Never Summer Llama Snowboard Review

An Un-Biased Breakdown of How the Never Summer Llama Rides Review by The Good Ride

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

How The Never Summer Llama Was Tested:

After an extended demo, I liked it so much I asked to keep it (only do this with favorites).

Size: 156
Days: 5+
Conditions: Everything from Good Mid Winter Conditions to Varied Spring Conditions.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-195lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards and close to 1,000 if you count different versions of the same Model over the years.
Boots: Nitro Team TLS
Insoles: Footprint Kingfoam Orthotic Elite
Bindings: Union Force
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse 3L Jacket, Skyline Fuse Light 3L Jacket
Pant: Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant
Helmet: Smith Method
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt

James’s Set Up

21-21.5” Wide. Stance Angles +15/-15. Centered.

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Yes Greats, Stone Message, Yes Basic, Ride TwinPig, Burton Good Company, Capita Outerspace Living

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Construction / Durability / Weight

Never Summer is almost always on point when it comes to making a durable board and the Llama is no exception. The topsheet is more durable than most boards and overall they do a great job at finding a balance between being light and durable. It’s not super light but it’s on the lighter side of medium for this much surface area without. (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

The 156 Never Summer Llama was perfect for me, especially for a mountain freestyle ride. If I was going to ride park primarily, I would go with the 153.

Sizing for all Sizes

Never Summer is pretty liberal with their boot sizing and a little on the conservative side when it comes to max recommended weight but they are doing better than many brands in this aspect.

Sizing is all about balancing what fits your boot size (most important), weight (second most important) and height (third most important) for how you like to ride. Too wide and it’s hard to turn. Too narrow and you might boot out which often slams you into the ground.

The Good Ride Suggested Sizing

There are often up to 2 or 3 sizes that will work for your specs. Size down for more control and size up for more speed/stability/carving power. Most Brands, Including are very conservative with recommended weight and very liberal with recommended boot sizing Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards. If it comes down to boot size or weight, I would ensure it fits your boot first and then your weight a close second.

149: 7-8 US, 100-150lbs
153: 7.5-8.5 US, 130-180lbs
156: 8.5-9.5 US 140-190lbs
159 9-10 US 160-200+
154x 9.5-10.5 US 140-190lbs
157x 10-11 US 140-200+lbs
160x 10.5-11.5 US 160-200+

Shape

The Never Summer Llama is a true twin everywhere except for the asymmetrical side cut. The toe side is longer and shallower, and the heel side is shorter and deeper. The reason for that is they want you to set up in a perfect duck stance. If you do it feels more symmetrical than a true twin because the sidecut’s match exactly your stance angles. You set this up perfectly duck, centered and leave it that way in all conditions.

Camber/On Snow Feel

The Never Summer Llama’s recurve camber profile goes well past the inserts and then transitions into early rise. It also, has two passive bends in the camber area that make it feel like more camber than you have. However, you still get that forgiving, catch-free, easy ride because of the rocker in the nose and tail. It’s very forgiving but also consistent and predictable in all conditions.

A rider of any ability level can get on the Never Summer Llama and have a great time. It’s not boring for experts, and it’s not too challenging for beginner intermediates who are interested in park to mountain freestyle rides.

The feel underfoot never changes like it does with fusion, triple camber, or their rocker and camber profiles. The feel underfoot can get less stable, more hooky, catchy, or auto spinny if conditions get more firm.

Edge Hold

There are two things that come into play to make this an incredible gripper. First, they have a very mellow multi-radius side cut that creates very subtle disruptions throughout. Then you factor in this recurve triple camber with passive bends. When you weight this down not only do you have contact where the camber ends, but two additional stronger contact points where the passive bends start to touch the snow. It creates incredible grip without that aggressive grab that some disruptions in the side cut can have.

I never felt the Never Summer Llama grab in softer snow, but in harder snow it gripped like a champ, even compared against aggressive Magna-Traction. For example, one day I was on the T Rice Pro Camber Twin and the Lib Tech Legitimizer. Both have Magna-Traction disruption, but this gripped better than the Legitimizer and was about the same or maybe slightly better than the Travis Rice Pro model. That was quite surprising.

Flex Personality

The Never Summer Llama has a nice medium to medium – soft flex with a lot of good pop. It’s really easy to access this pop. The flex is almost continuous throughout the board but it does feel a little stiffer between the feet where the camber is. Bottom line is it flexes easy and has a pretty lively snap back after the flex.

Buttering / Ollies

The Never Summer Llama is a very easy board to butter. You have extra leverage where the rocker starts, combined with a softer flex in the nose and tail. You can lean back or forward into a butter, lock in, and hold it well.

The recurve camber loads up more than other camber profiles this length and height with those passive bends and gives you more pop. It tracked super well into small side hits, popped off them, and landed really well.

Switch & Park

This is a great board for people who are landing switch and riding switch a lot. Asymmetrical twins make switch riding more symmetrical and give you an advantage. I’m not the strongest switch rider, but the Never Summer Llama helps me ride switch more and better.

This is also a great park board. You could ride pipe all day with this because of the grip. You can hit kickers almost any size, though bigger kickers may be better on stiffer models. For small to medium-large jumps, the Llama is excellent. You can jib with this, though detuning the edges for jibbing will detract from its pipe grip.

Uneven Snow

The Never Summer Llama handles uneven snow well for its flex and shape. Hard uneven snow absorbs chatter better than expected and maintains really good grip. In soft, uneven snow it can buck around a bit due to its softer flex, but it’s still better than most similar boards.

Turning / Carving

The Never Summer Llama is medium fast edge to edge for my size nine boots. When committing to a turn on groomers, it has very good spring out of the turn thanks to the recurve camber and passive bends. It’s not a super hard carving board, but for slow to medium speed carves, buttering, switch carving, and playful mountain riding, it excels.

If you carve really hard this will give out on you as that isn’t it’s true design. However, it’s great for a park to mtn freestyle twin.

Speed

The Never Summer Llama is not designed for high-speed charging but can handle straight lines into kickers and a short straight line on the mountain. It’s more about fun, playful riding than bombing big lines.

Base Glide

The base is good, with a circular cutout where the Never Summer logos are. You can barely feel the cut out areas.  It retains wax well and can get a little dry / slow if neglected, but lasts several days before needing rewaxing.

Powder

I didn’t have time to get the Never Summer Llama in powder. I didn’t have a ton of pow days and there were many other directional boards that needed to be tested during the season. Regardless, I think this has decent float for a twin. The early rise nose and tail give balance between swing weight and float. It should float well, keeps speed, and planes in powder. If you want to ride regular and switch in powder with one board, it’s solid, though not the best powder-specific option.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m a huge fan of the Never Summer Llama. I’d love to keep this and use it as my mellow day board. Even though I don’t ride park, I love buttering, riding switch, hitting side hits, and making fun turns. This is the kind of board I want to be on.

If you ride more park than me, the Never Summer Llama will be even better for you. I love asymmetrical twins and I love this camber profile. Never Summer is doing something special with these passive bends and their camber profile. It makes for a unique ride with a lot more pop than you’d expect for the amount of camber.