Hello and welcome to my Rome Stalefish review.
In this review I will take a look at the Stale Fish as a Freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Stalefish a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and also see how it compares with other Freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: Rome Stale Fish 2024
Price: $599 (USD recommended retail)
Style: Freeride
Flex Rating: Mid-Stiff (7/10)
Flex Feel: Stiff (8/10)
Rating Score: 84.2/100
Compared to other Men’s Freeride Boards
Of the 27 current model freeride snowboards that we tested:
❄️ The Stalefish ranked 21st= out of 27
Overview of the Stalefish’s Specs
Check out the tables for the Stalefish’s specs and available sizes.
Specs
STYLE:
FREERIDE
PRICE:
$599 - BUYING OPTIONS
Ability Level:
flex:
feel:
DAMPNESS:
SMOOTH /SNAPPY:
Playful /aggressive:
Edge-hold:
camber profile:
Directional Hybrid Camber
DIRECTIONAL HYBRID CAMBer - Rome's "Free-the-Ride Camber".
SHAPE:
setback stance:
SETBACK 0.6" (15mm)
BASE:
SINTERED | Rome's "SinterStrong Base"
weight:
Felt HEAVIER THAN normal
Camber Height:
8mm
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
151 | 264 | 126-166 | 58-76 |
154 | 265 | 136-176 | 62-80 |
157 | 267 | 148-188 | 68-86 |
160 | 269 | 160-200 | 73-91 |
163 | 270 | 172-212 | 78-97 |
Who is the Stalefish Most Suited To?
The Stalefish is best suited to a strong, advanced rider who wants a board for powder and when the powder is tracked or non-existent on the day, then someone who likes to ride at speed and carve up the groomers.
It's the kind of board you want to be physically strong for and technically skilled, like Stale Sandbech (the Norwegian pro this board is named after) is. If you're Stale Sandbech, then this board is ideally suited 😉 - but no you don't have to be Stale himself to enjoy this board, but having good strength/fitness/skill is a prerequisite for this board.
For most this would be a quiver board, but for the right rider, it could be a one-quiver-board.
Definitely not for beginners. You want to be confident, strong and have good technique to ride this board, IMO.
THE Stalefish IN MORE DETAIL
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Stalefish is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: Rome Stale Fish 2024, 157 (267mm waist width)
Date: March 28, 2023
Conditions
Sunny. Barely a cloud in the sky. Perfect vis, naturally.
Temp: 2°C (36°F) and -2°C (28°F) with wind chill in the morning. 3°C (37°F), -1°C (30°F) with wind in the afternoon. Wind was 10kph (6mph) NE.
24hr snow: 0cm (0")
48hr snow: 15cm (6")
7 day snow: 20cm (8")
On groomer: Hhard pack, crunchy in a lot of places and a little icy in others. Softer areas too though. A good bit of chunder (ice balls/chunks) but not too bad.
Off groomer: Crunchy and icy in places. Doable but not great.
Set Up
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 21.1″ (535mm)
Stance Setback: Setback 0.6" (15mm)
Width at Front Insert: 11.0" (280mm)
Width at Back Insert: 10.9" (278mm)
Rider Height: 6'0"
Rider Weight: 180lbs
Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Response ADV
Bindings Used: Burton Malavita, M
Weight: 6lbs 15oz (3140grams)
Weight per cm: 20.00 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*
*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Stale Fish was heavy on the scales compared to average. That said, this is a very wide board, so would be close to average if it was grams/surface area. But it still felt heavy on snow.
Powder
Nothing to test in on the day, but based on feel and specs, it should be really good for powder. This is what it's geared towards predominantly.
It's a highly directional board, with a directional hybrid camber profile (rocker just in the nose but camber the rest of the way), a wider/longer nose vs a narrower/shorter tail, 16mm of taper and 3D shaping in the nose.
The only reason I didn't give this the full 5/5 for powder was because the rocker in the nose is fairly subtle and because of the extra weight.
While it does only have a 0.6" (15mm) setback on effective edge, it has an overall setback of around 2.75" (70mm).
Carving
For a board with this much taper, the Stalefish is a great carver. Felt really good and could dig that edge in with confidence and get deep with carves and really lock it in and it would hold on well, even at higher speeds.
Turning
Ease of Turns/Slashing: Takes a bit of effort to get it turning. Felt I had to muscle it a little bit. Not the hardest board to turn, but it preferred a carve for me.
Maneuverability at slow speeds (nimbleness): You can get it going relatively quickly edge-to-edge, but it takes quite a bit of effort, throwing your body into it a bit. Not effortless, but if you do put the effort in, it's OK. I would love to try the 154 to see how much difference that would make.
Catchiness: Felt more catchy than average. Not super catchy, but it did feel at times, like it could catch if you got it wrong.
Speed
Felt like it could handle any speed that I could throw at it. It felt heavier than normal and quite damp, so very minimal chatter too. Really stable at speed.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: It's heavier and damp and this helped it to stay stable and crash through the crud. Had some hard stuff to deal with on the day and it did a good job in it.
Trees/Bumps: Pretty hard work in the conditions I had. Had to really put the effort in to get it moving from edge-to-edge quick enough to get in between bumps and trees. If there was powder in the trees, it would likely have been quite a bit more suitable. Also, I feel the 154 would have worked a lot better for me in the trees.
