Curated Snowboard Expert Spencer Storck got his hands on the 2023 Nitro Dinghy this spring and put it to the test at Powder Mountain in Utah. Check out how it performed in the carving, freestyle, and freeride categories, but consider the fact that each and every rider is different; if you have any questions about the Nitro Dinghy 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 Nitro claim about this board? Nitro claims that the Dinghy is going to be a great directional all-mountain board, good freeride powder board.

Overall Impressions

What is your overall impression of this board? My first impressions on this board were actually pretty amazing. I got into some soft, slushy tree sections and it handled really well. It worked like a Dinghy out there.

Carving

How is the edge hold? With its traditional camber setback, it held an edge really well on the groomers. Great carving board.

Is the board stable? This board actually had great stability through your carve and I actually got some good power transfer out of it.

What about dampness? Any chatter in the board? This board actually handled a lot of the chop and crud really well. It was really damp, but still had the stiffness that you need to charge.

Freestyle

Could you speak about playfulness and pop? This board is not the most playful freestyle type of board if you're looking for park style stuff, but it definitely is a great board to go send some side hits, do little grabs here and there. Definitely a fun board for all-mountain.

How is it on jumps? It was a great board to hit any sort of jumps, especially side hits. Definitely gave you the landing gear you need.

Freeride

How would it be in powder? So for powder, this thing would be amazing. Obviously, we didn't get too good of conditions today. With a little bit of soft slush that we had, it handled great. I could just only imagine it would just surf and be really nimble in the trees.

What kind of terrain would it perform well on? For this board, I would probably avoid going into the park. If you're going for a full park day, probably not the first board I'd grab, but it's great for everything else.

Recommendations

Who would you recommend this board to? I'd recommend this board to any intermediate, expert rider looking for a great directional camber all-mountain board.

Who should avoid this board, there are better options for them out there? Definitely do not recommend this one for any total beginners. Being full camber, you're going to catch a lot of edges.

Snowboards work differently for different types of riders. If you need any help with finding the right board for you, come chat with Spencer or another Snowboard Expert here on Curated and they’ll get you dialed in with free, personalized recommendations. Note that the 2024 version of the Nitro Dinghy is linked below - same tech, just different graphic: