K2 Niseko Pleasures Review

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.

NOTE: The review below hasn't been updated beyond the 2025 model as the 2025 was the final version of the Niseko Pleasures. 

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

Of the 30 current model mellow freeride snowboards that we tested:

• The average score was 85.6/100
• The highest score was 93.8/100
• The lowest score was 72.5/100
• The average price was $587
• The Niseko Pleasures ranked 22nd out of 30

Overview of the Niseko Pleasures’ Specs

Check out the tables for the Niseko Pleasures' specs and available sizes.

Specs

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

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.

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.