Splitmo Racing?? My experience at a randonee race on a splitboard
words by: Michelle Smith
Anyone that is a splitboarder, or has been out with a splitboarder knows how much they can suffer if conditions aren’t ideal. Sidehilling, icy or crusty traverses/skintracks, and long rolling approaches are all things that can create a challenging day on a split. This year I even questioned why I still bothered to do big days in the Tetons on a splitboard. I started doing some research on buying a dynafit ski set-up, dusted off my old ski boots, and then clicked into a pair of my friend’s skis one day this season. The outcome wasn’t good. Since the inside of my leg now looks like this (picture to the left)
after a big fall I took in the mountains a year and a half ago, being in a stiff boot while making a ski turn felt more uncomfortable than splitboarding at its worst. Plus, I just wasn’t feeling it. I enjoy riding down a mountain most on a snowboard. So I was back to square one, and decided to spend the year working on making splitboarding as efficient and pleasant as possible.
With the snowpack being a little too sketchy to hit some of the bigger lines around the Tetons, I decided to challenge myself by entering a randonee race…..on my splitboard. I’ll admit that this idea seemed like a bit of a joke, but I thought if nothing else it would be an interesting experience.
This past weekend was the U.S Ski Mountaineering Championship at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The race course is pretty burly, with somewhere around 8,000 feet of vertical and a ton of transitions. About half way through the race there is a cut off point of 3 hours. If you don’t make that you will get booted off the course with a mandatory DNF. Since I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into by trying this, I thought that a potential DNF would be a pretty embarrassing end to my first try at a race on a splitboard. Fortunately there was a “recreation” division that was about half the vertical with only 3 transitions, PERFECT! I signed up, and gave myself 3 goals for entering the race.
1-to learn something new about how to make splitboarding more efficient
2-to get in a good day of exercise
3-to beat at least one skier that was actually racing
I rolled up to the race about 15 minutes before the start on my splitboard, and found myself inside a pool of lycra, spandex, and really tiny skis. As if I didn’t feel out of place as it was, I definitely got a few weird looks. I moved to the back of the pack to find myself standing next to the one other splitboarder in the line-up and wished him luck.
When the race began I pretty much red lined it all the way up to the recreation turn-around, which was about 2500 feet up a smooth steep groomer interspersed with a couple of cat tracks. There was no icy side hilling, no switchbacks, and no traversing during this portion of the race. It was just a good cardio burn, which was the only thing I had to my advantage. I got to the front of the back of the pack and was able to stay there until about 20 feet before the turn-around point….right where the groomer started to turn into an icy bump field. As expected I slipped out, and I thought, “great….this is where the embarrassment begins”. I got passed by about 3 skiers during the slip, so instead of wasting time trying to get back on my feet again I just took off my board and walked the 20 feet to the transitions point. I made the transition as quick as I could, and hauled ass down to the lower faces. Once I got to the lower faces it was survival turns down to the bottom. Conditions were absolute boiler plate from a week of warm daytime temps with below freezing temps at night. I got passed by one skier on the way down, but overall I made it down those conditions on my board just fine. I feared that going back up that sh#t with my splitboard was where the disaster was going to begin.
The next transition went pretty smoothly. There was still a good handful of skiers behind me. If they were going to pass me it was going to be during this crusty bump field odyssey. The start of the lower faces went really well. It wasn’t too steep, so I was cruising over the crust. Then the crux struck. About half way up the skin track got icy, steep, and un-even chundery bumps were everywhere. I slipped out twice as every step turned into a struggle. I saw two skiers gaining distance on me quickly. I wasn’t happy about loosing even more time, but I made myself stop to take off my pack and grab my splitboard crampons. It took a few minutes to get the crampons on, but once I did it was smooth sailing again. The skin up was still miserable….as it was for everyone that day, but I was (relatively) cruising again. When I got to the top of the lower faces to start the last transition, the other two skiers that were close behind ended up being in the transition zone with me. I put my board back together in record time, and took off ahead of them by just a few seconds. I went down the run towards the finish line as fast as I could and didn’t look back. When I crossed the line there was a skier that finished about .02 seconds behind me. She was pretty flabbergasted that she let herself get beat by a splitboarder….but all in all she was pretty stoked I was able to do it.
I ended up in 3rd place in the women’s recreation division. It felt really good to stand on the podium in a pair of snowboard boots. In a field of 15 rec skiers I finished 8th overall, which I felt like was a solid accomplishment. And who knows, maybe one day there will be a splitboard division at a race like this! If nothing else it would be a fun way for the splitboard community to come together and push each other to find ways to make this sport a little more pleasant and efficient.
Here is a video from the day!
Category: Mission
That’s rad. There have been splitboarders racing in the Skin to Win here at Bridger Bowl for a few years now. Good on ya.
Congratulations, third place is very impressive. You really need to stop looking at the split board as being second to skis, they work fine and you just proved it. We all know of there short comings but the truth of the matter is its way better than skiing down the slope. You totally made the right call ditching the skins and booting the final 20′ to the transition, this happens to us in the mountains as well (you’re a snowboarder, embrace bootpacking). My advice is to split board more, you will learn how to read terrain better than skiers, know when to skin boot or split crampon will be most efficient. Also don’t follow skiers everywhere they go, sometimes you need to take your own line. The sport of split boarding has come a long way since it started, be thankful you did not start during the days of heavy boards, no split specific bindings and even more cumbersome skins. I find the recent improvements to split boards to be very efficient in getting me to where is want to go.
Thanks for your response Bryan! Those are some valid points and very helpful.
When is the skin to win race? I usually try to get up to Bridger once a season, and it would be cool to work in a trip around the time of that race.
I tried 4 years ago, found the same experience – http://www.treepilot.ca/index.php?itemid=71
There was one other splitter, he finished 7th. I believe the winner of this race is now a splitboarder. Hell, Greg Hill was spotted on a splitboard this past weekend at Canuck Splitfest (http://www.splitboarders.ca/)
Put your dynafits on your splitboard and you’ll definitely be more efficient.
In the end it’s the jockey, not the horse. I don’t know the day will ever come where the same athlete is quicker on a splitter than skis, but there’s certainly some very fast splitboarders out there.
Nice write up on your race experience….pretty similar to mine. I am in the process of putting together a dynafit hard boot split set up for snowboard mountaineering outings. I already have a pair of boots, (scarpa scarlites). Now I just need another split and the dynafit toe pieces. I’m also trying to figure out the binding thing….not so sure about the voile option for hard boots.
I’ve been splitting in hard boots for about 10 seasons now. Seems much more efficient and streamlined for skinning, especially for edge control and pressure on those steep icy sidehills. The voile hard boot bindings work great. Never tried the dynafit toepiece option because I like simplicity. The only problem I’ve ever had is ovalizing the holes on the slider tracks- too much force/pressure on that pivot with hardboots? Gets a bit sloppy after 2 seasons or so. Just bought some board crampons for this season too.
I competed in one backcountry race and finished in the middle of the pack. Had to wait for my dad at each transition point. He was on a super light randonee setup and before the race was convinced he’d be waiting for me.