If you are looking for a board that was inspired by skating then the Nitro T1 Snowboard is probably the best there is. It boasts a super lightweight poplar core and bi-axial fibreglass laminates which give it a soft and forgiving flex  making it perfect for riding the rails. It’s Tri-Progressive Sidecut allows you to turn like never before,  easing you in and speeding you out of hard carves allowing you to finish every single turn with all of the speed and power you need to stomp. This makes the Nitro T1 the greatest freestyle board available today.

It’s  twin shape makes  coming in and out of tricks a complete breeze, and it has a pop like nothing you’ve ever experienced. What’s more this board also comes in wide sizes so if you’re like me and have big feet you won’t have to keep worrying about dragging and catching out toes and heels. The only downside I can think of with this snowboard is that you loose a bit of control when you hit ungroomed trails at very high speeds, but then again the Nitro T1 isn’t a freeride backcountry board so maybe im being a little unfair.

When you are considering buying a snowboard there are a few  things that should be taken into consideration like, your height, weight, footsize and ofcourse riding style. Over the coming paragraphs I’ll give you a quick introduction to each  of the main snowboard style’s and tell you a bit about the technical side of each.

All Mountain Or Freeride Snowboard: There are three different types of snowboard with the freeride being the most popular. Nearly half of all snowboards sold are freeride or all mountain, they are great if you enjoy catching air or carving and they perform well on fresh powder surfaces.  

Freeride boards are designed to be ridden in one direction. They have a directional shape which means that the tail of the snowboard is slightly different from the tip. The tail on a freeride board is quite narrow and also significantly thinner than the tip. The stance on a freeride board is generally closer to the tail end.

Freeride snowboards are quite soft and easily manoeuvrable for beginners, they are still stiff enough to allow the rider to perform a fast turn in the hard snow. The freeride board is somewhere in between the freestyle and alpine boards, it isn’t quite as stable as a carve board and isn’t quite as agile as a freestyle board.

Freestyle Snowboard: These snowboards are usually wider and a lot more stable, making them a lot more forgiving. They are a lot shorter and lighter than freeride boards and have a much softer flex, this makes them great for turns. Freestyle snowboards are very responsive and are by far the best choice for beginners.

The primary use of a freestyle snowboard is to perform tricks in the terrain parks and halfpipes. They are usually twin of directional tipped. Most of the freestyle snowboards available are either directional twin or twin tipped. Directional tip snowboards usually stiffer at the tail end, twin tip snowboards have a centred stance and the tail and tip are identical making the great for riding both forwards and backwards (fakie).

Carve or Alpine Snowboard: These snowboards are a lot narrower than both the freestyle and freeride boards. They are long, narrow and stiff which makes them excellent for reaching higher speeds allow the rider to perform carve turns with ease. Carve boards ar great for performing fast edge turns because they are much more stable on ard snow.
Alpine boards look exactly like a ski only larger. They can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical,  more often than not you will find that they only have a shovel at the nose end. Just like the freeride snowboard, they are designed to be ridden in only one direction.

Since carve boards are the best for reaching high speeds and carving out hard turns they are better suited to the more advanced rider. The Alpine snowboards are designed for riding down hill and carving, they are no good for tricks, which is why they are generally used by snowboarders who compete in races.

These are the three main styles that are used by both hobby and professional snowboarders and although there is some overlap in each of the styles they are significantly different. As  a resuld of thise there are many different snowboards available that are specifically tailored towards each of the three styles.

Having said that, whether you enjoy all mountain, freestyle or carve snowboarding the Nitro T1 Snowboard is a great all rounder that is well equiped to let you excell in every style.

Our website has some great information on Nitro T1 Snowboards,  snowboarding accessories and suppliers!