There is no doubt that while boarding rocks there are some things that skis just do better e.g. long exposed traverses above cliffs, the ability to cover long flat runouts in fresh snow and the ease of movement uphill to access vast tracts of fresh snow. Therefore, given it’s all about the fresh, this season I’ve decided it’s time to hang up the single plank and get into the wild and to help anyone having similar thoughts here’s how it’s going:
Day 1: the first tentative downhill powder ride.
some uphill poling action, certainly easier than the old snowshoes or bootpacking.
Eventually, after a lot longer than the proposed 20 min (we couldn’t skin all the way due to avvy risk and had to break trail on a multi kick turn line through some rockbands interspersed with a bit of snowy rock climbing) we reached the summit and it was time for the down.
... on skis!? no chance.
So onto the real purpose of this thread Atomic Poacher Splitboard Review.
This was the second time I’d used the board this week but the first was a trial run for lift and boot accessed powder. Basically it handles the downhill pretty much like you’d expect a 171 cm board with a slight swallow tail and a cut right down the middle. It’s soft and wants to go in a straight line which is brilliant in powder and even slightly chopped stuff but quite scary on busy icy pistes where it wants to run at 100mph over everyone in sight. However, this isn’t why you want a splitboard and if you’re spending a lot of time on it on icy pistes then you probably bought the wrong thing.
Uphill is a revelation, skinning is so much easier than either snowshoes or bootpacking, indeed no way would we have got first tracks down this route on either of those as I wouldn’t have been up to the 30 degree climb. Kick turns are hard but I think this is down to me as I got better as I did more: I can do them on alpine skis with my heel clipped in but as soon as the heel is free, well lets just say the first 3 were a nightmare. I imagine after a few more tours this won’t be so much of a problem.
The transitions are slower than for skis, once again it’s a case of practice and being aware that on a slopey cold col it’s different from in the living room. Bearing in mind I’ve never used skins before it’s not surprising it took a few minutes to work out what went where, and the cheat sheets supplied are thinner than the skins themselves. That said it’s always going to take a bit longer than on skis as there’s more to do with having to put the board back together rather than just clipping the heel in.
Are splitboards the future for off piste boarding? They’re certainly not perfect e.g. the softness and you can still get stuck on flats on the descent and long traverses are no easier, however, this is definitely the best snowboard touring tool I’ve used so far.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
and I was just about to suggest that this post did not belong in the snowboard section looks like you got the best of both worlds, easy access and better use of the pow
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I use one here in Scotland. In the transitions I can almost get everything switched over as fast as the skiers now. (THey seem to stand around and chat too much!)
Only down side really is when your boarding down and hit a flat bit. Thats when the skiers have an advantage as its normally too much of a faff to convert back to ski mode.
I cant ski so any minor downhills when skinning up are "interesting"
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
OK day 2 and I have a question:
When traversing steep slopes of hard snow I'm struggling to get the downhill ski on edge, uphill is fine but to get the downhill ski to sit tight while I move my uphill I have to really twist my knee into the slope. I think this is a result of the softness of board boots. Any suggestions?
Transistions are getting quicker though
After all it is free
After all it is free
Swirly, your thoughts agree with mine almost exactly (mine's a Never Summer Titan 169 with a Voilé setup). As to your final question, aye, it's a mare!
I'm considering going down the AT boots / plate bindings route. Have heard of people creating a super-light setup using Dynafit bindings for skinning and carrying the board bindings in their pack for the way down.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Yup, same problem here on traverses.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Swirly, commom splitboard problem, best to slightly roll the ankle into the slope I find. and have ski crampons on before the going gets really tough! but its never going to be as good as a ski touring setup. Apparantley the new Spark Fuse bindings are much better for this as they sit very low so you can get some good purchase. I am going to get some when they are finally in stock.
stevomcd, I think with a Dynafit / AT setup on the board you might really loose that surf feel of snowboarding?? Which in my opinion is why we do it. If i were to do this then I would just go the whole hog and get some big old rockered skis and then you are snowboarding really anyway!!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:
stevomcd, I think with a Dynafit / AT setup on the board you might really loose that surf feel of snowboarding?? Which in my opinion is why we do it. If i were to do this then I would just go the whole hog and get some big old rockered skis and then you are snowboarding really anyway!!
