Nidecker Escape Review

Overview of the Escape’S Specs

Who is the Escape Most Suited To?

The Nidecker Escape is best suited to someone who's on a tighter budget but doesn't want to have to go for a soft flexing or beginner type board. They still want a board they can push fairly hard, but don't want to have to pay too much to get it. 

Even better suited to the rider who fits the description above and also wants to take advantage of anything a resort or side-country can offer, from park, to cruising groomers, to carving groomers, to taking advantage of powder days, trees, etc. 

Not for beginners - it's slightly catchy feeling at slow speeds and general overall flex feel make it a pretty challenging prospect for beginners, IMO, and a potential confidence buster/progression halter. But for intermediate riders who have progressed to a certain stage in technique and confidence it should be fine. 

Escape DetailS

GodBindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 550mm (21.7″)

Stance Setback: 10mm (0.4")

Width at Front Insert: 267mm (10.5")

Width at Back Insert:  269mm (10.6")

Tester: Nate

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Response ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Weight: 3060grams (6lbs 12oz)

Weight per cm: 19.25 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.71 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 250 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. So, the Escape was a little heavier than average on the scales, but felt normal on snow. 

Powder

We didn't get any real amounts of fresh snow the day we tested the Escape, but based on specs and feel, it should be pretty good in powder. It has a directional shape, including a directional camber profile, with a good amount of rocker in the nose. That plus a little bit of setback and very subtle taper, should help to sink the tail a bit and float the nose, in powder. 

Carving

Really decent on a carve and can do a variety of carving well, including long radius and shorter radius carves and at moderately high speeds. It's not a carving demon or anything that will blow your mind, but it's really solid on a carve. 

Turning

Ease of Turning/Slashing: Not super easy to initiate turns when riding really slowly, but with a moderate amount of speed under it, it becomes much easier and loses the slight bit of catchy feeling it has at slow speeds, without having to get too much speed under it.

Maneuverability at slow speeds: Fairly nimble at slower speeds, without being lightning. Not effortless to change edge-to-edge, but also not something that requires a high amount of rider energy. 

Skidded Turns: Has a slight catchy feel when trying to slash at slower speeds, but when it gets a little bit of speed (and doesn't take a lot) under it, that feeling disappears. 

Speed

Is decently fast and can handle a good amount of speed without starting to feel unstable. It's not an out and out bomber, but still really decent. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: It's not an immoveable object in messy snow - it can get bucked around when it's really choppy, but it doesn't get thrown around like a rag doll either. It handles it fairly well. And, it's not too bad at making corrections, when you do get knocked off your line. 

Trees/Bumps: Not lightning edge-to-edge or effortless, but not bad either and would be decent in trees in powder. Good edge hold for harder moguls. 

Jumps

Overall nothing overly exciting, but gets the job done well and still fun overall.

Pop: The pop isn't too hard to access. Not the easiest ever, but also certainly not hard and it has OK overall pop, but nothing epic. 

Approach: Good mix of being stable but also with the ability to make adjustments when necessary. 

Landing: Solid on landings, has enough tail to land tail heavy and get away with it and enough stiffness in the tail to hold on, when you do go a bit tail heavy. Forgiving enough of errors and pretty good for speed checking/dodging quickly when you need to at the end of a jump or side hit. 

Side-hits: It could be more poppy and a little easier to adjust when riding slower, but overall it's decent. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Good for all types of jumps. Best for those who have some jump experience already - not as good for beginner jumpers who will be approaching jumps more slowly and likely needing more adjustments and preferably a more catch-free feeling at slower speeds. 

Switch

Felt good switch. When transitioning at slower speeds had to watch it a bit for catchiness but faster speed transitions were fine. It's got that directional camber profile, which you notice riding the other way, but otherwise, it's not that far setback and the taper is very subtle. 

Spins

It's fine on setup and landing when you have a bit of speed under you, but can feel catchy at slower speeds, so, like with jumps, it's better for more experienced spinners, who are likely spinning with more speed under them. 

Swing weight doesn't feel heavy and it doesn't over spin you. Again, if you're landing slower, then it can be a bit tricky to finish your spin on the snow, if you don't quite get around, but otherwise, it's not too bad at finishing a spin that you can't quite rotate enough. 

Jibbing

As is the theme with this board, approaching a jib with a bit of speed under you (which makes them noticeably easier most of the time anyway!) and it felt pretty good. It's not ideal and not what it's made for, for sure, and certainly a harder prospect if you're approaching them a bit gingerly, at slower speeds, particularly if you're not experienced at hitting rails/boxes etc. 

Butters

Pretty easy to press the nose and there's noticeably more flex in the nose than the tail. So presses don't feel super even, but once you get used to that you can butter it around fairly easy.

I couldn't over press it and I think for most it would be fairly hard to over press unless you got it in a very small size for your weight. Presses lock in nicely once you get them to a point where you can lock them in. Not super easy to get to that point, but not super hard either. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

The Escape has nothing particularly special about it, but it also has no real weaknesses. It's middle of the road for pretty much everything. 

It does have one standout feature though, despite being otherwise ordinary, and that's it's value-for-money. It's average performance but significantly below average price-wise for this category - and even more so for its for its flex-range.