Tahoe Labs Directional Snowboard Review

Tahoe Labs Directional Snowboard Video and Written Review 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 riders’ perspective.

Tahoe Labs Directional Snowboard Review- How it rides and who it is for

How This Review Happened:

Borrowed this for an extended demo and sent it back.
Size: 163
Days: 4
Conditions: Mostly good mid winter snow with one day that was pretty firm.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-190lbs), Peter (Size 8, 5’11” 185lbs)
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV, Adidas Tactical Lexicon, Adidas Acerra 3ST
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers, F.I.T. Gameghangers LP
Bindings: Union Atlas, Union Strata
Helmet: Smith Maze
Goggle: Smith IO Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Guide Glove, CG Habitats Glove, CG Habitats Work Glove,

Similar Boards (but not the same): Yes Pick Your Line,  Burton Flight Attendant, Jones Flagship, Rossignol XV, Lib Tech BRD, Weston Backwoods, Season Nexus, Cardiff Bonsai, Prior Spearhead, Burton Cartographer, Burton Instigator, Never Summer Hammer, Cardiff Powgoda, Jones Mind Expander,

Set-Up: 21.5” Wide. Sance Angles +18/-9, Close to Reference and Set all the way back.

How It Was Tested

We rode it same day with the Tahoe Labs Directional Twin and compared it to the Burton Superbueno (now called the Cartographer), Jones Stratos & Jones Flagship.

Approximate Weight

The Tahoe Labs Directional felt pretty normal. Don’t let all the carbon fiber fool you. This isn’t an ultra-light ride. (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores there is no consistency in a boards weight)

Sizing

The Tahoe Labs Directional felt too big for me personally but Peter, who loves a big bomber board, loved it. I would personally like the 158 better for my size 9 boots but I would be a bit on the heavy side at 185-190lbs. I could for sure make the 163 work though and it matches up with my 195lbs well.
Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards. You can of course go bigger or smaller but these work best for not turning the board slower than it should be and not having the dreaded Toe & Heel Drag.
153: 8-9
158: 9-10
163- 9.5-10
158w- 10-11
163w- 11-12
168- 10.5-11.5
180- 12-13

Shape/Camber/On Snow Feel/Ability Level

There is about 6mm of taper and the ride is pretty centered. It is for sure a tapered directional ride but it definitely has some non-tapered all mountain feel to it. The Tahoe Labs Directional has a moderate camber that goes past each binging and then some mellow early rise. On snow this makes for a ride that feels forgiving but stable and it doesn’t need a ton of back foot weight to keep the tail from washing out. It almost feels like it isn’t tapered on groomers.

Flex Personality

The Tahoe Labs Directional is stiff but most of that stiffness is between the feet. You can butter this pretty easy in the tip/tail. There is a good bit of pop too and I found it to snap pretty easy on an ollie.

What I love about the Tahoe Labs Directional is how adaptable this board is to all conditions. Hard micro bumpy snow was no problem where often boards with that much carbon fiber it can be problematic. Softer messy snow was no problem either. This is a great all day ride.

Speed/Base Glide

The Tahoe Labs Directional is fast. Very fast. It is up there with super bomby boards like the Jones Flagship. We also felt the base glide was very good and almost up there with the fastest of fast. No complaints either way here. It was very stable going straight and didn’t feel like it needed to turn.

Edge Hold

There isn’t much going on disrupted sidecut wise but the Tahoe Labs Directional does a good job gripping in harder snow. Not amazing or an ice specialist but very competent.

Turning Experience/Carving

The Tahoe Labs Directional is a bit wide for us but the taper helped make it turn really fast. If you match up your boot size well to the board’s width you will get medium-fast turn initiation. Once on edge the Directional had a pretty balanced turning experience that leaned a little more on the straight line side but you could still have a lot of fun turning across the groomers or make a circle carve. There is pretty good spring out of the turn too and this can carve pretty well.

Powder

So the one thing that surprised me a little was how centered the Tahoe Labs Directional is on board. With a 23.75” stance width you can only get -2.75” back from center of board. That’s great for an all mountain board but a bit below average for a freeride board. You can see this was made to ride more centered in steeper big mountain terrain where you don’t need directional float as much. You still have 6mm of taper and early rise in the nose/tail but most boards these days have that too. So if you want this for low angle powder like we see a lot of at Mt. Bachelor you might want to look elsewhere. If you mainly ride steep terrain this will excel.

Switch/Pipe/Jumps

Very doable either way and the Tahoe Labs Directional really surprised me at how well it rode switch. I would love to lap the pipe with the 158 and this tracks really well into the little jumps we did. You can tell this won’t let you down if you want to go big.

Conclusion

Other than the lack of set back on board for low angle pow riding the Tahoe Labs Directional is a very well rounded freeride board.

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