1 / 3CAPiTA The Matriarch Snowboard 26/27
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PTO Verdict
“Torstein Horgmo's debut board is a premium, demanding freeride deck - you are paying for the build, and buying the spec sheet.”
Best for: Advanced to expert riders who ride on edge and drive the board - full traditional camber run at a Directional 7 rewards technique and punishes a passenger. The 'park to powder' rider especially: a freestyle background moving into natural terrain, side hits, cliffs, backcountry transitions and variable snow, which is CAPiTA's own brief for it. Nose-forward riders who value pop and edge hold over the ability to ride switch, and who want a premium build - SuperCarbon glass, a sintered base, a brand-new core - and will pay $729.95 for construction rather than a bargain. Torstein Horgmo fans who want his first signature board and the two years of prototyping behind it. Riders with US 10.5 boots and up belong on a Wide - the same board, a separate style, the same price.
Not for: Beginners and most intermediates: full traditional camber with no rocker at a Directional 7 flex is the least forgiving thing CAPiTA makes, and $729.95 is an expensive place to learn. This is a structural call from profile, flex and price - the construction is demanding and the money is real, and CAPiTA's forgiving boards sit elsewhere in the line. Switch, park-and-jib and true-twin riders: it is directional with a 0.8 in setback and a stiff flex, so the D.O.A. and the twin family are your tools, not this. Deep-powder specialists chasing maximum float: 4 mm of taper on a fully cambered deck is modest, and the Navigator or Kazu Kokubo Pro will out-float it. Value hunters: it sits above the more versatile, more forgiving Mercury at $699.95, and the CAPiTA-value reputation built on the D.O.A. does not apply here. Women shopping for a women's-specific board: CAPiTA files the Matriarch as a men's board, and the women's freeride deck in this range is the Artemis at $679.95 - a woman wanting a women's board should start there, not on a softer default. Riders who never wax, because the sintered base gets slow when it is neglected.
At a Glance
Terrain
Description
The CAPiTA Matriarch is a directional freeride snowboard, 25.7 cm at the waist on the 158, new for 26/27 and the first signature deck Torstein Horgmo has designed for the brand. The profile is Alpine V4: full traditional camber - a single positive arc from tip to tail - ridden at a stiff Directional 7 on CAPiTA's own scale. One caution up front - CAPiTA files this as a men's board, and at $729.95 it is among the priciest solid decks it builds, so it is neither a women's board nor a value one. A woman after a women's freeride deck wants the Artemis, at $679.95, from the same range.
Most of that price is construction. The glass is Hybrid SuperCarbon HolySheet TRI/TRI, the triaxial layup CAPiTA otherwise keeps for its $799.95 Super D.O.A.; under it sits a brand-new Transcend Core of paulownia, poplar and bamboo. Two Fairmat carbon stringers add the snap - and that reinforcement is carbon, with no titanal anywhere in the board. The base is a genuinely sintered Hyperdrive ADV XT, shared with the Aeronaut.
It is built to ride nose-forward, set back 0.8 inches with a flat 4 mm of taper at every length, which makes it a directional board and not a switch platform. CAPiTA sells it as a park-to-powder board that pops off natural features and floats through mixed snow. That full-camber profile is what generates the pop and the edge hold, and equally what makes it demanding - there is no rocker to bail out a skidded turn or a back-seat landing. Plan on advanced-to-expert technique.
Because it is brand new, no independent on-snow test exists yet; what you get is the spec sheet and Torstein's design, not a ride verdict. The standard board comes in 155, 158 and 161, the Wide in 157W and 160W for the same money, and a US 10.5 boot or larger should go Wide. Keep the sintered base waxed or it slows down. It arrives as a bare deck, so we fit and size it with you at the shop.
Specs
- Rider Type: Freeride / All-Mtn
- Shape: Directional 0.8” Setback
- Profile: Alpine V4 Directional
- Sidecut: Blended Radial
- Flex: Directional 7
- Glass + Resin: HYBRID SUPERCARBON™ HOLYSHEET™ TRI/TRI MAGIC BEAN™ RESIN
- Base: HYPERDRIVE™ ADV XT • Die-cut
- Core: NEW! TRANSCEND CORE™
- Topsheet Tech: PLT Technology • Metallic Screen + Gloss/Matte Print
- Additive: NEW 2 x 20 mm FAIRMAT™ CARBON AMPLIFIERS
- Available Lengths: 155 · 158 · 161 · 157W · 160W cm
- Waist Width: 25.2 cm (155) · 25.7 cm (158) · 25.9 cm (161) · 26.3 cm (157W) · 26.5 cm (160W)
- Effective Edge: 1158 mm (155) · 1180 mm (158) · 1203 mm (161) · 1173 mm (157W) · 1195 mm (160W)
- Nose / Tail Width: 29.7 / 29.3 cm (155) · 30.0 / 29.6 cm (158) · 30.3 / 29.9 cm (161) · 30.6 / 30.2 cm (157W) · 30.9 / 30.5 cm (160W)
- Sidecut Radius: 8.0 m (155) · 8.1 m (158) · 8.2 m (161) · 8.05 m (157W) · 8.15 m (160W)
- Reference Stance (cm / in): 55.8 / 22.0 (155) · 55.8 / 22.0 (158) · 58.4 / 23.0 (161) · 55.8 / 22.0 (157W) · 58.4 / 23.0 (160W)
- Suggested Rider Weight (lb / kg): 130-190 / 59-86 (155) · 140-200 / 63-90 (158) · 150-210 / 68-95 (161) · 140-200 / 63-90 (157W) · 150-210 / 68-95 (160W)
Details
- Type
- Snowboard
- Vendor
- CAPiTA
- SKU
- 21021000-MSC-155
- UPC / GTIN
- 810161590872
155
CAPiTA The Matriarch
By PTO Team, Brand new. Read off CAPiTA's 26/27 catalog and order book, the brand's own tech pages, and its board-technology definitions, with ride characteristics labeled as CAPiTA claims or structural inference · Spec analysis
The take
“Torstein Horgmo's debut board is a premium, demanding freeride deck - you are paying for the build, and buying the spec sheet.”
