Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:32 am
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:51 am Posts: 514 Location: summit, CO
JIn Kazama wrote:
Arg! This looks like it's (WS ST) what I'm looking for - even if it's heavy - I'm really confused now...
Aren't there any Euro manufacturers making custom splits? If so you might just copy the specs of the board you like.
One of my favorite sayings is "It's not the arrow it's the indian", but it doesn't hurt to have a really nice arrow. Sure is nice to have so many options these days.
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:55 pm
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:22 pm Posts: 502 Location: Durango, CO
UTAH wrote:
put yourself on those slopes and adapt your riding style the more your going to feel comfortable in those situations...A board can only take you so far.
shredgnar wrote:
"It's not the arrow it's the indian"
+1 this thread is making me , but I keep reading...
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 5:39 pm
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:05 am Posts: 1178 Location: Colorado
If you want a damp, stiff, board, which can handle "difficult" conditions and serious terrain, you really cannot be to concerned about weight: damp and stiff means you have to accept a board which is not feather light. I am 6'1" and 170+ lbs, and have no problem handling a Winterstick Tom Burt, but if you want a shorter board for some reason I would recommend the Winterstick ST 166. Both these boards have a longer sidecut radius, which allows them to deal with "difficult" situations in much more calm and stable way than other boards. My next choice would be a Venture Odin. Although there is not much information on them yet, I suspect the Chimera Mace would be a very good choice for European high alpine riding as well. Winterstick makes boards to order, and can do some customization as well. As far as shipping to Europe goes, I suspect that they can arrange something. The boards are built by Wagner Custom in Telluride, Colorado, and you should e-mail Pete Wagner through Winterstick's website. The new Furberg brand out of Scandinavia is something to look into as well, no splits yet, but they are planning to make them. See: fuebergsnowboards.com (I really want one of these bad personally to split!)
I was actually quite surprised to see the ST was not as heavy as I thought in comparison to it's peers. At least according to the Backcountry Gear Guide, it weighed in solidly in the middle of the pack. More than the Solution and I knew that, but less than a lot of other ones reviewed.
What was funnier to me is that I could have written the review as they called it...even though they reviewed a full camber and not one with nose rocker
"extremely stable at high speeds and in powder"
"didn't find the speed limit"
"Torsional stiffness demands a lot of effort to initiate turns"
"big mountain brawler"
I could pull each comment almost verbatim from my long thread last year as I struggled to come to terms with it.
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:59 am
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:54 am Posts: 44
summersgone wrote:
UTAH wrote:
put yourself on those slopes and adapt your riding style the more your going to feel comfortable in those situations...A board can only take you so far.
shredgnar wrote:
"It's not the arrow it's the indian"
+1 this thread is making me , but I keep reading...
Last season, I took my resort board with crampons instead of my split when I knew I was going in steep couloirs - of course I could adapt to better handle soft boards, the thing is I enjoy stiff boards and in some places, mistake is really not an option...
I'm not a pro snowboarder but I grew up skiing/snowboarding and as I'm getting old (soon 30) there is not much room left for improvement - I'm also done riding with crappy equipment/equipment that does not suit me (that was ok when I was 15...)
I never go in the pipe, the only jumps I do are tiny cliffs and most of the run around my place are pretty steep. I already have a powder split (ST178) and the mojo rx does really not suit me (well, it's ok as another powder oriented board).
I've tried 3 customs splits (not made for me though) and they all were good in powder, not so much on icy slopes.
I just found & bought an old F2 eliminator that we're going to split again - this time I'll apply wood coating many times - I hope it will last (I just wish I find someone that could fit inside edges)
During the season, I'll be able to test factory splits (3 days testing any board I want), I'll check the odin if available and a I can borrow in Jan a solution - I'll be able to compare by then
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:25 am
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:05 am Posts: 1178 Location: Colorado
The more you talk about what you are looking for, the more the Winterstick ST 166 sounds like the perfect board to suit your riding/conditions. Here are the board design features which will result in the board performance you are looking for: Long radius sidecut: >10 meters Stiff, even flex pattern Fairly stiff torsional flex Moderate taper: 4mm-10mm Waist width to match your boots, as narrow as you can go without any chance of boot out on 60 degree angles Moderate camber, or rocker: this keeps the tip and tail from being over pressured-too much camber will over pressure the tip and tail of the board, making it squirrely on hard steeps.
BTW: 30 is not old! I am much older and do many days of snowboard mountaineering. When you are 45 or so, you may realize this.
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:08 am
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:24 pm Posts: 162 Location: Salzburg / Austria
shredgnar wrote:
Aren't there any Euro manufacturers making custom splits?
Some, that I know by heart: - LTB (Prague / Czech Republic) produce great snowboards (I own a LTB Classic Long 192cm) and splitboards. Their website is crap, but boards are fine. Afaik they also do custom jobs. - Goodboards: premium snowboards, Germany-based, started building splitboards this year. - There's a number of small custom manufacturers one will find via Google. One I've heard of: wildschnee.de
There's much more snowboard manufacturers (e.g. Radical Snowboards, to name one) around, but most of them are not into splitboards yet.
barrows wrote:
BTW: 30 is not old! I am much older and do many days of snowboard mountaineering. When you are 45 or so, you may realize this.
True! Here in Austria many ski mountaineers are aged 70+, so we have a lot of time left practising our sport...
Post subject: Re: Which splitboard for "serious" conditions
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:12 pm
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:54 am Posts: 44
As I sold my old equipment for a very good price, this year, I finally got a whole new setup : - 1 Jones Solution - Spark Burners - Spark/Deeluxe Boots - 1 Jones Hovercraft Split
I use the Solution most of the time, the hovercraft split is for deep pow & to lend to people who come with me (familly...)
I rode the solution 12 times and the hovercraft twice ( and another day at the resort).
Frankly, the solution is a pretty good board, stiff enough, good for all conditions (pow, icy slopes, crust etc.); I don't know if it's because of the burners/deeluxe/karakoram clips but now I can nearly use my split as my resort board
As for the hovercraft, it's really great in powder and not that bad at the resort/on crappy snow - but if I have to choose between the 2 board, I'd go for the solution.
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