand it out over the years.

Design

Construction / Durability

When it comes to construction, Capita does a really good job with their boards. Even with this glossy topsheet, it doesn’t have a lot of battle scars.

I thought it would be more scuffed out after this test, but it’s not so far. It feels kind of more on the medium side of light. It did not feel ultra-light like the Megadeath.

Shape & Setback

When it comes to shape, this is pretty directional and has a little bit of taper, just four millimeters. Stance location is pretty centered on sidecut and pretty centered on board as well.

You can get a little setback on board to kind of emulate that freeride feel, but it’s not super setback like most freeride boards. So I would call this directional all-mountain. And it’s a very versatile shape.

On Snow Performance

Camber / On Snow Feel

When it comes to camber profile, you can see there is a healthy bow of camber in the middle that I can get my fingers under and lift up. This camber goes well past the inserts, but you can see there is a decent amount of early rise before the tail and a decent amount of early rise before the nose.

It makes it a great board for advanced-expert riders, and a committed intermediate, if sized right, could definitely ride this board and have a good time with this.

It feels a little locked in, a touch catchy, but not too much. It’s really going to light up for advanced to expert riders like myself who are average. They’re not full throttle all the time. They want to relax sometimes and not have to worry about the edges catching as easy as full camber does.

I would love to see what this camber profile would be like on the Black Snowboard of Death and the Megadeath after doing same-day comparisons. Really like this camber profile a lot better. And I could skid a turn with this. Okay, it’s not the best, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Edge Hold

When it comes to edge hold, I could have used a little more grip in hard snow in same-day hard snow tests. The Black Snowboard of Death gripped a little better.

I would have liked to have seen what the Death Grip in the middle would have done. And as long as you don’t ride a lot of hard snow, I don’t think this will be a deal breaker for you.

Flex Personality

Let’s talk Matriarch flex here. This has a medium-stiff flex for sure. Coming from the Black Snowboard of Death and Megadeath, this is a step up from both of them, and as you get down towards the tail, there is a pretty stiff flex.

It was easier to butter than I thought. Although it took some work, just because there is a touch of early rise giving you an easy leverage point to butter. Easier than you would think for this flex and this camber profile.

The nose is definitely the softest point on the board, and that’s where most of the flex is coming from when I flex it entirely. It’s much easier to butter in the nose than it is the tail. Between the feet is just very stiff.

Overall, it’s a very poppy board. This just springs on an ollie and out of the turn, especially for stronger riders.

Uneven Snow

When it comes to uneven snow, I thought this did really well in hard, uneven snow for being such a light, poppy ride.

And then soft, uneven snow. That’s usually a big problem for a Capita. They make a board that flexes really, really well. You can bend these boards almost in half and they just snap back without breaking in half.

That’s great, but it makes them very bucky and bouncy in soft, uneven snow. It can be very problematic, especially on those thicker, wetter days. But this Capita Matriarch held up really well.

I’d say it’s on the Black Snowboard of Death level in terms of dampness in same-day tests. They were very close, and this blew doors on the Megadeath, which is very light, very poppy, but very bucky and bouncy in soft, uneven snow.

It’s almost unruly, and that’s part of the sacrifice that you have to make to get a board that’s that light and poppy and so fun in good conditions. So overall, a pretty good uneven snow board, one of the best in Capita’s line I’ve tried.

Switch / Air / Park

This rode switch really well, much better than you would think by looking at the shape. For jumps, this is special. This has the pop of the Aeronaut but with more dampness and a wider platform.

I just enjoyed this so much on these little side hits I took. Although my hip is not doing well and I need surgery, so any landing just hurt like hell. But this was the kind of board that made me want to hurt myself and go get air and land because it just felt so good.

While this doesn’t have full-on icy pipe-level grip, this is the kind of board I like in the halfpipe, especially on those soft, fun pipe days. This isn’t a great jibber. Maybe some of you can if it’s mellow jibs.

Turning / Carving

Turn Initiation

When it comes to turning, I found that I could initiate a turn pretty quickly, like medium-fast, and it could turn in tight spots in the trees.

I didn’t feel like I had a lot of tail getting in the way through tight turns. So good overall quick turning experience in all conditions.

Carving / Committed Turns

When I put a little more weight into that edge and really started trying to drive out carvy turns, this high camber, along with this flexy, dynamic, poppy personality, really shined making hard carving turns.

It really outperformed the Black Snowboard of Death and the Megadeath, and I think it comes down to the camber profile. While the Megadeath and Black Snowboard of Death popped on an ollie just as well as the Matriarch, the Matriarch had a better turn to it.

I could front foot, center foot or back foot weight my turns and it popped out of the turn equally well. It just really had a dynamic turn.

If you’re the kind of rider that loves to really engage in turning and really get a board that will even jump turn for you, this is the board. It’s just so fun. I didn’t want to keep testing. I just wanted to go ride this board for fun.

Turning Experience / Sidecut

When it comes to the turning experience, this 8.1m sidecut felt really balanced and really versatile. It wasn’t the best for a circle carve or across-the-groomer carve, but it did very well.

Where it really lit up was those medium-radius turns that aren’t taking up the whole groomer, but aren’t those little narrow down-the-line turns either.