Yup, that's why I haven't done it yet! Curious as to what it would feel like though.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Day 3 touring: time for a proper one up the Rosablanche via the Col de la Chaux and Col de Momin which basically meant starting at 2700m up to 2900, back down to 2700, up to 3000 down a little bit then up to 3350m. Hard work when you're as unfit as I apparently am but very rewarding. Only issue was getting very cold fingers on the final transistion: any tips? Also the fact that I still don't own a proper rope for crevasse rescue so had to carry one of my climbing ropes: 55m 8.5mm is heavy!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I've been snowboard "touring" over the past ten or so years - started off "seriously" snowboarding in La Grave twelve years ago prior to that ten years of just the usual holiday stuff, few hikes here and there combined with a lack of basic mountain craft etc etc
Once we started with guides so the whole "mountain" thing opened up.......we also ended up doing many an off piste route with skiers, those skiers were Brits too and we've been together ever since.........after our first year me and my mate switched to K2 clickers and bought a set of touring 3 section poles for the next year as we came quite adept at using the skiers poles who gave them to us on the flat stretches..........but in deep fresh powder we still had the usual problem of being past our thighs etc in deep snow trying to hike up the smallest slope.........we even developed quite a good technique of "swimming" on the board like paddling a surf board!
Next stage in the learning process was half day tours with snowshoes - that was ok but again going with the skiers just showed you how economic skinning up was..........and quite often whilst the skiers were taking a safer route you'd be more exposed.
Then we started doing some research and I came across some soft boots made by Deluxe with Dynafit lugs these then could be used on 90cm approach skis with Dynafit bindings & skins, that seemed to be the solution - did a couple of day tours and all worked really well, though in deep powder was best if I followed in the skiers tracks. Later that season went touring up in the Artic (Lyngen Alps), luckily I had crampons as morning ice made for problems, especially my mate who was on a split board and no crampons.....that same trip though we had to do some climbing / hiking and that's when I decided a soft boot setup was not good, as you can't dig in with your toes etc - it was just too dangerous, again the skiers with their vibram soled AT boots did not have a problem, we ended up climbing with ice axes.
So on to next year, this time we were doing hut to hut touring from Southern Tyrol into Italy - in advance of this I sourced some rear Dynafit bindings as my approach skis only had the front ones, then having read what various guys were up to in the US I changed to plate bindings and bought some soft AT toruing boots - these were two buckle and very light, shop in Chamonix sold them to older ski touring types who were not into steep descents but for more randonee they were very soft and it's a setup I still prefer to this day over soft boots even in deep powder, and then when on courdroy piste, change the angles of the plates, crank them up and you can really do Euro Faggot carves!
Lessons learnt from the hut to hut tour and other touring weeks then........approach ski setup very fast to switch can be used really well on traverses and on flats can skate ski along, added security of alpine boots etc - negative is still have to carry a board and not a lot of fun in strong winds, again quite dangerous at times........compare to a mate of splitboard then, no problems with wind as not carrying a board, big negatives being steep traverse climbing on ice using crampons not good as binding have too much lateral movement, plus can't then follow in tracks of skiers as in ski mode board too wide..........but biggest hassle encountered was at altitude in severe windchill etc took too long with fingers getting cold to put board back together..............snow shoes, just sap way too much energy on longer tours and crap again in rotten spring snow...........
So guys there you have it............might go along way to explain why after more than 20 years of snowboarding I've now gone back on skis, especially so for touring, but I'm having to ski full time in order to get to a similar level in powder to that I'm at on a board....................and just back from four days, two with a guide doing all the same stuff, mate was on his board but after the first day with the guide chose to carry snowshoes..........
Not much to report: board was brilliant uphill, but like the Rosablanche ascent the snow was nice (occasional suncrust but mainly soft) and not at all steep. The down was excellent for the most part although a dusting of fresh over crust and avvy debris in the exit couloir wasn't exactly fun and the board didn't really like being forced through the debris (once again the softness of the board was the main thing) but it coped with it OK and I got down with minimal fuss: just occasional (or not so occasional) bouts of swearing
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
looks like you got the best of both worlds, easy access and better use of the pow 
