If you’re the type of rider who is in search of a supremely versatile board that carves as well as it floats and looks as good as it feels, then the 2023 Arbor Element Camber is a fantastic starting point. Built with Arbor’s Highland II core consisting of poplar and paulownia wood, with an emphasis on light weight paulownia. This makes the Element Camber one of the more energetic cambered boards out there, allowing a wide variety of riders to access the full sidecut and flex. Arbor’s Knucklehead profile adds to the well-rounded nature of the board by providing a fantastic blend of front side performance and a penchant for powder. For most resort riders, ranging from progressing intermediates all the way to demanding experts, the Arbor Element Camber is a true all-mountain weapon. All of our testers were on the 159 cm length.
ROCKER & OUTLINE SHAPE
Camber
PREFERRED TERRAIN
Groomers, Powder, Big Mountain
Maxx Connolly noted that the length felt a bit long, but that lines up nicely with his top scores of 4’s out of 5 for stability, torsional stiffness, and edge hold. 3’s out of 5 were given for flotation, forgiveness, versatility, and overall impression, with lower scores of 2’s for quickness, maneuverability, and playfulness. Maxx states that “This board wants to rip. It feels great making big fast turns and cuts through chunky conditions with ease. It is a tougher board to control but seems great for a variety of conditions. I would love to get this board (in the proper size for me) in the woods.” Eric McDonough also felt the 159 “felt a little long with the larger camber profile,” as his scores were fairly similar to Maxx’s in terms of 4’s for stability, torsional stiffness, and edge hold—likely due to the longer length of the board. Other than a low score of 2 out of 5 for flotation, the rest of Erick’s scores were all 3’s, showing the supreme average-ness of the Element Camber. “At 5’3” the 159cm was a little long for me but the large camber profile held an edge well on hard pack granular conditions. Felt stable at higher speeds. Good for intermediate to advanced riders who want to charge.”
David Lombardi notes the Element Camber 159’s trueness to size, scoring it all 4’s across the board. This type of high baseline scoring is indicative of a well-rounded and versatile board. As a result, Dave calls it an “Excellent all mountain snowboard choice for intermediate to advanced riders. One to consider if you're just going to own one do it all board. The camber adds much more control and grip compared to its rocker version but maintains an ideal flex and playfulness. Extremely responsive. Riders can be confident sending this board down any terrain. Very solid construction without feeling heavy.” The lightness of the board certainly stands out here, showing that Arbor does a nice job by reducing weight without sacrificing performance. Also on that 159, Sam Whitney scored the board 4’s out of 5 for stability, quickness, maneuverability, torsional stiffness, and edge hold. Remaining scores of 3 out of 5 completed his card, again indicating a strongly average personality of the Element Camber. Sam’s feedback gives good insight into the character of the board: “The Element Camber is what happens when you take a board bred in the park and give it support and edge hold to take the tricks out of the park and ride the whole mountain. Middle of the road flex pattern provides the balance between butters and presses with solid landing stability both regular and switch. Perfect for intermediate riders looking to progress their all-mountain skills while still being fully capable of any trick you can think up.” The creativity of the rider matters here, in that the Element will respond to the input, whether it’s in a front-side capacity or more of a freeride realm.
The Arbor Element Camber checks a lot of boxes for a lot of riders. The blend of light weight, cambered energy, and versatile shaping allows for the rider to dictate both shape and duration of the turn, as well as terrain and snow condition capability. The fact that it does so at a high-performance level, looking as clean and sharp as it does, speaks volumes about Arbor’s commitment to producing top-end snowboards.
