Cardiff Goat Pro Carbon Splitboard Review

The Goat Pro Carbon Splitboard utilizes Cardiff's Pro Carbon construction, which is lighter and stiffer compared to their “Enduro” construction. For strong riders, this is advantageous and may justify the more premium price. Between the two constructions, the shape is the same and utilizes a lot of Cardiff's proprietary design elements, which they have a lot of fun and interesting names for, like “FLOATilla, NOVERhang, RADIcALsidecut, etc.” Beyond all the funny language, some unique design features of the Goat are its wider waist width, which increases float and decreases boot drag, a long 11m sidecut, and their unique Half-Camber profile. All of these features combine to make a very stable and floaty charger.

Powder

The Goat is an exceptionally fun board in powder, especially at speed. We got the Goat out in powder conditions on big faces, couloirs, tree runs, and open meadows. All of this time on the board left us surprised by its versatility across different terrain. The Goat has a pretty classic freeride shape with a longer nose than tail, 11mm of taper, and a full tail shape. Where this board diverges a bit from the status quo is in its wider-than-average waist width (26.5cm on the 162cm length), as well as its half-camber profile, which, to our eyes, puts a subtle flat spot, if not a touch of rocker, between the bindings. The wider width adds volume and keeps you floating higher, while also decreasing boot drag so you can glide through lower-angle terrain more easily. The half-camber helped keep things maneuverable at slower speeds while still giving us a lot of power for charging and popping. Overall, we found the board most at home making fall-line turns in open terrain, as the full tail hinders maneuverability in tight situations. Compared to other freeride boards, though, the Goat is far more maneuverable in tight spots and could be ridden daily by a confident driver in any terrain.

In our experience, one of the highlights of riding powder on the Goat is popping off pillows and dropping cliffs. The added maneuverability of the Goat allows for easy setup before takeoff, or for making last-minute decisions, but the board's stiff flex and supportive tail provide excellent landing gear. There is a large sweet spot on this board, which is forgiving if you get a little too far back or close to going over the handlebars, allowing you to regain your balance easily. Charging through deep freeride terrain was our favorite place to be when out on the Goat, but if you find yourself in any other terrain with deep snow, you'll likely have a great time.

Firm Snow

We wouldn't call the Goat a hard-snow specialist, but as a do-it-all board for advanced riders, it gives you enough grip to get out on any day of the year and feel confident. Surprisingly, we found the Goat to be fairly quick edge-to-edge in firm snow conditions, even on lower-angle, tracked-up tree runs. For boards of this width, we usually feel like turns are sluggish in these conditions, but the Goat has a nice flex in the nose, which allows you to get on your front foot and release the tail quickly in tight spots. Once you're on edge, the Goat feels stable but can be a bit chattery, especially at higher speeds. This isn't super uncommon for a board with carbon construction, but it's worth noting that it isn't the most damp ride we have been on. We haven't ridden the Enduro construction, but it may offer a damper ride in firm snow for riders seeking that.

In steep terrain where edgehold can be paramount, we found the Goat felt stable, but it was a bit of work to bring it around in jump turns. The long tail helps you feel balanced and adds security, especially when carrying speed in steeper chalk snow, but that tail is a tradeoff for maneuverability. The stiffer flex, wider width, and long tail on the board had us working harder on technical, tight steeps. The Goat's long 11m sidecut radius adds to the feeling of security on edge, but it doesn't help for quick turn initiation. For strong riders who can bring the board around in this terrain, you will be rewarded with a strong and stable platform, but you'll want to be on your game.

Variable Snow

In choppy conditions, the Goat is stiff and powerful enough to blast through snow piles and moguls, and this is its preferred method of attack rather than turning through chop. If you need to slow it down, you can, but just as this board wants to make more fall-line turns in powder, it also wants to ride over and through chopped-up snow. We found this to be pretty fun and enjoyed the boards' pop when gapping over moguls a few days after the storm.

In crusty conditions, the Goat feels composed and doesn't make you resort to survival methods to make turns. We wouldn't say this board makes crust feel like powder riding, but the long-radius transition from sidecut to nose radius keeps it from feeling hooky or like it has a mind of its own. For us, this board felt predictable and easy in crusts, helping us get from point A to B comfortably while we searched for better snow conditions.

