Nitro Vertical Splitboard Bindings Review by Jay

An Un-Paid, Un-Biased Breakdown Of The Nitro Vertical Splitboard Bindings Review by The Good Ride

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Nitro Vertical Splitboard Bindings Review

How The Nitro Vertical Splitboard Bindings Were Tested:

I borrowed the Nitro Vertical Splitboard Bindings for an extended demo and sent them back.

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Size: 152cm
Days: 80+
Conditions: Everything

Riders:  Jay (Size 8.5, 5’7.5” 165lbs),
Boots: K2 Ender
Bindings: Nitro Vertical

Weight

Let’s talk weight. These are solid middle-of-the-road bindings. Without hardware, you’re looking at 1.6 pounds per binding. For reference, the Burton Hitchhiker is 1.8 pounds. I’ve toured numerous days in that binding. Do I feel the weight difference? Not so much.

If you want to go super lightweight, I use a custom Franken-binding: Spark Arc base plate with a more robust Surge heel cup and Surge straps. It’s lighter, but for the weight, the Nitro Vertical delivers the power I’m looking for in a binding. All weights include padding and discs off.

Highback Flex

One thing I really love about these bindings: they have a lot of torsion. When it comes down to putting power on the board, these are amazing, strong, rigid, and you can put a lot of power through the setup.

The highback combined with the rigidity of the straps is simply unparalleled compared to any split binding I’ve ever been on.

On Snow Feel

The Spark-designed hardware system is bombproof, reliable, and durable. Flip up the front toe piece, drop it over your hardware, and you’re on. That simple. These are freeride bindings. You’re not going to find a ton of segmental control like in a freestyle binding. But for backcountry, where you want power transmission for steep lines, this binding excels.

I’ve ridden this binding on several different splitboards. My personal Jones Stratos, with about 80–90 days using these bindings, rides like a solid board. It stiffens the setup beautifully. You don’t feel one half of the board engaging differently from the other. It feels rock solid and bombproof.

The Nitro Vertical, combined with the Jones inside wavy sidecut, locks the system together so strongly, it’s like turning coal into a diamond (Ferris Bueller reference).

Shock Absorption and Dampening

Splitboard bindings usually feel like crushed china underfoot. Nitro solves that with full-length shock cushioning down the footbed. This is really important. Unlike Spark’s add-on cushion (which doesn’t cover the toe clip), Nitro brings the cushion all the way up, giving you solid toe-side and heel-side power transmission, plus nice damping.

Is it as soft and stable as a traditional binding? No. But it’s by far the best underfoot feel I’ve had in a split binding. Hands down.

Straps

Nitro reinforced the straps with steel cables. Some may think that’s overkill. I don’t. I’ve never experienced a split binding with this much power transmission. It’s remarkable. The highback rigidity + tensile pull from the steel cable makes it feel like a solid binding. This is what we’re after, and Nitro delivers.

The upper strap has great cushioned support and flexes well with your boot. It contours nicely around your instep with no pressure points. The front has Vibram rubber under the toe strap for stability—it doesn’t move or squirm on your boot.

The bindings give uniform stress throughout your boot and foot. No hot spots. No calf bite. Even on long traverses.

Ratchets

With over 80 days of use, these bindings are not a prototype—they’re my personal set. They look great, work flawlessly, don’t ice up, and function well in all snow conditions.

Stride Adjustment

Going uphill? Flip the clip to adjust your forward lean for a longer stride. Not quite as fast as some systems like Spark, but easy to do—even with mitts. Infinite adjustability for stride length, stance width, and angle.

Adjustability

You can move the heel cradle assembly fore/aft to match your boot and board geometry. Adjust virtually every part of this binding thanks to the Spark + Nitro collaboration.

Final Thoughts

As a snowboarder, you demand good power transmission, board feel, and reliability. I spent years searching for something that gives me the same backcountry confidence as my solid setup. Nitro Vertical is it.

They check every box—with style and dependability. I know when I go in, I’ll come out. Bring tools and extra parts (just in case), but these bindings do their job better than anything else I’ve used.

I’m hoping to get several hundred more days out of each pair. I approve this message.