The Hermit: Our big mountain charger is recognized!
Gear is kinda crucial to a splitboarder, there’s no getting around it. Blows my mind but believe me when I say there are splitters who put more care into what boots, or even pants, they wear than what they snowboard on.
With that in mind, Gear Guide reviews have their place. For various reasons, we try to be mindful about which reviews we get involved with, and Backcountry Magazine’s review has long been the US standard. So, for 24/25 it was encouraging for Pallas (our sister brand) and Chimera, between them, to rack-up recognitions for 3 different models, including one Editor’s Choice and two Gear Guide Selects. First up; The Hermit!
The Hermit 165W is like that big, quiet kid with the good heart who needs to wander before they find their path; the one who takes a little time after school, farts around, falls in and out of love. They find something that seems a little kooky, and specialized, and a bit of a dead-end, that they love and nurture and grow into. Then, one day you realize they did it; they found their place in the world.
Almost 10 years ago, when we had more time for custom shapes, we were hit up by a guy who had big plans to ride volcanos all summer and wanted some help figuring out the perfect split for it. We had already spent a few winters playing around with ‘super radius’ shapes (large diameter, shallow sidecuts; in other words, wide at the waist relative to nose/tail width), and figured that would be a stable shape for topping out on volcanos and charging on firm summer snow. We added a little taper to overcome the waist width for easy turning (and provide a little float on corn-cycles); made it stiffer to handle the variable snow; built one; then released it into the wilds of the PNW with a working name - The DumDum. Dude rode his volcanos, liked it, and for some years we would tweak the design a little and build a few every spring for the volcano hoppers to get their freak on.
Then, one day, our friend Zach Clanton took one up to the Selkirks for a few weeks of mid-winter riding Roger’s Pass on his way to AK, and that changed everything. He had a local try it, who wanted one, and then our Revelstoke rep (and damn near life-long homie) Aaron Chance wanted one for himself. By now, we had increased the taper, adapted the camber for a more hybrid approach, backed off on the sidecut diameter a little, and fine-tuned the core and laminates for feel.
The kooky volcano board has reincarnated as an alpine hard-charger, a shape that could turn on a dime yet keep it’s shit together at cheek-flapping speeds, and still provide effortless hippy turns in deep snow (of which there is plenty at Roger’s Pass). One day Chancey told us it was the perfect board for the British Columbia interior, and we realized that this shape had a cult following of friends, guides, Canadian legends, Alaskan lone-wolves and heli-operation owners.
The time had come for it to have its own name, so we honored The Hermit; the imposing peak that guards the top of Roger’s Pass. And now, finally, The Hermit is recognized. Willy Nevins gave it a beautiful damn graphic, and it’s ready for the world. Backcountry Magazine named it an Editor’s Choice splitboard for 24/25, and say it’s “huge and nimble, an astounding performer that left testers agape”. I certainly encourage buying Backcountry Magazine’s Gear Guide if you haven’t already, but feel free to read from the shop copy below….
