Cardiff Crane Enduro Review

The Cardiff Crane Enduro is one of the more truly freestyle-oriented shapes we have tested. There is a bit longer nose on this board, but the nose and tail lengths are pretty close to twin dimensions. The taper is very mild on the Crane at only 5mm, and the flex pattern feels pretty twin. The waist width on the crane is a bit narrower at 259mm in the 162cm length, but the board features a disrupted sidecut (Cardiff calls these microbumps) right underfoot, which adds a little width underfoot and increases edge grip. The Crane Enduro features Cardiff's Enduro construction, which is heavier than a carbon build, but is quite damp and has a friendly flex pattern.

Powder

Compared to most splitboards on the market, the Crane is far from a powder specialist. The small nose and minimal taper make it feel a bit more fatiguing on the back leg, and less like we could really drive from the front foot. But if you are a freestyle-focused rider used to twin shapes, the Crane will likely feel very directional and soft-snow oriented. For the freestyle rider looking for a capable backcountry tool that can surf the pow days but still allow you to ride in the creative manner you enjoy, the Crane will be a good time any day out there. Riders used to a more directional board may feel limited by the Cranes powder performance.

In powder we found that the Crane had a pretty fun and turny character, we could surf through trees no problem on this board and generally found it easy and forgiving. While the nose isn't too big on this board, it has a nice supportive tail, so if you're logging air time in powder, it is easy to land a backseat and feel supported. The more backseat landing style is favored by some riders to prevent going over the bars in soft snow, if that's your style this board will feel really good. In more wide-open terrain, we could let the Crane run and make big fall-line turns, so long as we kept our stance a bit more centered. The poppy flex of the crane gave it a lively feel, edge to edge, which we found quite fun for turning at speed, especially when the powder was a bit more supportive. Overall, the Crane is capable in powder, but it won't be your powder-specific board in the quiver.

Firm Snow

In firm snow, the Crane is a really good time, so long as you have a bit of speed. The disrupted sidecut on the Crane places bumps (Cardiff calls them microbumps) right underfoot. We found these bumps increased edge hold and inspired confidence in firm snow. The Crane has a healthy bit of camber underfoot and a strong flex that lets you really lock into carves. We found this to be true even in moguled terrain, and we had a good time carving luged out runs on the Crane. The narrower waist width makes the Crane feel quick edge-to-edge, and the poppy flex makes the board lively. The Crane really likes to pop at the edge change, and if you're strong enough to take advantage of loading and unloading the camber on this board, it's a really fun ride.

Where the Crane is less fun is firm snow at slower speeds, like exit tracks or tight trees. Cardiff switched factories this season, and we did notice that the gap on the inside edge was wider than other Cardiffs or splitboards in general that we have tested. On slow-speed exits, we could really feel the inside edge catching if you were flat-basing at all, which made things feel hooky and sketchy. Hopefully, this changes in the future, but for now, this was our experience with the new Crane.

Variable Snow

In chopped-up, tracked snow, the Crane is a lively, fun board to smash snowpiles with and straight-line through tracks. If you like to get creative and gap moguls, or turn snowpiles into sidehits, this board is a really good time. The Crane is good for a variety of turn shapes in chopped-up snow. We found it was plenty strong enough to blast through chop if you want, but it was also forgiving enough torsionally to slow it down and turn through chop. This characteristic would make it a nice splitboard for a variety of ability levels.

In crusty and breakable conditions, the Crane is ok. The same things that hold it back from being a really great powder board also hold it back a bit in crusty conditions. This means the board requires a slightly more cautious approach to riding crusts and likes to slow it down just a bit. While this is the case, we will say that the Crane never felt unpredictable in crusts. The longer nose radius kept things feeling calm, which was nice; you just don't have a ton of nose to absolutely blast through crust with.

Stability

At speed, the Crane feels stable, composed, and predictable. The flex of the board is on the medium stiff side, which helps it from buckling at high speeds, but it's just forgiving enough that you can adjust with foot steering. There are stiffer, more straight-line-oriented boards out there, but the Crane feels like the right amount of stability for high-speed freestyle riding, rather than just hauling without abandon downhill. For the majority of riders, there is more than enough support on this board.

The Crane does strike a nice balance between pop and dampness. While the character of the board leans to the poppy side, we had no issue turning at high speed through bad snow conditions. If you like to go fast, no matter the conditions, the Crane was really nice for smoothing out the ride and keeping us from getting tossed in bumpy snow.

Maneuverability

The Crane strikes a good balance between stability and maneuverability; the torsional flex offers enough forgiveness, coupled with a narrow width, to make the board quick and agile. At slow speeds, we found we could foot steer through terrain pretty well, so long as we weren't catching the inside edge. At speed, the board maintains its nimble character and provides a pleasant, poppy edge-to-edge experience.

Whether the snow was firm or soft, we found we could pretty much make any turn shape we wanted on the Crane. The board has a really nice sweet spot for maneuverability that makes it a good all-around board. For the freestyle-focused rider, it would make a really sweet daily driver.

Uphill Performance

The Cranes' narrow profile fits nicely into a skin track and provides a stable sidehilling platform. The camber underfoot provides good grip, and we never felt limited in getting good grip in the skin track. From gram counters, the Enduro construction is pretty heavy, and we were coming in at close to 1700g per half of the board without bindings. This is on the heavier side of our test. Cardiff also makes the Crane in their Pro Carbon construction, which would lighten the board but also increase its stiffness.

The hardware on the Crane is high-quality Spark hardware, which is simple and pulls the board together well. We didn't have many issues with icing with this hardware, but the Spark Fixie Clips take a little work to pull apart at times. The Crane has little advanced tech in the way of skin attachment. There is a small wing on the tail that is supposed to help hold a standard tail clip in place. In our experience with Cardiff, this works well for Black Diamond brand skins but less well for other brands. Ultimately, we are fans of specific cutouts or holes in the tails for splitboard skin attachment.

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Should You Buy the Cardiff Crane Enduro?

If you are a freestyle-focused rider who is looking for a one-board quiver, the Crane is a great option. The board does a good job of marrying the balance of stability and maneuverability, making it capable in a variety of conditions. There is just enough nose and taper on this board to keep you floating in the pow, and it handles variable conditions well. Overall, we think the Crane is predictable, easy, and worth checking out for your creative backcountry endeavors.

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