Hello and welcome to my K2 Niseko Pleasures review.
In this review, I will take a look at the Niseko Pleasures as a mellow freeride snowboard.
As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Niseko Pleasures a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other mellow-freeride snowboards.
Overall Rating
Board: K2 Niseko Pleasures
Price: $619
Style: MellowFreeride
Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)
Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Stiff (6.5/10)
Rating Score: 84.3/100
Compared to other Men’s Mellow Freeride Boards.
Out of the 33 men’s mellow freeride snowboards that I rated:
Overview of the Niseko Pleasures’ Specs
Check out the tables for the Niseko Pleasures' specs and available sizes.
Specs
Style: | Mellow Freeride |
Price: | $619 - BUYING OPTIONS |
Ability Level: |  |
Flex: |  |
Feel: |  |
Chattery/Damp: |  |
Smooth/Snappy: |  |
Playful/Aggressive: |  |
Edge-hold: |  |
Camber Profile: | Hybrid Camber K2's "Directional Combination Camber" |
Shape: | |
Setback Stance: | Setback 0.75" (19mm) |
Base: | Sintered (Carbon Infused 5500 Sintered Base ) |
Weight: | A little heavier than normal |
Sizing
LENGTH (cm) | Waist Width (mm) | Rec Rider Weight (lb) | Rec Rider Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
151 | 261 | 110-190+ | 50-86+ |
156 | 271 | 140-230+ | 59-104+ |
Who is the Niseko Pleasures Most Suited To?
The Niseko Pleasures is best suited to anyone chasing powder. A great option to add as your powder deck in your quiver.
It's not bad no a carve either, so you can certainly run it on the groomers, but it's the kind of board, I would buy to add to my quiver and bring it out on powder days.
Not beginner friendly - and would be pushing it for low intermediate too, but anything above that should be fine with it.
The Niseko Pleasures in More Detail
O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Niseko Pleasures is capable of.
Demo Info
Board: K2 Niseko Pleasures 2022, 151cm (261mm waist width)
Date: January 5, 2022
Conditions: Plenty of fresh snow!
Overcast but visibility was fine for the most part, without being unlimited.
Temperature was around -7°C (19°F) - and -12°C (10°F) with wind chill, so quite cold.
24 hour snow: 9" (22cm)
48 hour snow: 26" (65cm)
7 day snow: 47" (119cm)
On groomer: Groomers were soft as, but not overly slow or anything. Bit of crud to contend with in certain spots, particularly as the day went on.
Off groomer: Pow! Pow! Pow! And pretty dry powder too - not champagne dry, but really nice. Mixture of tracked and untouched powder.
Bindings angles: +15/-15
Stance width: 19.9″ (505mm) - a very narrow stance for me, but it's reference on this board.
Stance Setback: Setback 0.75" (19mm)
Width at Inserts: 276mm (10.87") at front insert and 267mm (10.51") at the back insert (lots of taper on this thing)
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: 2980grams (6lbs 9oz)
Weight per cm: 19.74 grams/cm
Average Weight per cm: 18.43 grams/cm*
*based on a sample size of around 100 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021 *& 2022 models. The Niseko Pleasures is a little heavier than normal for it's size, though that extra width does add weight. On snow, it felt pretty much normal, but just a little heavier than normal.
Powder
This thing is made for powder, and gladly we had a good blast of pow to test it on - and it didn't disappoint. Floated effortlessly in deeper powder and didn't give any hint of nose diving.
And none of that is surprising given its specs. There is a big 22mm of taper, a nose much longer than the tail and a good amount of rocker in the nose. The setback on effective edge (0.75") is moderate, but the setback on the overall length of the board, due to that long nose, is closer to 4".
Carving & Turning
Carving: It's not a monster carver or anything, but it can lay down a decent carve. The camber is fairly mellow on it and the effective edge isn't huge, being a 151 and with a big nose like that, but given those things, it carved better than I expected.
Ease of Turns/Slashes: Not as easy as I though it would be to initiate turns on the groomers or slash with - it is very wide and that does cause a bit of delay between when you shift your weight to when the edge engages, in my experience.
Also has a feeling of wanting to flat base, when your trying to turn or get it on edge. When you really commit to an edge, it'll hold it there, but felt I had to fight it a little to stop it from reverting to flat basing. Not to a really bad extent like I've experienced with some boards, but there was an element of it there.
Maneuverability at slow speeds: Not un-nimble on groomers, but certainly not lightning edge-to-edge or anything. Again, that width is likely a big part of that. Takes a bit of effort to get that turn imitated and then there's a bit of a delay. It is however, one of those boards that when you get it into powder, it becomes way more agile than it is on harder packed snow.
Skidded Turns: Even though that camber is pretty mellow, still not the easier to skid turns on. That feeling of wanting to revert to flat basing, gives it a bit of a catchy feel, if you get off your game.
Speed
Felt better at speed than I was expecting for sure. For how short this board is it felt pretty stable. It's dampness and the fact that it's not a super light board probably helped.