The way the sidecut and the camber profile enter into the radius, it doesn’t make it feel hooky, and it can go straight and make longer, drawn-out, down-the-line turns with excellent pop. And it’s just so fun to turn.

Speed

If you want to point it, you can with the Matriarch. If it’s a little uneven and thick, it can buck a little bit and chatter can be introduced into the board. But it’s always at a manageable level.

If you’re really a straight-liner, though, and you love to go fast, Capita probably isn’t the best brand because there are a lot of brands out there that make much damper boards that can go better at speed.

But it’s very good for Capita, and it’s beyond most people’s ability level. So let’s just put it that way.

Base Glide

When it comes to base glide, this base is excellent. I mean, Capita has really stepped up their base glide game over the years. It has the perfect amount of structure for me.

It’s just enough to keep this going in thick, wet snow, but still super glidey on a groomer day. This just kept its speed super well. Definitely upper tier, and it holds its wax well. They just nailed it on the base.

I love this mellow tune. I wish they would do that for the Black Snowboard of Death, which has a much more aggressive tune and needs a lot of wax so that structure doesn’t grab in certain types of snow and not let you transfer edge to edge.

Powder

When it comes to pow float, I didn’t get the kind of powder I wanted to stress test this, but I could tell this is going to be a really fun board.

While it doesn’t have, like, full-on freeride setback on board, you can get three inches back from center of board at a 22-inch stance width. So there’s a lot of stance width versatility here. And that starts to get into that freeride world.

Then you add in that slightly tapered tail, four millimeters less wide with a good bit less surface area. It sinks well enough. And this longer, more directional nose holds up pretty well.

I think this will be a decent powder board, especially when you factor in a little bit of that early rise before the nose. So it’s not going to be this epic floater, but it’s going to be very competent, very good for an all-mountain board.

James’ Final Thoughts

So overall, this does so many things right. And this bumps the Black Snowboard of Death out of the all-mountain favorites category.

That’s still a great ride, still very recommendable. But this just had a better turning experience, and I loved that mostly camber feel underfoot.

This is a special ride. I have this feeling it’s going to sell out really fast.

Joe’s Take

Joe Foss here with a brand new 2027 Capita Matriarch snowboard. This is Torstein Horgmo’s pro model.

When it comes to pro model snowboards, oftentimes I hear pros say they just went with the first thing that the brand gave them, obviously just excited to have their name on a board. For this one, that was not the case.

Torstein spent years developing this board, and after seven iterations, this is what we get: the brand new Matriarch. And let me tell you, they absolutely nailed it.

How Joe Tested The Capita Matriarch

I had the opportunity to ride this on multiple occasions, in various conditions and on multiple different bindings.

First up, I had it on the Union Force bindings from Biesty. I also used my old Rome Cleaver bindings, now in the line referred to as the Rome Katana Full Wrap, as well as Torstein Horgmo’s pro model bindings to match this board, the Union Source Pro.

This might have been a historically bad season here at Bachelor, but I still had a chance to get this into some nice powder. The pop from the almost full camber had me just springboarding off of every pillow I could find.

At no point did I feel like this board needed more float. When it comes to butters, this isn’t really designed for that. Where the board lacks playfulness, it definitely makes up for in stability.

Joe’s Take On Camber

Brand new for the Capita Matriarch this year is a new V4 camber profile. By comparison, since it does have that early rise in the tip and the tail, I would say it’s a little bit more forgiving than something, say, like the Nitro Alternator or the K2 Commonwealth.

But it is definitely a lot more of a locked-in feel when carving compared to, like, the Black Snowboard of Death or the Capita Mercury or the Kazu. Other boards that you might be looking at if you are considering this Capita Matriarch.

Vs. Megadeath

Comparing it to other boards in the Capita line, like the Black Snowboard of Death and the Megadeath, I would say this board is a nice bridge between the two.

It has explosive pop thanks to that full camber, larger camber profile than what’s found in the Megadeath. Megadeath does have a flat section in the back. It does have that rocker nose in the front, giving it a little bit more of a playful feel than what’s found on this Matriarch.

Because of that, this thing on an ollie pops extremely well.

Joe’s Take On Turning

This spring out of the turn is exceptional. When you’re coming down, there was one point in the run where I was trying to do some nice, quick, sharp turns, really test how fast that edge engagement is on this.

I wear a small seven-and-a-half Deeluxe Edge Pro boot. So this being a 25.7cm waist, it’s a little bit wider than what they would typically recommend for most people.

But me being in that super aggressive, stiff boot, I had absolutely no problem getting edge to edge. So much so that when I was really making quick, fast edge changes, it was actually springing me into the air, almost like doing dolphin turns, as if I wasn’t even trying.

It was a ton of fun.

Joe’s Final Take

If you like jump turns, this is definitely a great board for you. Carving this thing around on groomers was a blast as well.

I love this board so much. I will be looking to buy one for myself for this year. Probably make it my daily driver. It’s a ton of fun.

I removed the Intro and Ethics Statement, retained the timestamp-derived content structure, and only cleaned clear transcription issues while preserving the review language and conclusions.