Board: Nitro Pantera
Size: 160
Camber Option: True Camber. It’s traditional camber.
Bindings: Rome Black Label
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 200lbs
Resort: Copper Mountain
Conditions: Overcast skies with pockets of blue, some sun, a little wind, cooler temps, about an inch to two inches of fresh snow on top of perfect corduroy, and some ice and chunder sprinkled in for good measure.
Flex: Make no qualms about it this board is stiff. It’s a full directional flex and even then you don’t notice the difference too much. The nose is every so slightly softer than the tail and I mean ever so slightly. There’s a tiny amount of torsional flex but nothing crazy.
Stability: This board is stable. I mean you can run over a family of fat skier people and think you rode over the top of a garden hose. There’s minimal chatter in the nose which you never feel under foot. In rutted out terrain this board plows over or through everything in its path and never gets bucked around.
Ollies/Pop: It takes a lot to get this board to snap and you really have to push into the camber profile to load it up. Even then it’s not an overly snappy board, but why would it be, this thing is meant for going fast and staying on the ground.
Butterability: No, just no.
Carving: This is what this board was built for. It charges through everything with ease and the transition from edge to edge is nimble and quick. On edge it feels locked in and has a smooth ride. When you drive this board by center flexing the board you notice that it doesn’t abruptly change its angle of the carve it’s more nuanced. You have to throw more power into it than you would think to really drive it aggressively through a carve. One thing I noticed is that at times when trying to steer outside the back foot whether toe or heel it would kick out and lose its grip. This was when I was trying to drive it from the rear foot and slingshot a turn.
Rider in Mind: Fast riding freeride guy.
Personal Thoughts: For years I’ve been hearing that I need to ride this board, that it’s the ultimate freeride hard charger. I’ve ridden a lot of boards in that category and this fits in it but it’s not the ultimate, but it’s good. I liked how smooth and stable it was. It was damp where it needed to be but didn’t sacrifice performance to make it more stable. There are limitations with this board when it’s on edge and finding that out took a little work but wasn’t anything crazy.
Comparable Boards: Ride Berzerker, Jones Ultra Flagship, Bataleon Carver