Stability

Stability is what the Goat is all about. If you like to charge downhill, log some airtime, and do so in any condition, this is your board. The Goat simply feels supportive underfoot and really has a large sweet spot; you can drive it from the front or the center, and if you get backseat, it'll pop you back up into better balance. When you are charging down big slopes, you can feel confident knowing that this board has your back as you make last-minute decisions. Our lead tester remarked early in the testing of this board, “I just straightlined about three different chutes I normally jump turn.”

If freestyle elements are a part of your riding, the Goat offers great stability for landing in powder and challenging snow. With the Goat under our feet, we felt confident dropping cliffs and airing big transitions. The full-size tail really helps for landing backseat, and it also has great pop. Ultimately, we found we could really utilize the tail of the Goat to pop higher over gaps and carry more speed into landings. This board leans more toward the freeride side of things, likes straight airs and smaller spins, but it's a trusty companion for those trying to make the mountain their skatepark.

Maneuverability

Within the Goats category, that being a stiff freeride board, it is quite maneuverable. Across the whole market of splitboards, though, there are definitely more maneuverable boards. Get the Goat up to speed, and it becomes a lively, fun board that is quick edge to edge, but slow it down, and it requires some muscle to turn. For advanced riders that can handle the board, it is a really great quiver killer, but newer splitboarders may find this to be a lot of board.

The Goat has a stiff flex between the feet, which softens towards the tip and tail. This stiff flex between the feet prevents the board from really wanting to be foot steered; the Goat requires a more active riding style to get it from edge to edge. The Half-Camber profile provides a lot of early rise in the tip and tail, helping tame the board's stiff character. By lifting the contact points, it doesn't feel catchy, and turns come around more easily. This blend of flex and camber profile gives the Goat its uniquely stable but still turnable ride feel. While rotating through different binding and boot pairings on this board, we found we enjoyed a very responsive binding on the goat and a medium to medium-stiff boot. This combo allowed us to control the board's stiffness but left a little forgiveness to soak up chatter.

Uphill Performance

The Goat's full camber profile and stiffer flex provide good grip on steep skin tracks, and the carbon construction keeps things light underfoot. Cardiff bumps the touring mounts slightly forward on their splitboards to create a better balance point for kickturns. Having been on many boards with and without this touring mount adjustment, we feel it is a bit of a take-it-or-leave-it feature. The mount helps the tail drop, but it creates an odd balance point for sidehilling and hinders stance adjustability, especially for hardbooters. The Goats touring mounts leave a good amount of space for fitting hardboot tech toes at the reference stance, but it is limited for those riding narrower stances or a setback stance. Even when we had this board out with softboots we were finding things tight if we set the stance back too far. Ultimately, we find that the solution this mount seeks can be overcome with good technique.

The Goat has tapered corners on the inside edges, which prevent it from getting hung up on the skin track; we found that this feature helped a bit in soft snow conditions. We also appreciated the longer sidecut on the Goat, which improved stability for sidehilling. The Goat had better traction on the sidecut edge compared to the competition. The only thing that detracts from the Goats uphill experience is just its width, which makes it harder to edge in firm snow.

Should You Buy the Cardiff Goat Pro Carbon?

If you're a strong rider who appreciates good stability at speed, pop, and powder performance, but are tired of sluggish freeride boards, the Goat Pro Carbon is one of our top choices. The Goat's best-in-class maneuverability, coupled with its confidence-inspiring stability, makes it a game-changing option in the freeride category.

What Other Splitboards Should You Consider?

The Goat is a great option if you find yourself most often riding open terrain, but if you're spending a lot of your year riding more trees and low-angle terrain, the Goat may feel like a lot of board to haul around. If that's the case, check out the Jones Hovercraft 2.0, which really shines riding in tighter terrain and handles poor snow conditions quite well. For those looking for a poppy splitboard with more maneuverability, we think the Jones Ultralight Stratos is a great option that offers a narrow waist width and softer flex but still feels supportive.