Never Summer Valhalla Snowboard Review

Never Summer Valhalla - How It Rides And Who It's For Review by The Good Ride

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Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews, and this is our unfiltered opinion. 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 rider’s perspective.

How This Never Summer Valhalla Review Happened:

I borrowed it for an extended demo and then sent it back.
Size: 156
Days: 5
Conditions: Everything from hard snow to uneven, messy, wind-affected pow to pretty good mid-winter pow and some near-perfect groomers.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-190lbs)
Boots: Ride Fuse
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers
Bindings: Union Atlas
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Jones Mtn Surf Anorak, Jones Shralpinist Stretch Jacket
Pant: Jones Mountain Surf Bib, Jones Shralpinist Stretch Bib
Helmet: Smith Maze
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt,

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same): Amplid Souly Grail, K2 Alchemist, Burton Skeleton Key, YES PYL Uninc, Weston Backwoods, Cardiff Powgoda, Jones Mind Expander

James’s Set Up: 21.5” Wide. Sance Angles +18/-3, +18/+3, +18/-6. Close to Reference on groomers and Set all the way back in powder.

How It Was Tested

Almost every day I rode the Never Summer Valhalla, I tested it against the Cougar and Proto Freeride. I also compared it against the Swift and Shape Shifter but I did ride it solo too. I feel the only way to truly know a board is to take it out the same day and compare it, but I do so with the same bindings, boots, and often the same runs.

Approximate Weight

The Never Summer Valhalla felt lighter than normal.  (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a boards weight)

Sizing

I thought the Never Summer Valhalla 156 would feel great because it runs a bit wider for its size, but I felt like this rode a little smaller than I expected. I am not sure that the 160 would be a good fit either, though, and it might feel a bit too big. I think I’m somewhat in between sizes. If they made a 158, I think that would be perfect, but for testing purposes, the 156 for sure worked. I would say that you can turn this a little easier with a smaller boot size than you would think.

Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards. You can of course, go bigger or smaller depending on your riding style and boot’s footprint, but these work best for not turning the board slower than it should be and not having the dreaded Toe & Heel Drag.
147:6-7
153: 8.5-9.5
156: 9-10
160: 9.5-10.5
164: 10-11

For weight, Never Summer does very well for riders who run a little on the heavy side. This isn’t the best of NS boards, but it for sure does better than most brands for weight. Like I said above, you can ride this wider than you normally would, so I would pay more attention to weight recommendations vs boot size. Just don’t go too narrow.

Shape

The Never Summer Valhalla has only 2mm more taper than the Proto Fr and Cougar but feels a good bit more tapered and set back. It’s is far from being as tapered/directional as boards like the Swift.

Camber/On Snow Feel/Ability Level

The Never Summer Valhalla has a very small camber between the bindings with rocker after going to a mellow camber before a mellow transition to a rocker before the nose. There are a lot of bends here, and when one footing and flat basing, you can feel all three camber bends sometimes in-harmoniously interact with each other and give it a combo of that loose feel from rocker & camber combined with a hooky mostly camber deep sidecut feel. It isn’t as catchy by any means, but sometimes one camber will pull on the board harder than the other two, taking you off track. After a little time, you get used to it, though.

Flex Personality

There is a pretty consistent medium stiff flex but it is a little softer in the nose. You do have a little more give, though, where the Never Summer Valhalla rockers up, so it makes it easier to butter.

The pop is good, but it felt a lot like the old Rocker & Camber profile did. It’s good but doesn’t pop like Ripsaw, Shockwave, and Recurve Triple Camber does.

Uneven Terrain

So the Never Summer Valhalla has a damp ride for being on the lighter side of medium and doesn’t ever get to cranky in any kind of condition you generally want to ride. NS just does dampening well.

Edge Hold

The Never Summer Valhalla gripped, really, and I think it is almost there with full-on old-school Magnetraction. There seems to be a slight disruption with the side cut, along with a lot of bends into the snow.

Speed

This doesn’t come to mind as a great straight-liner, but for being so turny, it did a very good job.

Base Glide

Like most NS boards, the Valhalla has a very easy gliding base. When well waxed, these can keep up with the best of the best. Don’t place any value on the number they name the base with in comparison to other brands. For example, many call their base sintered 8000 or something like that, but this 5501 Durasurf feels very similar to those higher #’s in other brands.

Turning Experience/Carving

So the Never Summer Valhalla is really quick edge to edge, and I never would have guessed this based on its width. It turns into a much narrower board. When I get this on edge, it feels on the turny side of balanced and likes a little more turny/slashy kind of ride while still being centered.

Now, the Triple Camber Fusion felt complicated to carve. The mellow camber between the feet makes the camber near the tip/tail harder to access on a harder carve. Leaning into the front foot made the tail washy. Center-weighted carves worked well enough if you lean into the center camber but it carved best leaning hard into the back foot. I forgot to mention this in the video, but I found this to carve best when set all the way back like I would on a pow day. The bottom line is I found this Fusion Triple Camber to be good but far from the Recurve Triple Camber I rode on the Cougar. I would love to see what the Valhalla would be like if it was Recurved.

Powder

I got this in some decent mid-winter pow. It was a little over 1 foot and it was enough to get an idea of what this would be like in deeper pow. I think this isn’t a Swift but it will do very well.

With a 21.75” stance width set all the way back, you can get 4” back from the center of the board. That is pretty good for a freeride board but yet it felt more centered than you would think. That is good for steeper terrain and getting air. You will have more tail than it appears.

Switch/Freestyle/Park

The Never Summer Valhalla is pretty good switch for being this setback. I had an okay time riding it. I wouldn’t mind this at all in the pipe, and it tracked pretty well into jumps.

Final Thoughts

So overall, the Never Summer Valhalla doesn’t turn/pop as hard as Recurve, Shockwave or Ripsaw, but it is on par or a little better than Rocker & Camber. It also is a very easy-turning kind of slashy, easy-floating one-board quiver.

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