Nitro Slash Snowboard Review

An Un-Paid, Un-Biased Breakdown Of How the Nitro Alash Rides Review by The Good Ride

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An In Depth Breakdown of the Nitro Slash For Average Riders

How The Was Tested:

I borrowed the  for an extended demo and sent it back. 1-day demo. A few laps at a demo. I liked it so much I asked to keep it (only do this with favorites).  I liked it so much we bought it.  Precious Good Ride dollars were spent buying and reviewing this.

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Size: 156
Days: 3
Conditions: I lucked into some late spring powder and some decent but not amazing groomers.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10”, 185-195lbs). I’ve tested and compared 800+ boards and close to 1,000 if you count different versions of the same Model over the years.
Boots: Ride Deadbolt
Insoles: Footprint Kingfoam Orthotic Elite
Bindings: Union Atlas, Nitro Team Pro,
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse 3L Jacket, Skyline Fuse Light 3L Jacket,
Pant: Burton AK Gore-Tex Pro 3L Hover Pant, Skyline Faze Pant, Skyline Faze Light 3L Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout, Smith Maze
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove, Drop Tahoma Mitt,

James’s Set Up

21.5” Wide. Stance Angles +18/-3, +18/+3, +24/+6. Close to Reference on groomers and Set all the way back in powder.

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same): 

Gentemstick Mantaray,  Jones Hovercraft 2.0, Korua Transition Finder, Rome Stale Fish, Cardiff Powgoda, Jones Mind Expander, Yes PYL Uninc

Approximate Weight

The Nitro Slash felt pretty normal. Not heavy or light, like most boards these days. (We don’t put in the exact weight because with wood cores, there is no consistency in a board’s weight)

Sizing

The 156 Nitro Slash felt very good for my specs posted above and it would be a great choice as a daily driver and I wanted quick turn initiation in the trees on pow days. If I was getting it primarily for deep pow I’d go 162 but it would be hard to turn when conditions were uneven. If I were a size 10 boot this would be great in all conditions but it can be a fatiguing sterring from the front foot in uneven snow towards the end of the day for size 9 boots.

Nitro is old school and doesn’t have recommended boot sizes and then can be a little too conservative with their recommended weight.

Sizing is all about balancing what fits your boot size (most important), weight (second most important) and height (third most important) for how you like to ride. Size down for more control and size up for more speed/stability/carving power. Most Brands, Including are very conservative with recommended weight and very liberal with recommended boot sizing Here are some ideal US boot sizes for these boards.

Lower end of sizing will be hader to steer/turn in uneven snow but the higher end will be great in all conditions. 

If it comes down to boot size or weight, I would ensure it fits your boot first and then your weight a close second.

Shape

The Nitro Slash is very tapered, very directional but doesn’t have that super set back snowsurfy feel like the Fin Twin had.

Camber/On Snow Feel

The spoon nose and that concave tail along with full camber from tip to tail give it a semi-technical feel to it. A little more forgiving in the nose, a little more catchy in the tail. It has a very back-foot-weighted but still pretty stable feel one footing/flat basing and its personality doesn’t change that much underfoot in most conditions.

This 3D camber tech tracked pretty well. Not as good as the Dinghy, almost the same as the Pow, but it’s more like camber than any of the other hybrid shapes. So one-footing, going down a long flat cat track was good enough. Just lean back a touch and you’re good.

Flex Personality

The Nitro Slash has a more mediumish flex wiith a medium stiff tail, medium flex between the feet and a more medium soft nose.

So when buttering the nose, that 3D spoon tech makes the nose want to wash out a little bit. It’s not terrible, but it definitely takes some getting used to. Then off the tail, it’s doable for a butter but a good bit more work to flex it than the nose.

Nitro has that great balance between feeling rubbery/flexy but still lively and poppy. For a board with no carbon stringers it a lot of easy to access dynamic energy. So when you go to ollie, there’s a lot of pop back.

Uneven Snow

The Nitro Slash was a little bucky and bouncy in some softer, uneven snow, but it handled hard, micro-bumpy snow pretty well. It’s not the best in either extreme, but you can ride this all day and it’s not going to be too taxing.

The only time I felt like it was a little taxing was when the snow was really uneven and it was really hard to turn. I felt the width over the front foot a little bit more than I’d like, and it felt harder to turn, but I was in some pretty wet, sticky, tough snow to ride in anyways.

When you get into turning through bumps and emerging moguls toward the end of the day, it’s going to feel like a little more work than some boards—especially at my boot size. But overall, very good.

Base Glide

The Nitro Slash has decent but not amazing base glide that can get a little base burn and loose its wax faster than some boards but for most it won’t be a deal breaker.

Speed

The Nitro Slash isn’t bad pointing it but there are better boards out there for sure and you do get some floppyness in the nose.

Edge Hold

Edge hold’s pretty good—nothing amazing—but handled some hard patches here and there pretty well.

Turning/Carving

The Nitro Slash initiated a turn really quick for my specs—quicker than I thought in most situations, except for really messy, uneven stuff. Once you got it over on edge, the entry point is on the turny side of mellow at 7.7meters and then it gets really turny towards the tail at 5.7meters. It makes for a more turny board out there but it can still make medium to narrow high speed radius turns. So it’s suprisingly more balanced than you would think.

It really only likes back foot weighted turns though. Once you start weighting towards that back foot, you get a very springy more circle to across the groomer turn and it’s really satisfying

So the fact that it really only back-foot-weights a carve can be problematic for some people—including myself. But it really drives and springs out of a turn with all this full camber.

Powder

The Nitro Slash is not the most set-back, directional, surfy pow ride I’ve ever tried, but you factor in that 3D nose, a good bit of taper, and that concave tail to make for a very easy floater. You could do a lot worse.

You kind of feel like you have fins a little bit like you do with surfboards, but it has more of a centered feel. And if you set it all the way back, you can get -4.75 inches back from the center of the board at a 22-inch stance.

That means somebody like me, with full-size discs that I can slide down a little bit, can get almost all the way back on the tail with a 21.5-inch stance. It’s not as good as some dedicated powder boards I’ve tried but it’s in the upper tiers for sure.

I like the way this turned in powder. I like that 3D nose—it just felt so good and it felt pretty floaty, pretty turny, and pretty slashy. Like I said before, I would love in the deepest of deep to be on the 162 Quiver Slash.

But this 156 was more than competent in the snow I had, and it felt like it could handle a lot more.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is a very fun, very directional, very back-foot-oriented, slashy ride that works just as well on groomers as it does in powder.

It’s a very unique ride, like all these Quiver boards are. But it could work for you if you like that kind of surfy—but not super far back on the tail—3D nose kind of ride.