Viewing 22 posts - 1 through 22 (of 22 total)
  • snowboarders: anyone split-boarding?
  • cynic-al
    Free Member

    A mate just got a board and snet me links to a DIY kit for £120, same again gets you skins and you are ready to go.

    Looks like fun, anyone doing it? I’m pretty tired of the queues in Scottish ski areas.

    scotsman
    Free Member

    I have a mate that comes with us on his split board when we go for a bit of touring/skinning, seems a bit of a faff compared with a Dynafit ski touring set up, gets him to where we go though, he says the board is pretty useless in the sastrugi or hard packed choppy crud, but good when you get to the powder.
    Does the job and gets you away from the crowds that pack Cairngorm, Nevis, Glenshee on a good day.

    tonyd
    Full Member

    Friend of a friend uses/used one and apparently isn’t that impressed – the board has less lateral flex than a normal one so doesn’t ride as well as it should, and when it’s split it’s too wide to sit in most touring ski tracks so you’re breaking trail constantly.

    If you’re seriously touring then it sounds like a pair of approach skis with skins would be a better bet, with a conventional board strapped to your pack. I think that’s what this friend of a friend ended up using.

    This is of course third hand information so take with a pinch of salt!

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    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Al – Martin(xyz) Splitboards in the ‘Gorms. If he doesn’t respond to this, let me know and I’ll ask him to contact you direct.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    Yup, I love it. Love mountains, love snowboarding, limited enthusiasm for all the stuff about resort skiing that gets in the way. Like climbing and mountaineering and hiking up mountains and hills, never liked the hiking down. I don’t ski. So splitboarding ticks a lot of boxes!

    Just come back from a week in the Lyngen Alps, in Northern Norway. Thursday evening on the 22nd May, me and Mrs R, 11pm summit @ 1275m, breathtaking sunbounce (our best stab at a name for sunset/sunrise when it doesn’t actually set or rise!) and views over the surrounding mountains and fjords. Spent an hour or more at the top as it was warm and no wind, loads of photos (not got to grips with them yet!) cool run down in all sorts of conditions – no blower pow, but fun nonetheless. Rode to within 3 feet of the car, unstrapped at 2:30am. Didn’t see a soul apart from each other and four reindeer. Magical.

    The kit’s getting better and better every year, more and more startup companies filling needs and exploring options, more and more established companies throwing their hats into the ring, more and more options on boards and bindings. Load you can use hardboots and dynafit bindings. There are a couple of hybrid boot options with laces, rigid mountaineering boot soles and welts for crampons. Loads of users modifying kit and sharing methods – eg. shaving hardboots to soften flex characteristics. Loads of info and discussion on the splitboard.com forums.

    Spin
    Free Member

    I’m pretty tired of the queues in Scottish ski areas.

    Scottish ski areas are shit. Scottish touring and back country can be* truely world class. Either get a split board and don’t get hung up on the performance thing or learn how to ski. Either way you’ll be sampling the best of what Scotland has to offer.

    *Terms and conditions apply.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    Wrote the below beofre I read Spin’s but he’s dead right. If you want to hike up snowy mountains and snowboard down from the top, splitboards are a very good way of doing this, and in most conditions, the downsides compared to a skitouring set-up won’t matter at all.

    The below:

    I don’t agree with the comments about ride quality – With a decent board with the fixings accurately placed (eg never Summer or Venture have a reputation for well put together boards) and decent bindings eg Sparks or karakorums, you won’t be thinking about how rubbish the board is on the way down. I love my Venture Zephyr split, ridden it on plenty of lift days with no skins and poles in Cham, La Grave and Verbier, and never thought “I wish I had my xxx solid board” Satrugi muigh be a handful on a splitboard, but it is on anything! Personal competence aside. I know I’d rather be on a snowboard in powder, breakable crust and heavy changeable snow. I’ve had a blast riding the last two, and been followed much slower by good skiiers literally shouting in pain at the lactic burn.

    Breaking trail when your following skiers – meh, maybe, not a big issue, 90-95% of the work’s done.

    There are certainly places where it’s a compromise compared to ski touring – couple more steps in the transition; control on icy traverses (soft boots and wide board half); rolling terrain meaning lots of transitions or split-skiing – but most of those can be mitigated through ski crampons, route choice and just being quick, systematic and efficient with your transitions.

    djtom
    Free Member

    Yes, I’ve gone the DIY route and split an old 162cm Hammer board, using a Voile split kit. It works well, yes there is more flex than an uncut board when you are riding choppy crap but if you are riding powder then you don’t notice it. I’ve done day tours around the Chamonix region (Domes du Miage, Cols du Chardonnet, Belvedere, Crochues – Berard etc), and a week long hut to hut tour around the Gran Paradiso in Italy. It’s still going strong.