It is brand new for 26/27, so every claim here about how it rides is either CAPiTA's own or a read off its geometry. Buy it knowing that. The honest ceiling on this board is the construction and the story, not a shootout finish.
What is not in doubt is the build, because you can read it off the catalog. The Matriarch carries Hybrid SuperCarbon HolySheet TRI/TRI glass, the stiff triaxial layup CAPiTA reserves for the $799.95 Super D.O.A., over a sintered Hyperdrive ADV XT base from the same family as the Aeronaut and the Kazu. Add a new Transcend Core on full-length bamboo beams and 2 x 20 mm Fairmat carbon, and the money is genuinely in the deck. For the record it has no titanal - CAPiTA gives the metal sheet to the Indoor Survival alone, and the stiffening here is carbon.
The profile is the defining feature and it cuts both ways. Alpine V4 is full traditional camber, one positive arc with no reverse-camber tips, which is the most pop- and edge-hold-oriented shape CAPiTA builds; it loads hard and drives through a turn. That same geometry is why the board is catch-prone for the wrong rider: with nothing lifted at the tips, a skid or a back-seat landing gets punished. At a Directional 7 flex, the floor is technique rather than fitness - this is an advanced-to-expert deck, and the promotional 'versatile' framing undersells how much it asks.
Inside CAPiTA's own line the closest rival is the cheaper Mercury, at $699.95: hybrid camber, a softer Directional 6.5, less setback, and the Death Grip sidecut this board does not carry. A rider who wants one forgiving do-everything directional board is better served, and better off by the price difference, on the Mercury; the Matriarch is the stiffer, more premium, more freestyle-freeride pick. Switch riders belong on the true-twin D.O.A. instead, and anyone chasing deep-day float will out-float this cambered, 4 mm-tapered chassis on the more powder-dedicated Navigator or Kazu Kokubo Pro. Its most natural cross-shop is the Aeronaut, Arthur Longo's traditional-camber directional deck.
Sizing is refreshingly unambiguous. The standard and Wide runs share no length, so the number names the style outright - a 158 is always the standard board, a 160 is always a Wide - and parity is no help because the standard run itself mixes odd and even. Match the Wide to your boot: CAPiTA's guidance tops out near a US 10 at the 158's 25.7 cm waist, so a 10.5 and up wants a 157W or 160W. And take 'float like a powder board' as the brand line it is - 4 mm of taper on a fully cambered deck plays in variable snow, but this is a natural-terrain all-mountain board that visits powder, not a deep-day specialist.
Bindings we'd pair with it
Mount point: Directional - 0.8 in setback from center. Reference stance 55.8 cm / 22 in on the 158. Our pick: No official pairing - CAPiTA does not make bindings.
Sold as a bare deck. CAPiTA builds no bindings, so there is no factory pairing to name. A stiff, directional board like this one wants a medium-to-stiff binding; we mount it and match your boot to the waist in the shop.
Common Questions
- Is The Matriarch a women's board?
- No. CAPiTA files it as men's, SKU by SKU, in its own order catalog. The name and the big-cat graphic read female, and at least one retailer listed it as women's, but it is a men's/unisex freeride deck, developed by the male pro Torstein Horgmo, in a 155 to 161 run with no small sizes. For a woman who wants a women's-specific freeride deck, the board to see is the Artemis, at $679.95, from this same range.
- Does The Matriarch have titanal or metal in it?
- No. Its reinforcement is a 2 x 20 mm Fairmat carbon amplifier, not a metal sheet. CAPiTA lists the Titanal Centerline Booster for the Indoor Survival alone; the Matriarch is stiffened with carbon woven into the glass and the two carbon stringers.
- The Matriarch or the Mercury?
- The Mercury is cheaper, at $699.95, softer at a Directional 6.5, hybrid-cambered and more forgiving, and it has the Death Grip sidecut. The Matriarch is stiffer at a Directional 7, full traditional camber, more premium in build, at $729.95. Choose the Mercury for one forgiving do-everything directional board; choose the Matriarch for pop, edge hold and a more freestyle-freeride character. This is a construction comparison, not a back-to-back ride test.
- Is The Matriarch a powder board?
- Not really. It floats through mixed snow via full camber with raised contact points, big-radius tips, a 0.8 in setback and 4 mm of taper - but 4 mm is modest and the board is fully cambered, so it is a natural-terrain all-mountain board that visits powder, not a deep-day specialist. CAPiTA's 'float like a powder board' is a brand claim on a cambered deck. For genuine deep-snow float, look at the Navigator or the Kazu Kokubo Pro.
- Do I need the Wide?
- Your boot decides. CAPiTA caps its boot guidance near a US 10 at the 158, so a 10.5 or larger belongs on a Wide. The standard board is 155 / 158 / 161 and the Wide is 157W / 160W at the same price, and the two runs share no length - a 158 is always the standard board, a 160 is always a Wide. Bring your boots and we will check the shell against the waist.