Jumps
Not my favorite board for jumps, but very solid on landings.
Pop: A really good amount of pop, but really hard to access. If you don't really wind it up, it doesn't give you much pop. You might even think that it was devoid of pop. But when you do put the effort in to extract it, it's really poppy. You just have to be willing to really load it up - or if you're quite strong, you might find it easier to pop. I imagine the 154 would have been easier to pop.
Approach: Really stable and works really well when you find a line and stick to it. Once you need to start to adjust or speed check, it starts to feel a bit catchy, especially when doing so at slower speeds.
Landing: You can really stomp the landings, when you get it right. But if you get it a bit wrong or if you have to speed check quickly after landing, it's not super forgiving.
Side-hits: Didn't like it much for side hits. I like a board that's easy to maneuver/speed check before and after the hit and something that doesn't take too much effort to pop.
Small jumps/Big jumps: Any jump with a fairly wide approach and enough run off, that you can carve off a couple of turns to check your speed, rather than having to do it in a hurry. Probably best for large jumps, where you need a stable approach and solid landing platform, but you also want to be an experienced jumper.
Switch
Doable but not great. On transitions it feels a little catchy and because it's not a super easy going board to ride, that becomes exaggerated when riding switch, unless you are as good at riding switch as you are in your normal direction.
Butters
Takes a lot of effort to press both the tip and tail. I felt it quite stiff in the tip and tail (and in general). And while nose and tail didn't feel super different to each other like it can on some directional boards, they certainly didn't feel the same.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | SCORE WEIGHTING | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 4.5 | 22.5/25 |
SPEED | 4.5 | 18/20 |
CARVING | 4.0 | 12/15 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 3.0 | 6/10 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 4.0 | 8/10 |
TREES/BUMPS | 3.0 | 6/10 |
JUMPS | 3.0 | 3/5 |
SWITCH | 2.0 | 2/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 84.2/100 |
The Stale Fish is a well built board that is burly and can handle speed and crud well with a damp, smooth feel. It takes some skill and strength to ride it well, but it's the kind of board you can push hard and it can take it.
It's also really good on a carve, particularly for a tapered board and it's strongest attribute, IMO, is it's powder performance (as well as stability at speed).
If I get the chance to ride it again this winter, I will try to get it in the 154, as I feel like that size would have suited me a little better.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
Check out the links below for more info on the Stale Fish, where to buy or if you are researching prices or available sizes.
If your keen to check out some other Freeride options or to see how the Stale Fish compares to other freeride decks check out the link below.
Hi Nate,
Still didn’t have the chance to try the 154 ?
cheers
Hi Olive, no still haven’t gotten on the 154 but hopefully will get on it in March.
Nice ! Please make an update of your review (if needed of course) once you try it
6’2″ 255#. C-9 bindings. Board size 160. I started snowboarding in the mid 1990s so I have ride a few boards over time. I did find a noticable feel going edge to edge, felt slow. After a few runs I started to figure this thing out, few days on the mountain it feels like any other board edge to edge. In the PNW we have lots of trees, I love this board in the trees, it’s very nimble and slashy with good float. Would buy this board again without any hesitation.
Hi Paul, thanks for your input and insights with your experience with this board. Much appreciated.
Coming from a gnu hyper 157 looking to get a board my directional really no switch riding or maybe 10% if any. Would this be a good upgrade? Thanks looking to upgrade to a more strictly directional for carving/powder occasion side hits
Hi Miles
This could work for what you’re looking for. Certainly a step up in terms of carving and powder vs the Hyper, in my experience. It’s going to feel a lot different. Noticeably stiffer, more locked-in/precise feeling (rather than the looser feeling of the Hyper), smoother, damper and going to be more effort to get quick turns at slower speeds. I prefer the Hyper for side-hits, but if that’s only occasional, then it might be OK. But note that it will be a very different feeling board and for slow speed turns and side-hits, you’re likely not to like it as much. But it is an upgrade in terms of carving and powder, IMO, which sound like your main concerns.
Hope this helps
Did you get a chance to ride the 154? I’m 6’1 183lbs, sz 10.5 boot and wondering if the 54 would still be stable when carving high speed but more maneuverable.
Hi Gary, thanks for your message.
Haven’t test the 154 yet, but for how stable this felt in the ’57, I can’t see the ’54 feeling unstable. That 3cm will make a difference for sure, and the ’54 certainly won’t be as stable as the ’57, but you will get a little more maneuverability. From my experience of testing the same board 2-3cm apart, there is a noticeable difference, but it’s not something that’s super drastic. It’s noticeable but still fairly subtle. Given you’ve got similar stats to me, I imagine you’ll find the ’54 to be subtly more maneuverable than I found the ’57 and the subtly less stable.
Hope this helps
What would be the main difference between this and the Ravine (riding style)? Thank you!
Hi Adam, thanks for your message.
This is stiffer, damper and more aggressive compared to the Ravine. They’re both good for powder, but when it comes to groomers, the Stale Fish is more of a bomber and something that you want to ride more aggressively to get the best out of it. The Ravine can’t handle as much, but it’s easier/more fun to ride slower/more casually on.
Hope this helps