Niche Aether Snowboard Review

Who is the Aether Most Suited To?

The Aether is best for anyone who wants to explore everything the mountain has to offer, including the park, but to do it with a freestyle flavor. 

It's got great edge-hold in hard/icy conditions, so if you get those a lot, then this might be a great option for you. 

Not for beginners, but good for intermediate riders and up, for those who suit the style this board is meant for.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 540mm (21.3″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 262mm (10.32") 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M  

Redemption

I rode the 2019 model of this board too and I had issues with it feeling grabby. So whilst not much changed for the 2020 model, I wanted to retest it to see if that was a one-off - and it was. This time around I didn't have those issues, which was great. 

Flex

Overall 6/10, but I would say softer in the tip and tail - probably 5/10 there, and stiffer between the bindings - maybe 7/10 there. Maybe a little stiffer in the tail vs the nose. 

Powder

There was a little around and the Aether felt OK but not great in there. 

There isn't much going for it to make it powder friendly. It goes fine in shallower powder, but once things get deeper and steeper, this will likely tend to sink it's nose. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: The Aether feels good on a carve - and it does prefer to carve than to skid but you can still get away with skidded turns on it.   

Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's quite nimble at slow speeds without being ultra nimble/quick edge to edge. Felt better with a bit of speed on it.   

Skids: Not the easiest to skid but can skid turns on it without too much consequence. 

Speed

Not a mega-bomber, but can handle a good bit of speed. Not ultra stable when you really open it up, but stable up to some pretty good speeds.   

Uneven Terrain

Decent in both crud and bumps/undulations. It's relatively damp and nimble enough and flexes with the terrain well. For crud doesn't crash through it, but goes over it pretty well.  

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

This video is getting a few seasons old now, but nothing much has changed with the Aether, apart from the graphic. 

Jumps

Overall a good jumper that's stable on approach, has decent pop and a solid landing platform. 

Pop: It's not ultra poppy but there's some pop there. You've got to load it up a bit to extract it - there's some there that you can access easily but if you want to get it's full pop there is some loading required. 

Approach: Nice and stable on approach for any size jump but also has some.  

Landing: Good solid landing platform. Almost could be more forgiving if you're just learning jumps but otherwise really good. 

Side-hits: Nimble enough for trickier approaches and decent pop. Overall decent for side-hits.  

Small jumps/Big Jumps: You can hit any sized jump on this board, but I would say that medium to large is it's sweet spot. 

Switch

Rides well going either way. 

Spins

Great for landing and taking off switch. OK for getting the spin around, but does feel quite torsionally stiff. 

Jibbing

You can but not the easiest. Not for beginner jibbers. 

Butters

Despite being on the stiffer side of medium, it's actually not to bad to butter on. It feels like it's softer tip and tail vs the middle of the board. 

Overall the Aether is a good versatile all-mountain-freestyle board with powder it's biggest weakness and not the best for jibbing, at least for beginner jibbers. 

But for jumps, carving, spins and even butters, it's really good, and can handle a bit of speed too.