Curated Snowboard Expert Spencer Storck got his hands on the 2023 GNU Antigravity this spring and put it to the test at Powder Mountain in Utah. Check out how it performed in the carving and freestyle categories, but consider the fact that each and every rider is different; if you have any questions about the Antigravity or need recommendations on which board would be best for you, reach out to a Snowboard Expert here on Curated.

Before we get started, it's worth noting that Curated Experts are not sponsored by any brands. All of these reviews are completely unbiased.

Brand Claims

What does GNU (Mervin) claim about this board? GNU claims that this is going to be a great, all mountain, directional board, and they pretty much hit that on the spot.

Overall Impressions

What is your overall impression of this board? My first impression was it definitely carves really hard. It's fairly stable, for sure. Tons of pop. That's why it got the name Anti-gravity. Definitely surprised me a couple times how much pop it has. And then yeah, the carbon fiber inlays were great.

Carving

How does it turn? Great for carving for sure, all mountain. In the trees, this board would be a dream. It was really fun. It was pretty quick edge to edge, so it was nimble in the trees. It would definitely float in some decent powder. Definitely was a great tree board.

How about edge hold? So, this board being their C3 profile from GNU, it does have traditional camber and it rides a lot like that. So it holds a very good edge, especially with that Magne-traction, that wavy edge that you get with this. You do get a little bit more edge hold on more hard pack icier days. It’s really grippy.

How does it perform at speed? I would say I definitely like this board for my riding style 'cause I like to pop a lot of side hits and stuff like that, and this board definitely sent me a little bit further on some of them than I expected, so that was nice. It definitely gives you the adrenaline that we all are looking for. Carves really hard, definitely a great board for my sort of style of riding.

Freestyle

Could you speak about playfulness and pop? Definitely not the most playful board. I was riding a little bit bigger size maybe than I would, so maybe factor that in as well. If I sized down, I'd probably have a little bit more fun playing around on jibs and stuff like that. But for me, I would say I'd probably go with this one, because I'm a more big mountain, aggressive rider, more than like a jibby, playful rider. But keep that in mind, you can always size down, get more jibby playfulness out of it as well. For freestyle, I would say definitely not my first choice, at least on this size. If you wanted to get into the park, you definitely could, but not my first choice for the park.

What about buttering and riding switch? I did try butters on it and with that kind of mid flex, I would say it felt a little bit more on the mid stiff side for me with this taller size. I had a little bit of a tougher time trying to do butters and stuff like that, but riding switch, it was amazing. It does still have a more traditional tail that kicks up, so you're all set on that. Not super set back on this one, so not the most directional, but definitely a great directional all-mountain option.

How is it on jumps? For landings and stuff, it definitely was really stable because of that camber as well. It had a lot of pop and it was really stable and gave you tons of landing gear. Definitely never felt like I was going to wash out in anything on this board.

Is there any location you'd pack this board for? I'd definitely recommend this Magne-traction to a lot of people on the east coast, just because of those icier conditions. It definitely helps you with better edge hold.

Recommendations

Who would you recommend this board to? This board, I would say, is going to be for your intermediate to expert rider, looking for an all-mountain board that can kind of just handle a little bit of everything. But with that directional shape, it’s going to carve really nice on groomers and still have some floating power, but just a killer board. Definitely.

Who should avoid this board, there are better options for them out there? I would not recommend this board for a true beginner just because of that camber design. It's going to be really catchy. So yeah, you're going to have a bad day as a beginner on this thing.

Snowboards work differently for different riders. If you need help finding the right board for you, be sure to reach out to Spencer or another Snowboard Expert here on Curated for free, personalized recommendations. Note that the 2024 version of the GNU Antigravity is linked below - same tech, just different graphic: