Rome Hype Snowboard Review

Who is the Hype Best Suited To?

The Hype is best suited to anyone looking to get into freestyle riding or progress their freestyle riding further. Even better suited if you want to do that with a board that feels damper than the average freestyle board. 

Could work as a one-board-quiver, if you are riding predominantly freestyle, whether in the park or around the mountain and aren't too concerned with powder performance or riding super fast. 

Otherwise, makes a great compliment to your quiver, as your freestyle/park deck. 

Not quite beginner friendly but not far off. Low end intermediates should be fine with it - and even high end beginners might get away with it. But not for beginner beginners, due to the predominantly camber profile. 

The Hype in More Detail

Bindings angles: +12/-9

Stance width: 510mm (20.1″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Front Insert: 257mm (10.1")

Width at Back Insert: 257mm (10.1")  

Weight: 2800g (6lbs, 3oz)

Weight per cm: 19.05g/cm

Average Weight per cm: 17.38 grams/cm*

* based on just over 40 women's boards that I've weighed in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 models. The Hype was was quite a bit heavier on the scales compared to the average but felt normal on snow. Part of the reason is probably because of the softer flex of the Hype. Softer flexing boards tend to feel lighter than stiffer flexing boards, all else being equal. 

Tester: Meira

Rider Height:  5'4 (163cm)

Rider Weight: 130lbs (58kg)

Rider Boot Size: US Women's 8 (Burton Limelite)

Bindings Used: Union Milan

Powder

We didn't have any on the day, but with past experience with similar boards in powder, it's not going to be great. It will do fine in shallower powder, but be a back leg burner and nose diver in deeper powder. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: For how soft it is, it can lay down a pretty decent carve. It does get washy at a certain point though, particularly when at higher speeds and when trying to do really short radius carves. 

Turning: Very easy to initiate turns at slow and fast speeds and to slash around. Nice easy turner. No doubt the softer flex plays a big part in that. 

Maneuverability at Slow Speeds: Very nimble at slow speeds with quick edge-to-edge transitions. Minimal effort required when turning at slow speeds.

Catchiness: Overall uncatchy. At slow speeds not catchy at all, but can start to feel a little catchier when getting up to higher speeds.  

Speed

It's not ultra fast, but for a centered twin with an extruded base, it's not as slow as you'd think. In terms of stability at speed, it's also pretty decent, without being a bomber or anything. With it's softer flex, you'd expect it to be worse, but it does better than you'd think. Part of that, I would imagine, is down to a few things. 

Firstly, the extra weight of the board likely helps it to be more stable and pick up more momentum. Secondly, the predominantly camber profile likely helps it to be more stable and thirdly, its damper than you'd expect from this type of board - that's again potentially down to the extra weight. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud/Chunder: While softer flexing boards tend to get bucked around pretty easily in crud, the Hype was decently stable in chop/crud. Again, likely due to its extra weight/dampness. 

Bumps/Trees: It's nice and quick edge-to-edge, despite being wider and heavier than a typical women's 147. Not sure how it manages it, but having that softer torsional flex is likely the main reason, I would guess. So, was really good through trees. 

Jumps

Felt really good on jumps overall. Solid and good pop. 

Pop: Good overall pop and nice and easy to access. Because of the extra weight of the board, you don't get full value for pop, but it's still good. 

Approach: To a point, it feels pretty stable on approach, but for larger jumps where you need more speed, it can start to feel a little wobbly. Easy to make adjustments when needing to line up tighter take-offs, e.g. on side-hits. 

Landing: Can really stomp landings. While a softer flex can sometimes bounce a board around on landings a bit, the Hype manages to be able to really stomp. Likely this is down, at least in part, to the extra weight and extra width, giving you a more solid and larger landing platform. 

Also, easy to readjust if landing isn't solid.

Side-hits: The pop is easy to access for side-hits, it's easy to maneuver for narrower take-offs and solid, yet forgiving for less than ideal landing points.  

Small jumps/Big Jumps: Really good for small to medium jumps. Too soft to be great for larger jumps, especially in terms of the approach. 

Switch

Transitions in and out of switch are easy and catch-free feeling. And riding switch is really good, which was no surprise given it's a centered, true twin board that is generally pretty easy going to ride. 

Spins

Again, very good. Easy to setup and land switch and good easy access pop for those spins where you don't have a big take-off. This is one area where you do notice the extra weight a bit, when spinning. And the wider feel also contributes, IMO, to a bit of a slower spin rate, so you've got to put more effort into the spin to get it around.

But once you do put that effort in, it performs really well. Doesn't over rotate and if you under rotate, it's not catchy when finishing your spin in the snow. 

Jibbing

An excellent jibber. Easy approach to features with its easy maneuverability, solid pop on and off features and a stable, balanced feeling riding over features. Good and solid for dismounts. 

Butters

Nose and tail are easy to press. Overall really flexible throughout the board. Can get a slight over-flex with presses but easy to gain stability back after over flexing.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

The Hype is a fun little freestyle board, that manages to still have a snappy, easy popping feel, while being damper than the average freestyle park board, so handles crud/chunder better than you'd think and handles a little more speed than it otherwise might. 

It's still snappy though and nice and nimble at slower speeds. Loves to jump, spin and hit rails/boxes and is great riding switch. 

If you see a lot of deeper powder, the Hype is not going to cut it, IMO. This would be a good option as a second board to compliment your more powder oriented board. But could work as a one-board-quiver for a predominantly freestyle/park rider that doesn't see much powder or doesn't ride powder and doesn't want/need to ride super fast.