Addressing the Splitboard Quandary
If you are a snowboarder trying to dial down your gottamm touring setup (no frustration here after inexplicably blowing bushings on my sweet new Spark splitboard bindings on tour #3!), this video by Christian Beckwith on his newly launched OuterLocal.com is a helpful and informative piece detailing how a JH snowboard mountaineer has been been able to get it done in the high country with a Jones split, and Dynafits.
The issues that I need to work through are these: I still do not feel shreddy with hardboots, the Power Duck stance does not work well with them, and you still have to use Voile’s stuff (no likey). But anyhow, check this out for yourself and If you have any tricks that you find helpful, please share with the group!
On a related note, I’ve been hearing quite a bit of buzz about Karakoram, a Cali-based splitboard binding manufacturer. While Karakoram still does not address the hard boot issue, their binding looks to be pretty freekin clean and bomber, particularly since their system, unlike Spark’s, completely bypasses Voile’s mounting equipment, thereby eliminating the need to deal with those heinous pins, cumbersome slider pucks, walkers that you have to re-Loctite after every tour, and those janky nose/tail clips that threaten to pop as soon as you need to deal with funky snow. We will be doing our best to get a pair of Karakorams in for testing and review asap. Here’s a vid that shows what their system is all about:
Category: People