Uneven Terrain
Crud: Smashed through crud relatively well - and that big floaty nose kind of just soared over top. Again the weight and dampness helped here. It wasn't completely immune to being bucked around though.
Bumps: It's not super quick edge-to-edge as mentioned earlier, but it does have that short tail, which helps in bumps and trees.
Jumps
It's OK but unexciting.
Pop: Middle of the road pop. In terms of accessing that pop, it requires a bit of effort to extract it, but it's not something that you've got to really throw your weight into and wind up or anything. When you do load it up more, there's a little bit more, but not much more.
Approach: Quite stable for faster approaches and whilst not being super easy to speed check or adjust your line, it's not bad for that either.
Landing: Relatively solid for a 151. Width helps there. Not a stomper though. Fairly forgiving of bad landings.
Side-hits: Not that bad, but nothing amazing or exciting either. And not great for spins off side-hits. Feels more like a board that prefers to be grounded, but you can still give it some air.
Small jumps/Big Jumps: Best for medium
Switch
This thing is highly directional, so naturally not great for switch.
Spins
Getting a spin around was pretty easy even with a bit of extra weight - that low swing weight because of the length did make it easy to spin. But not great for setting up or landing switch and the pop was average.
Butters
Yeah, nah. I mean the tip and tail weren't like dead or anything, there's a little bit of flex there, but the tail and nose feel so different to press.
Score Breakdown and Final Verdict
Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.
RATING | Contribution to Final Score | |
|---|---|---|
POWDER | 4.5 | 27/30 |
TURNS/SLASHING | 3.5 | 10.5/15 |
CARVING | 3.5 | 7/10 |
TREES/BUMPS | 4.0 | 12/15 |
CRUD/CHUNDER | 3.5 | 7/10 |
SPEED | 3.5 | 7/10 |
JUMPS | 3.0 | 3/5 |
SWITCH | 1.5 | 1.5/5 |
TOTAL after normalizing | 84.3/100 |
The Niseko Pleasures is a damp little board that loves powder more than anything. Whilst it does OK on the groomers, this is the board I would get as a powder board in my quiver.
More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online
If you want to learn more about the Niseko Pleasures, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.
If you want to check out some other mellow freeride snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Niseko Pleasures compares to other mellow freeride snowboards, then check out the next link.
Hi Nate. If JUMPS and SWITCH were not factored into the final comparison/score/verdict, how do you think the Niseko Pleasures would compare to the other mellow freeride boards? Would it still be middle of the pack or would it move substantially farther up the list? Any other thoughts to share if jumps and switch are not factored in? Thank you!!! Cheers
Hi John, thanks for your message.
Great question! I ran our scoring system for mellow freeride boards without jumps and switch factored in and it did jump up a few places to 14th. And overall had a score a little higher than the average. That was from purely removing jumps and switch and not allocating their weighting elsewhere. Allocating 5 more to the powder and trees/bumps ratings, the Niseko Pleasures jumped up one more spot to 13th. If there’s any other way you’d like me to allocate the weighting from jumps and switch, I can have a look at that too.
hi nate,
my friend just bought niseko pleasures 151 snowboard in Tokyo & tried to fasten with new binding, but when fastened about 2 turns, cannot fasten more deeper.
is thread hole designed in imperial unit? generally bolts come with the binding dhould be M6 type.
can u advise.
tks
Hi Tony
Thanks for your message.
Not sure what’s going on there. I didn’t have any issues with binding up the Niseko Pleasures.
Binding screws do come in different lengths. But a majority are 14mm-16mm. But yeah should be M6. The screws would have come with the bindings, rather than the board, so if you could let me know the bindings that your friend is using, that would be great.
Hi Nate
Thanks for all your help over the years, I was saying I may go for a burton show stopper 54 to replace the 58 I sold but there is a cheap one of these in a 56.
This would be for a quiver board for my annual japan trip.
This weaves through trees with ease yeah? I mean it’s meant for niseko.
Cheers
Tim
Hi Tim
I found that when there was powder, it weaved with ease, but when it was harder, it wasn’t super quick edge to edge. Not really sluggish or anything, but not as quick as I was expecting for the 151 that I rode. But it does really change personality in powder, so if you were confident you were to get it in powder, then yeah, I would say it weaves with ease. But in firmer snow, not so much. You do have almost no tail, which does really help in tight trees, not catching that tail on anything.
In the 56, I don’t think it’s going to feel much smaller, if at all versus the Show Stopper 158, which would be my biggest concern with going with this option for you. If we’re similar specs – all be it you have bigger feet and a small amount of weight on me – and I didn’t find the 151 outstanding in terms of maneuverability, I’d be concerned how you might find the 156. The 156 is wider at the waist than the Showstopper 58 and whilst it’s a little narrower at the back insert and tail, it’s wider at the front insert and nose – and has more effective edge (117cm vs 113.7cm on the 58 Showstopper) too.
Thanks Nate, either going for showstopper 54 or now looking at the k2 excavator 54. Tough call
I haven’t ridden the Excavator so can’t comment there, but I like the look of it size-wise in the 54 versus the 56 Niseko Pleasures for you.