Never Summer Llama Snowboard Review

The Never Summer Llama is a playful, forgiving freestyle twin that shines for side-hits, spins, butters and park laps, but isn’t built for speed, crud or aggressive carving, though is fun for moderate, lower speed carves. 

In this review, I will take a look at the Llama as a freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Llama a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: Never Summer Llama 2026

Price: $659

Style: Freestyle

Flex Rating: Mid-Soft (4/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Mid-Soft (4/10)

Rating Score: 90.2/100

Compared to other Men’s Freestyle Boards

Overview of the Llama’S Specs

Check out the tables for the Llama’s specs and available sizes.

Who is the Llama Most Suited To?

The Never Summer Llama is best suited to riders who want a playful, easy-going freestyle/all-mountain freestyle board for cruising, side-hits, spins, butters, smaller-to-medium jumps and regular park laps. It’s the kind of board that encourages creativity and messing around everywhere, rather than charging hard or laying down aggressive carves.

It’s particularly well suited to riders who value easy turn initiation, a forgiving semi-loose feel, easy-access pop, quick edge-to-edge response and near catch-free handling. It should also be fun in trees and bumps, especially in firmer conditions or shallow powder, though it’s not what I’d pick for deeper days.

Not really for high-speed bombing, aggressive carving or smashing through crud. But for low-intermediate and up riders looking for a fun, confidence-building freestyle deck — or as the playful board in a quiver — it makes a lot of sense.

TEST/REVIEW DetailS FOR THE Llama

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Llama is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Never Summer Llama 2026, 156cm (253mm waist width)

Date: April 2, 2025

Carving

Carving was better than I expected for a board this soft. Going in, I assumed it would feel pretty washy when trying to lay it over, but it actually held a carve decently at moderate speeds.

Once I started pushing it harder, particularly at speed, that’s where the limits showed up. There was definitely a ceiling where it stopped feeling composed. But for casual carving and just cruising around, it felt surprisingly competent. Not a hard carver by any means, but felt decent for more moderate carves.

Turning

Ease of Turning/Slashing:

Turn initiation felt super easy - borderline effortless. And I could slash out the tail easily, whenever I wanted, without really thinking about it. It had that semi-loose feel that made it really fun to just throw around.

Maneuverability at slow speeds:

This was one of its strong points. At slower speeds, it felt really quick edge-to-edge and required very little effort.

Catchiness:

Almost none. I wouldn’t say it was 100% catch-free, but it was very close. I never felt like I had to be cautious about catching an edge, which made everything - from turns to tricks - feel relaxed and forgiving.

Speed

Speed definitely wasn’t its strong suit. It held speed reasonably well, maybe even slightly better than I expected, but there was a clear limit.

Once I started pushing it faster, it lost that stable, confidence-inspiring feel. It wasn’t sketchy, but it didn’t feel locked in/stable either. This is the kind of board where you naturally settle into moderate speeds and just have fun there, rather than trying to bomb runs.

Powder

I didn’t get any real powder on the day, but I still tried to get a sense of how the Llama would handle it based on the feel. It actually surprised me a bit. There was this slightly surfy, loose sensation to it - something that reminded me of how boards with better powder performance tend to feel.

That said, I wouldn’t go overboard hyping it up. It’s still a true twin, and compared to something directional or even a directional twin, it’s naturally going to be more prone to sinking/nose diving. I figured it would be somewhere around average at best. Not a disaster, but also not something I’d pick for a deep day. If you kept your weight back, it’d hold its own, but it would be a bag leg burner.

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder:
It handled uneven snow about how I expected for a softer, more playful board. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t smashing through anything. It got knocked around a bit and didn’t feel super damp.

The upside was that it was easy to adjust and recover. Even when it got bounced around, I could quickly correct without much effort.

Trees/Bumps:

This was a much better environment for it. In tighter terrain, the agility really stood out. Quick turns, easy direction changes - it felt right at home weaving through trees or navigating bumps.

Deeper powder would limit it a bit here, but in firmer conditions or shallow powder, it was a lot of fun.

Jumps

This was one of the highlights. So much fun hitting jumps on the Llama.

Pop:

Super easy to access. It was nice and easy for loading up ollies and getting pop without much effort. Total pop was solid too - not huge, but definitely never felt lacking.

Approach:

Approaches felt really comfortable, especially for small to medium jumps. I could make adjustments easily and didn’t feel locked into one line. For larger jumps requiring more speed, it wasn’t as good, but still doable.

Landing:

Landings were forgiving, especially at moderate speeds. Once things got bigger or faster, it started to feel a bit less stable, but for most jumps, it handled landing really well.

Side-hits:

This is where it really shined. It was just about as fun as it gets for side hits. The combination of easy pop, quick turning, and a forgiving feel made it ideal for spotting and hitting anything on the sides of groomers or off-groomer.

Switch

Switch felt completely natural. Transitions were seamless, and riding switch didn’t feel like a compromise at all.

The asymmetrical design really seemed to help here - it just felt balanced and intuitive no matter which direction I was going.

Spins

Spins were super easy. The board felt light enough and responsive enough to get around without effort.

The only thing I noticed was a slight tendency to want to continue rotating after landing, especially on quicker rotations. Nothing major, but something I had to dial in a bit. Otherwise, it was a great spinning platform.

Jibbing

The soft flex, easy pop, and forgiving nature all made it a board that made it easy to handle rails and boxes. And if it made it feel easy for me (not the most advanced jibber here!), then it must be at least decent!

That said, it felt just slightly more jump-focused than jib-focused overall. Still very capable—just not exclusively a jib board.

Butters

Butters and presses were super easy. Not much effort required to get the nose and tail flexing and tip and tail felt the same – naturally, being a true twin.

It had that sweet spot where it was soft enough to make presses effortless, but not so soft that it felt like it would fold on me. I could lean into it confidently without worrying about over-flexing.

Overall Personality

The Llama had a semi-loose feel - bordering on stable, but leaning semi-loose. It wasn’t overly damp - on the chattier side - though not terribly so and that allowed better board feel.

It had a nice balance between smooth and snappy but overall excelled best when being snappy. I could ride it casually and let it flow, but it also responded quickly when I wanted to get more active with it.

Overall, it leaned clearly toward the playful side. But not ultra playful and didn’t fold at the slightest bit of an aggressive input.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

I came away from riding the Llama smiling and with that little kiss of euphoria/adrenaline you get after a pumped shred-session. It wasn’t trying to dominate any one category, but it made everything feel easy and enjoyable - especially spins, side hits, and messing around at moderate speeds.

It had a bit of a speed limit and wasn’t built for aggressive carving or charging through rough snow, but that didn’t feel like the point. The whole experience was about playfulness and creativity.

If I wanted a board to just cruise, hit every side hit I could find, spin off anything, keep things loose and fun, and regularly lap the park, this would be right up there.