The 2023 Niche Wraith Snowboard Review

Board: Niche Wraith

Buy it here:
REI: https://bit.ly/3WrcO3E

Size: 155

Camber Option: Low-rise camber. A mellow nearly flat 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: Sunny bluebird skies, warm temps, gusts of wind at time, chop, chunder, slush, and perfect hero snow groomers.

Flex: The overall flex of this board is a little softer than middle of the road. You get more play in the tips and they have a huge sweet spot. Through the center it’s a tad stiffer but nothing mind blowing, there is a ton of torsional flex to this board so you can really twist it.

Stability: This boards just has no stability. You’ll feel everything with this deck. Going over a frozen groomer, yep vibrations, charging through chop, yep getting bucked around. It’s super lively. So keep those knees bent as you may find yourself buckling this board.

Ollies: That mellow camber is so easy to engage you don’t even notice you’re doing it, it just does it. When you roll back on the tail it has a smooth predictable snap that feels like you’ve popped with it a 1000 times. The downside is that it’s not the most aggressive rebound so you may want to suck your knees up if you’re going over something or up on to something.

Pop On Jumps: Small to medium jumps it’s fine, anything bigger it’s not going to have the stability for the landing. It pops well off the lip but you’re not going to get any mind blowing snap. If you let the lip throw you it gets the job done.

Butterability: Here’s where this board shines. It has a huge sweet spot in the tip and the tail that just locks into butters. You can get weird, it’ll hold the press, and when you want to pop out of it there’s just enough rebound to enjoy it but it never fights you.

Jibbing: This board locks into tail and nose presses. It holds the press to the end of the feature then you get that smooth predictable snap out of it to get over the bomb hole in the landing or off the end of whatever you’re on. It never fights you and just feels easy to engage. Going sideways this board really straddles the feature to the point it almost claps out, but it doesn’t and just lets you enjoy it.

Carving: Short tight quick carves and mellow ones are its strong suit. It just lacks any power out of the tail to truly lay it over and get deep. You do have the Traction Bumps right underfoot to help with ankle steering which is nice when you’re just being super laid back and lazy on edge.

Rider in Mind: Mellow park rider that wants something softer.

Personal Thoughts: I remember this board being a little stiffer the last time I rode it. It just had a bit more rigidity. This helped with the snap in my opinion and made it a bit more park versatile. This version is softer and while that’s great for buttering and jibbing, it kind of lacks in the stability department. Overall it got the job done and wasn’t bad but it didn’t stand out either.

Comparable Boards:
Capita Pathfinder Camber: https://bit.ly/3HW7VLr
Arbor Formula Camber: https://bit.ly/3GhZ4m7
Nidecker Sensor: https://bit.ly/3vf6sIx

Binding Recommendations:
Rome Vice: https://bit.ly/3WKa2G7
Nitro Team: https://bit.ly/3Wpowf5
Ride C-6: https://bit.ly/3WoPOSz