Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 2020 Review by The Good Ride

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Peter fell instantly in love with it. I generally liked the more directional feel of the 161 Tree Hunter and 158 Powder Glider but this opened my eyes to how a softer more playful ride like this can rip powder.

Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

How This Review Happened:  We had a couple of laps at a frantic manic demo day.
Size: 154
Days: 1
Conditions: Some leftover Eastern PNW Snow that was messy in most spots but clean and untracked in some spots. Probably about 1 to 1.5 feet.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-195lbs), Peter (Size 8, 5’11” 185lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV
Bindings: Salomon Highlanders

Similar Boards (but not the same) That We Compared This To:
Capita Spring Break Powder Racer, Capita Spring Break 158 Powder Glider, Capita Spring Break 161 Tree Hunter, Capita Spring Break Slush Slasher, Capita Spring Break Powder 151 Mini Tree Hunter

Set-Up: 22” Wide. 21 front -6 back. Close to Reference

Approximate Weight: Feels light.

Sizing: Felt just right for our boot sizes referenced above but also good for just about 8-10 sized boots. As you get bigger than that it could get a little weird.

Flex/Buttering: The Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 is Pretty soft. I would say medium soft and it is way more buttery and playful than you would think. Looking at the thickness of this board you wouldn’t think it could butter like that but it does. It was almost too easy at first and took some getting used to. Even though this was so grass-fed free-range buttery soft it still had some serious snap back after a flex and had some really good ollie power.

On Snow Feel/Ability Level/Skidded Turns: Very stable between the feet and very easy to one foot and flat base. The Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 is very forgiving and it skids turns easy so any ability level could get on this and have a good time. However, it’s a pretty big grip of cash you have to dole out to get this ride so not recommended for beginners and intermediates. To us, it felt like a tapered directional freestyle powder ride that rides more centered on board than many of its peers.

Edge Hold: Not much going on here but it’s competent until the snow starts to get hard. Not ideal if you are dropping into some steep runs that have an icy patch to get through before getting to the good stuff.

Turn Initiation: Pretty quick for how wide it is and we felt we were never concerned when making a tight turn in the trees.

Turning Experience/Carving: You don’t get the Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 to go out and carve up groomers but it can for sure work in a pinch if you are waiting for a chair to pop that has fresh powder and have to lap groomers nearby while you are waiting.

Powder: So the Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 was far from what I expected coming from the 161 Tree Hunter and 158 Powder Drifter. It’s even super different from the Slush Slasher. There is a little more back leg work going with this than the aforementioned boards but it still sits on top of the snow and it made us both want to ride powder differently than we normally do. After riding the Powder Racer 154 (low-cost Powder Drifter with the same specs) set all the way back in some powder a few days later it still felt pretty centered on board so this is not an on the tail kind of ride. That’s not good or bad though. After one run we shut off the camera and just started having some personal fun time. It didn’t surf powder like the 158 or 161 and feel far back on the tail, but all we wanted to do was butter, look for little hits to get air and try to treat the natural terrain like a park. It could still slash hard and has a pretty tapered feel but in comparison to most of the Spring Break Line, it isn’t.  So I would choose the bigger boards in the really deep stuff but in about 2 feet of powder, I would like to go out on this and try new things. Peter was all about this board and just loved it.

Speed: Not a bomber and that soft flex doesn’t work well for those that like to point it.

Uneven Terrain: Moves over bumps like it’s one part rubber and one part water. It still bucks a little bit but not like you would think. It’s best for turning around boards but if you keep it slow, the Capita Spring Break Powder Drifter 154 doesn’t get too cranky. Great for all-day resort riding.

Park: I felt like if this board wasn’t so expensive I would consider hitting the jib park with it. It’s great with jumps as long as you don’t go too big and we wanted to launch off every little hit we fount.

So this was a total surprise in how it rode and how much we liked it. This was the Powder Racer last year but for 2020 Capita created a whole separate Powder Racer line and now this is the Powder Drifter. So if you can’t swing the price on this guy you can get almost as much stoke on the more reasonable Powder Racer.