Year Model: 2022
Size: 148 cm
My Height & Weight: 5’7” & 130 lb
Bindings used: Union Juliet & NOW Conda
Camber: Fusion Rocker Camber. Rocker between the feet, camber under each foot, a transition in front of your front, and then rocker at tip and tail. Stance setback 0.75.
Shape: Directional
Flex: 5/10
Carving: The Never Summer Harpoon definitely holds its own carving, but carving is not where it shines. The extra rocker between your feet makes it more playful and less connected to the ground. So, on corduroy and fast groomers, you have to muscle into the turns a little more than usual to hold an edge.
Stability: The Harpoon feels very solid underfoot and plows through all kinds of snow, even if it’s heavy and choppy. The volume-shifted design makes it a little wider than usual which provides extra stability. It feels the least stable on icy groomers.
Ollies/Pop: This board really wants to have fun. It has a good pop to it. It’s really fun on side hits and kickers! I found the Never Summer Harpoon to be easier to ollie than most freeride boards.
Trees: The Harpoon is absolutely epic in trees! The rocker design makes it extremely quick to maneuver and turn even in tight trees. It feels so nimble, you can point it anywhere you want to go, and it goes. It makes you feel really lightweight with its quick and playful moves.
Powder: It is so fun in powder! I feel like I can fly through powder with ease on this board due to its volume-shifted shape and the wider nose. The Harpoon has a slight setback as well which is great for deep powder. Honestly riding this board in powder, I feel like I’m barely connected to the ground and just floating on top of the clouds.
Butterability: It’s not overly butterable. The Never Summer Harpoon is still a freeride board and overall fairly stiff. Put it in powder though, and it suddenly feels like you can butter all day!
Jumps: This board is fun on backcountry kickers, but not my favorite on park jumps. It’s a little more squirely leading up to the take-off because of the rocker between your feet. I wasn’t getting a hard edge hold going into the jump. Definitely still fun though… and it’s not so stiff that you can’t throw it around.
Where it shines: I would say this board really shines in the trees on a powder day. I have never had more fun than on this board in those conditions.
Who would love it: A pretty aggressive rider who loves to ride the whole mountain, and prefers off-piste rather than groomers would love the Harpoon. Also, a rider who wants a freeride board but values a more playful feel than the average stiff hard-charging freeride board would absolutely love this. It’s definitely a niche board that would suit the right person really well.
Personal Thoughts: I love to ride fast, through trees, in powder, and I’m rarely on the groomed runs. I love to hit side hits and kickers and be playful, while still riding really hard, and I absolutely adore the Never Summer Harpoon. Right now, this snowboard is my favorite of all the boards I have ridden. The textured topsheet is also amazing. It doesn’t chip easily and acts as a natural stomp pad. However, I probably wouldn’t choose this as my “quiver of one” board. I think it needs to be paired with a camber board for carving on spring groomer days or a slightly softer board for spring park laps. For an epic “quiver of one” board, check out the Jones Stratos or the Season Nexus.
