Nitro Alternator

The Nitro Alternator is a pretty serious, backcountry and freestyle snowboard. Roughly based on the ingredients of the Team Pro, the Alternator is a mid-wide, fairly stiff camber board with a little bit of taper.

It comes in three sizes, from big to pretty big. Think of it like a freestyle board, that is also made to ride well in the backcountry.

How the 2024 Nitro Alternator rides

Board size: 160cm

Boots: Vans Infuse 9.5 US

Bindings: Nitro Team

I weigh 70kg or 155lbs, and was riding the Alternator at Mt Hotham, in Victoria Australia. It was spring conditions, so there was the melt/freeze cycle, where it was super firm in the morning, turning slushy by the afternoon.

Those conditions are especially good for testing the edge hold of a board when the snow hasn’t melted, as well as the speed of the board in slush – which can slow boards down.

Camber Profile

The traditional camber profile rides just like you would expect. It is very stable, gives good edge hold and pushed back hard when flexed.

Flex and Pop

The Alternator has the All Terrain Flex, or what Nitro rate as a 7/10. To me it felt fairly stiff, especially in the tail of the board.

Float

I wasn’t able to ride the Alternator in any proper deep snow, so I can’t comment on how it would do. As a guess, from the shape and the rest of the

Turns

It was fun to turn on this board. It has a mix of sidecuts, one very big one that blends into a tight one and back to a big one. To me it felt like it wanted to make big, drawn out turns.

I could easily ride fast and take up the whole run, and it never felt like it was going to slip. The edge hold was very strong, but you would expect it to be good on a stiff camber board like this.

Speed

It is fast and stable, I didn’t run into any snow conditions where I felt it noticeably slow down. Separate than the technical speed that the base of the board has, the confidence that the stable feel of the board adds is a major help.

Pros:

• Extremely solid feel

Cons

• Only in longer lengths

Overall

Overall, there are no surprises with from the specs of the Alternator, compared to how it rides in real life. It does exactly what it says it does, and is what you would expect from a stiffer, slightly tapered directional camber board.

If you want to get the most out of this board, make sure you are comfortable riding more aggressive boards. It doesn’t have a whole lot of forgiveness, so you will need to make sure you are on the ball, or it might catch you out.

Seeing that it only comes in longer lengths, it might not suit smaller riders that well.

FEATURES OF THE Nitro Alternator

True Camber

This is Nitro’s name for regular, traditional camber.

All Terrain Flex

The All Terrain Flex rating is what Nitro use instead of

Mid Wide to Wide

The two smaller sizes of 157 and 160 have waist widths of 254mm and 256, which are definitely mid-wides compared to other Nitro boards, which tend to be on the narrower side overall. The 162 wide is a proper wide, with a 264mm waist width.

Directional Shape

It has a longer nose than tail, with a 15mm setback stance. On top of that, it has 4-5mm of taper depending on the length of the board.

Powerlite Core

Reflex Core Profile

FSC Certified Wood

Tri-Lite Laminates

Diamond Band

Sintered Speed Formula II Base

Dual Degressive Sidecut

Nitro Alternator TECHNICAL SPECS

Length	Effective Edge (mm)	Nose/Tail Width (cm)	Taper (mm)	Waist Width (mm)	Sidecut (m)	Weight Range (lbs)	Weight Range (kg)
157	1110	298/293	5	254	10.8​/6.8​/10.8	130-175	60-80
160	1140	300/295	5	256	11​/7.3​/11	140-185	65-85
162	1140	308/304	4	264	11​/7.3​/11	155+	70+