    A few downsides and things to think about – If something breaks or works loose in the backcountry, you could end up stuck on the side of a mountain in the dark. This would be bad. And cold. Take a few spare bolts and an Allen key, spare binding straps etc. Test kit for a couple of days on the pistes before embarking on a backcountry tour. Better to break a board / binding, or drop something important when you have a bail out option. Test out how to split / rejoin the board when your hands are frozen and the board is iced up. Again, best not to be doing this for the first time balanced on an arrette in a snowstorm…
    The kit is much heavier than a touring ski setup. You won’t be keeping up on the ascents if your equally fit mates are on skis. That said, you’ll have much more fun on the downs.

    All in all, well worth it. I’ve just bought a second hand Burton Fish that I’m going to split. This should be lighter and more nimble but just as good in powder. Try it and see how you get on. Second hand kit is selling for strong prices on eBay, so even if you sell it you probably won’t lose money on it.

    TroutWrestler
    Free Member

    Split boards do make a mess of skin-tracks. An aesthetic outrage. They should be banned.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    Hmmmm. Because they make them bigger? You could try looking further up the skin track, then they’d look smaller again. 😉

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Thanks all. While its a small investment for a new sport, I’ll have to think about how much I’d be likely to use it.

    stevomcd
    Free Member

    I do a lot of split-boarding. Compared to any other (non-mechanical!) means of getting around the mountains to snowboard down (I’ve tried most of them!) split-boarding is streets ahead. Massively better than snowshoes, approach skis or boot-packing!

    Totally disagree with tonyd’s comments on board performance, mine is great. Rides like I’m on my normal freeride board.

    I’d also disagree that it’s heavier than a ski-touring setup. Maybe compared to a real light-weight touring ski + dynafit setup, but probably lighter than, say, a freeride ski with Barons or similar – especially once you take the boots into account!

    A proper splitboard with a dedicated splitboard binding will be much better (and lighter) than a DIY setup. Nothing wrong with going DIY, but it’ll never be as good as a factory splitboard.

    If you’re really interested, I’m actually selling my old setup pretty cheap!

    Local day-out on the splitty back in January:

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    oh, go on then, Norway and France. Not as gnarly as stevo’s but still a heap of fun. Great days out I wouldn’t have had without a splitboard.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    and lines from Fastdaltinden, 10 days ago, 12:30am

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    Hi all, very interested in this. I have fairly recently moved to Sweden and am keen to get into splitboarding. One thing though is that I haven’t seen you mention is mountain safety. Have you done your avalanche courses etc? Did you get into it with a mate or have you found partners online . I’ve got loads of questions actually… 🙂

    stevomcd
    Free Member

    howsyourdad1 – I’m an International Mountain Leader and a snowboard instructor holding the European Mountain Safety qualification (highest available ski/snowboard instructor off-piste safety exam). I also teach avalanche safety classes. That do? 😉

    I’d recommend to most people that they do an avalanche safety class, practise transceiver rescue regularly, go out with more experienced people to begin with and learn some navigation skills before going out on their own.

    tonyd
    Full Member

    +1 on the avalanche safety class before venturing out too far. If nothing else they’re very interesting!

    I did one in NZ in the late 90s having spent the previous 3 years tramping around the Pyrenees with a snowboard. It was only during the course that I realised how much danger I’d unknowingly put myself in.

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    Hi sorry my previous post sounded a little patronising…! what i meant was where did you do them and how can i do them… ! really want to get into splitting but unsure of where to get qualified etc.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    Get on google: If you don’t find anything for “avalanche awareness course [where you live]”, try local ski resort/ski patrol; weather reports for hilly areas should have avalanche status/forecast (probably dormant for the summer unless you’re way up north) which might be an avenue to investigate further for courses near you.

    splitboarding generally – get onto http://www.splitboard.com

    US dominated, but more and more Euros getting on there. Lots of subforums, so you can find easily discussion on pretty much anything splitboarding or mountainy.

    http://www.fjallsakerhetsradet.se/eng/

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    cool thanks!

    leggyblonde
    Free Member

    I’ve been tempted to DIY my old Nitro as I love the back country and also as a cyclist I have no problems with earning my descent the hard way!
    Living in London though and only getting in one week plus one weekend a year, I can’t really justify it 🙁

    If you want to get out with others and learn try out one of Neil’s courses in Cham. Top guide and instructor.

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