Bataleon Disaster Snowboard Review

Who is the Disaster Best Suited To?

The Disaster is most suited to anyone looking for a park board that is going to excel on jibs, presses and small to medium jumps. Not as suited to bigger jumps. 

But pretty fun in trees too, because of how easily and quickly this board goes edge-to-edge. 

Definitely not a speed/carving/powder board - it's a fun, playful, jib-first park board that's also good for buttering around, tree runs (when there's not too much powder) and really fun on sidehits. 

Beginner suitable for sure, because of how easy it is to turn and how uncatchy it feels, especially good for those who are just starting out in the park. But also great for advanced park riders who prefer a softer flexing board and tend to be creative, press/ jib dominant and prefer small to medium jumps/tricks. 

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 585mm (23″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 262mm (10.32") 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Control Board for Control Laps: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker

Weight: 2880grams (6lbs 6oz)

Weight per cm: 18.70 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.59 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 200 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 models. So on the scales it was very normal - slightly heavier than normal but on snow it felt really light. Soft playful boards often feel lighter than they are, so it wasn't a big surprise. 

Powder

We had a little bit of fresh snow but most if it fell 48 hours before and was pretty tracked by the time we got to it, but did help us get a bit of a feel for it in powder.

It was fine in what we had, but this board just isn't built for powder (for the most part), so it would struggle a bit in anything deep, most likely. 

The only thing it has going for it is those upturned edges but as far as Bataleon's upturned edges go, they aren't turned up that much. And being a centered twin board it's only going to float average at best, IMO. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: If you keep the speed slow and keep those carves short and sharp, you can pull it off. But for the most part this board doesn't carve that well (as opposed to how it turns which is a different story altogether - see below). When you get some speed under it and try to carve it wants to skid/let go.

Turning: As easy as it gets to turn this board. Just have to think about turning and it does. 

Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: Ultra nimble from edge-to-edge. Again, just have to think about turning and before you know you're on your next edge. 

Skidded Turns: About as uncatchy as it gets. This board will skid any turn without having to think about or have any concern of catching an edge, in my experience. Great when you're looking to slash around, but not so good when you're looking to dig in for a big carve. But carving not what this board is built for.  

Speed

Let's get this out of the way. If you want a board to bomb the hill with this is not the one. This is a playful, creative park board. 

But was actually more stable at speed on my speed lap than I was thinking it was going to be. But my expectations were very low! I was expecting to give it a 1 or 1.5, but I think 2/5 is accurate for this board when it comes to speed. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: Gets bucked around super easy and you feel everything. Great when you're hitting jibs, pressing etc, but not so good when you're trying to smash through crud. It does redeem itself in the fact that it's very easy to maneuver so whenever I got thrown around, it was super easy to correct. 

Bumps: This thing was lightning edge-to-edge for me and that made weaving through bumps a breeze. 

Jumps

Super fun for smaller jumps but too soft for bigger jumps.

Pop: Ultra easy to access! Not much more when you wind up, but what you get effortlessly is plenty. This board will pop with the slightest of efforts. 

Approach: A little wobbly on faster approaches as expected. For trickier approaches to side hits or when needing to make adjustments it's good though. 

Landing: Not a stomper. Really good on smaller landings though. But for bigger landings doesn't have the stiffness to take them that well. 

Side-hits: Just so much fun! Approaches are easy and you can hit those last minute hits you see out of the corner of your eye with ease (of course first checking that your coast is clear!) - and that nice easy pop makes even the smallest sidehits heaps of fun. 

Small jumps/Big Jumps: Best on small jumps. Fine on medium. Much less suited to big jumps. 

Switch

About as good as it gets. It's a centered twin and completely catch free, so transitions are super easy. For all intents and purposes you can call this a 5/5, but I do really like asym twins for switch. And also, if you're looking to actually carve and go relatively fast switch, it does have it's limitations then, but generally close to perfect for switch.  You could just rotate constantly down the mountain without care (until you got dizzy!)

Spins

Light, good easy access pop (for those spins where you're not approaching them with much speed or not much or nothing to jump off), easy to setup and land switch. Pretty much everything going for it, except not well suited to big tricks, just as it's not as well suited to bigger jumps. 

Jibbing

As good as it gets for me. I'm not a confident jibber but this thing made me confident to try things I don't usually. There's not hint of catching anything, there's easy pop to pop on - the maneuverability is awesome for the approach to get perfectly lined up. Pops off the end with ease. Easy to spin and really just no fear of digging in at any point. 

Butters

Super easy to initiate a press. You barely have to lean into the nose or tail and it will go into a press. Some might like a little more resistance, but I liked that I could be really lazy and still lay into a good press/butter. And goes without saying that the nose and tail feel the same in a press, being a true twin. 

The Disaster is fun, snappy, whippy, soft and ultra playful.

Not a speed demon as you'd expect and not something you're going to be laying down big high speed carves on - or take into the backcountry. 

This board knows where it's good - and that's in the park. And in the park, it loves to press anything, hit any kind of jib and take on small to medium jumps. Bigger jumps are not its forte. 

It turns on a dime and is also really fun for sidehits and butter for when you're out on the groomers. One of those boards that's super fun to take out when you're stuck on the greens with a beginner - and you can just have heaps of fun on it dashing in and out of trees, buttering, hitting sidehits and then lapping the park, which is it's true home.