I’ve love doing big days with the snowboard, but the reality of hiking for 5 hours in snowshoes is horrible, so I rarely do it (helis are fine for the occasional treat, but not really very sustainable).

After spending saturday teaching mrs peterfile to snowboard while the rest of our group went climbing/ski touring, I had a notion to buy a splitboard so that I could join them in future (i don’t mind ski touring, but I’d far rather be riding than skiing for a big powder run).

Anyone ever used a splitboard? Would it be possible to keep (vaguely) up with someone on skis on the flats/ups? How is the technology now, I seem to remember the early boards being a bit of a faff and quite flexy?

not done it, but strongly considering it

Never done it either but have done a fair bit of hiking and riding down, would love to give it a try but have no skiing skills.

would love to give it a try but have no skiing skills.

That’s the beauty though…no real skiing skills required. It’s more like telemarking on the flat/ups. Skins on and heels out.

Pretty expensive though, so i’d prefer to demo before buying!

Have a word on Scuk there are a few people over there that ride them..

I can definitely recommend splitboarding – I love it! 😆

Would it be possible to keep (vaguely) up with someone on skis on the flats/ups?

Absolutely … change-over with a splitboard is perhaps marginally slower than skis as you have to fit your board back together, but with practice this is minimal. It’s certainly much faster than snowshoes!!

How is the technology now, I seem to remember the early boards being a bit of a faff and quite flexy?

The past 5 years have seen some real progression in splitboarding in terms of technology and also choice.
You’re right, the first splitboard(s) I tried tended to be really soft – especially in the nose. They were ok in powder, but there was little in the way of ‘performance’ in mixed conditions as the board can’t be torsionally flexed. This has all changed though and many of the modern splitboards ride similar to a quality board.

Bindings have also progressed – From having to bolt normal bindings to a Voile plate over pucks – which placed your feet a couple of centimeters above the board, to dedicated splitboard bindings from the likes of Spark R&D and Karakorum.

Whilst these bindings have made improvements on the ‘interface’ with the board, there is perhaps some way to go in terms of matching top end bindings but improvements are being made each year (mainly in terms of stiffness).

There’s a bit to get used to on a splitboard, it’d be good to get some practice in in a safe area before you head off on a big tour with your mates. An efficient kick-turn (when you change your zig to a zag on the way up) will save a lot of energy, especially as it can make the difference between an unbroken upwards rhythm and sliding back 30m on icy snow (cliff optional), or falling head down the slope in deep powder.

Compared to skiing, there’s more to do when you transition (collapsing poles, changing over boards and bindings. But being quick is mainly about having a system and sticking to it. Doing things in an efficient order, the same each time, makes a big difference to the faff and the time.

If the terrain is rolling, lots of little ups and downs, this can be a pain, as you’re either putting more effort in walking where you could be skiing, or transitioning when the skiers don’t have to. If you get into the route selecting stage, you can try steer the route away from this sort of thing on the grounds of efficiency (no wasted vert) on the way up, and fun (a good, unbroken run) on the way down.

There are other places where skiers will be having an easier time, on icy traverses, where they have narrower skis (mostly!), higher bindings, and stiffer boots so more leverage keeping the edge into the slope. Crampons than go under the binding and dig into the snow either side of the ski gets this taken care of, though.

But there are few places where a split will have an easier time – taking a steeper skin track (wider skins, more grip) and in deep powder, where you’ve got more floatation.

splitboard.com is your next stop. How to’s, Why to’s, a good forum and some amazing trip reports.

thanks guys!

aye, for some reason splitboard.com is blocked on my laptop, I’ll have a look later.

🙂

And yes, to echo Digby, it’s awesome, I love it.

As far as snowboard technology goes, if you can find it on a regular snowboard, there’ll probably be a split with it, too – core contruction, sidecut variations, magnetraction, any and every camber profile…

I used to do a fair bit of touring on MSR snowshoes and on skis with touring bindings. If you’re fit and have decent snowshoes I don’t find snowshoes much tougher than skinning – they’re only really a pain on undulating or very flat routes.

It’s awesome! Do it! Take Digby’s advice on equipment though, the new equipment available is amazing and will make a massive difference.

Be warned though it’s generally not as accepted in Europe as it is in North America.

Guides can be a bit funny so always worth checking before booking anything. If you’re touring with friends, who are on skis, then it shouldn’t be a problem. If it’s a mixed group of random folks it’s worth checking again. I did a introduction to ski mountaineering course with skiers and it wasn’t a problem (though some companies said no, including PyB). On the flats I had to put in some real effort in with the poles to make sure I didn’t fall to far behind.

As other people have said pick your tours and you’ll have an amazing time. The closest thing to mountain biking I’ve tried. Be prepared for 5 hours up.. =)

Here’s about 30 pics of the steps from start to finish of a K2 Zeppelin 164 I split near the end of December. I have had the flu since last sunday so it’ll be a while before I get to try it out. :O/

Ben Wyvis was looking very well covered as I drove to the doctors earlier. 😐

voile splitboard kit by martinxyzxyz, on Flickr

This is a cheeky “Paging Digby” post!

Might be going to the Lyngen Alps in a couple of weeks. If you see this, could you ping me a quick email, please? – address in profile. Wouldn’t mind picking your brains!

I just half wrote a massive jumbled incoherent rambling brain fart. realised it for what it was and deleted it.
Heres the summary.

I think alot of the main points have been covered.

I’ve got a K2 panoramic with SparkR&D burner bindings. A mate of mine has a board made from the Kit. If you use the kit and make a good job of it the results are not far off a pre made split.

More faff than ski touring but if your already snowshoeing then faff obviously doesnt concern you.

Split specific bindings make a big difference.Karokoram, Spark R&D and Volie all make specific bindings. Look at some of the prototypes that are in the pipe line from Spark R&D “the edison” and the “magneto”

Trying to climb steep stuff in board boots(especially scottish conditions) is like trying to rock climb in welly boots (its not pretty)
Again some of the Split board/Mountaineering boots look interesting.
Deelux Spark(xavier de la rue’s model)
Fitwell Split board boot

While skining my mate and I keep pace with my brother on a Dynafit touring set up.

Trying to traverse the slope in scottish conditions is hard. When you split a board into skis you have a pair of very short, flexible wide skis. Trying to get that to bite into the slope in crusty snow is hard.
Spark and Volie make crampons that help.

The sick and the wrong board shop stock alot of kit that untill recently was only available abroad.