[PRÉCOMMANDE] Snowboard Borealis Leviathan

I love this board!
Based in Lyon, right at the foot of the French Alps, I bought the Leviathan three years ago. Even if it’s not an everyday, do-it-all board, it’s easily the best board I’ve had in my quiver.
For those special days—you know the ones—the Leviathan is an absolute killer. In powder, no matter how deep, it floats like a magic carpet. Even though it’s officially a 164 cm directional board, it feels much closer to a 160 under your feet.
You can drop into steep alpine terrain stacked with powder with total confidence. It’s fast—really fast. I’m used to dropping in last and ending up first at the bottom. I’ve ridden it many times on big powder days in Les 3 Vallées, and it never stops being amazing. I also brought it to Japan four times (both Hokkaido and Hakuba in the Japanese Alps), and every day on it was pure pleasure.
Sure, it’s a big boat to steer through tight trees, but it’s absolutely doable. And when the terrain finally opens up? Trust me—you’ll fall in love with this deck all over again.
On groomers, it carves surprisingly well, though you need to fine-tune the pressure on each foot. It loves fast, long, sweeping turns. In uneven terrain it stays stable and efficient, as long as you’re not dealing with hard, icy moguls.
For reference, I’m 6'2" and 210 lbs.
Basé à Lyon, au pied des Alpes françaises, j’ai acheté la Leviathan il y a trois ans. Même si ce n’est pas une board « passe-partout » pour tous les jours, c’est clairement la meilleure planche que j’ai eue dans mon « quiver ».
Pour ces journées spéciales — vous voyez ce de quoi je parle — la Leviathan est incroyable. Dans la poudre, quelle que soit la profondeur, elle flotte comme un tapis volant. Même si c’est officiellement une 164 cm directionnelle, elle donne vraiment l’impression d’être plus proche d’une 160 sous les pieds.
Tu peux te lancer dans des pentes alpines raides chargées de poudre en toute confiance. Elle est rapide — vraiment rapide. J’ai l’habitude de partir en dernier et d’arriver en premier en bas. Je l’ai ridée de nombreuses fois lors de grosses journées de poudreuse dans les 3 Vallées, et c’est toujours un pur bonheur. Je l’ai aussi emmenée quelques fois au Japon (à Hokkaido et Hakuba dans les Alpes japonaises), et chaque session a été un plaisir total.
Oui, c’est un long bateau à manœuvrer entre les arbres, mais ça se fait très bien. Et quand le terrain s’ouvre enfin… là, je vous garantis que vous allez tomber amoureux de cette planche !
Sur piste, elle carve étonnamment bien, à condition d’être précis sur les appuie. C’est un ride précis, rapide et doux. Le sawollow tail relance etonnament bien en sortie de courbe. Elle adore les grandes courbes rapides. Dans le terrain irrégulier, elle reste stable et efficace, tant que ce n’est pas un champ de bosse durs, là c’est pas facile ni agréable de maneuvrer les 164cm.
Pour info, je mesure 1m88 et pèse 95 kg.

Got to ride the Leviathan for the first time yesterday at Winter Park, CO.
Rider: 5’9” / 175lbs / 9.5 US men’s boot
There was about 9” of fresh powder on top of an accumulated additional 12 from the previous 3 days. Float is amazing and I found even later in the day when it got slightly above 32F and the powder got wet and heavy that the tail would still cut and sink on higher angle to keep the nose from diving under the crust. I got lucky and the Cirque was open in the morning so I got fourth tracks down south headwall around 11:30am when the powder was still fluffy. Took 4 turns then pointed and sent it. Never had a board have that kind of feel on top of extreme high angle powder while going about 50-55mph, it felt like floating on a cloud and I didn’t have to put ANY effort into leaning back, the swallow sunk by itself and the nose kept me on top of everything. The only “ downside “ of this board is that on flatter packed out cat tracks it doesn’t like it and you have to actually put into the camber to get a clean turn. Trying to ankle steer this on a hard pack cat track is not very fun lol.
Amazing board for what it is supposed to be used for.

***** will update this review as I get more days on the board with more variations of powder conditions

I bought one of these at the end of last season and I love it. I'm 176cm/5'9.5" and 62kg/135lbs, snowboarding/doing seasons for 10 years, I'd consider myself expert but not freestyle more freeride.

Before I bought the board I was on the lookout for a big powder board that would carve well. I wanted a big-mountain type board that would lay trenches and I wasn't worried about it being a bit oversized. I missed the blurb about it having the effective edge of a 156, but I always felt similar to previous 158's, so that makes sense.

After riding it for a while I realised It's not an imposing or intimidating board to ride (if you're at least an intermediate snowboarder), but it's mid+stiff, damp and FAST - I regularly catch up and overtake skiers on cat tracks. I've got a 5 board quiver and this is easily the most comfortable at speed, and probably carves almost as well (or even as well) as the 154 Jones Freecarver 6000s I bought this year to try. It also floats effortlessly in powder - I've had it in about 40cm and I can just stand completely centered, no back foot weighting and it does it. My other powder board is a Jones Mind Expander 154 and they have similar float, but that has full rocker and is generally used as my super fun playful tree board. This will play (no, really - it's fun!) on groomers and go full-send in powder and down chutes etc.

I think they should produce a big-boy version of this, a 174-180cm version for the big heavy guys out there.

It does everything I want and more and I can't recommend it enough.

(Side note - pretty much full black base and metal edge all the way around speak to a design with good durability and easy to service - the things ski techs appreciate)

Excellente dans la poudre, agile et accrocheuse sur piste damée, un régal et c’est français en plus !!