Splitboard.com Forums

Hey! i have spent a few hours going through the forum now - But since I am new to Splitboarding I still have a few questions.

I’m about 170lb and 6’2, the last few years I was riding a 166 option snowboard and was happy with it. I am snowboarding since 1989 and have done a lot of snowboard-snoeshoe-touring and also some skitouring because some peaks are almost not possible with snowshoes and a board on the back! I hope that will change!

I am looking for a board for all snow conditions from powder over ice to late spring snow. I am hiking and riding in the swiss alps – yes another Swiss in the forum! Since I will have to order online and have to let it send over the ocean without touching and testing it before… I have the following questions:

So far I would say I go with a Prior Backcountry 166 or 172, Ignitions II and a pair of Crampons.

What other Boards can you recommend me?
Mojo 166 vs 171; Prior Spearhead 166, Venture Divide 166 Wide – I love wide boards because my bindings are if possible set on 0-5 degrees…,

Mr. Chomps vs. Voile crampons ?
For the crampons I would like to know which crampons bite better? and do both type fit on the Ignitions and the board? I prefer the Mr. Chomps do to the cool design but what matters for me is which hold better on a traverse etc. and do they fit on the board? Because Prior is selling the Ignitions bindings and Voilé Crampons.

Do you easily loose those pins? For example while riding? Or only when changing set up in the deep snow - Just because in the forum people attach them with a hair elastic and in the web stores they all seem to sell extra pins…

Thank you for your help!

On the old Sparks i broke the D ring for the pins twice. I didn't lose the pin, but I use the spares now. Will did mention this was being fixed though, so maybe in the Ignition II it's not an issue anymore. The voile pins are harder to lose that way, the cord is a bit more durable. Otoh, some people don't like the cord at all, and prefer the pin to be free.

If you use the Sparks you need Mr. Chomps because the voile crampons don't work with the Ignitions (the voile crampons fit on the pin, on the outside of the slide plate, and the sparks are too wide for that).

I wouldn't worry about board compatibility with any of the crampons, even on a wide board.

With respect to bite I doubt it makes any difference though I haven't tried.

As far as I know the only board that doesn't go for a balanced approach is the spearhead, it's a powder specific board. The others are all designed for versatility, so they all seem to fit the bill.

I just got a Backcountry 161 this year. I've got 7 days on it so far, one day on a real mountain, 4 days hiking the ski area, and 2 nights on the ski area by headlamp. The Backcountry is much softer than any solid board I've had in my quiver. People can feel free to disagree with me but I would compare it to the lib-tech banana skate. That being said the flex pattern is great and it is very torsionally rigid. I have not had the nose fold up on me yet. A venture maybe stiffer, I don't know, but there's plenty of fanatics on the site who can tell you all about them. Also Never Summer is theoretically coming out with production splits. Sparks has a link to Sentury Snowboards http://www.senturysnowboards.com/index.cgi who is also coming out with one.
If you're in Europe you should see if you can demo the Atomic Poacher. I'm not saying buy it but everyone here would like a review.

Good luck

If your only going to have one board go with a Mojo, Burton, Venture Divide, or Prior BC. I personally haven't been around the NS so I can't attest to them other than lots of folks love them.

Losing pins is not an option, make sure it doesn't happen. Sparks II and Mr. Chomps is the only way to go.

The wide Divide is really wide. I have an 11.5 (29.5 for you Euros) with low angles, and the med. works well for me. Excellent board for all conditions. Other than that, the above suggestions should steer you in the right direction.

Hey guys - Thank you for your quick help!

One more question:

Which board is stiffer the Prior BC or the Venture Divide?
I saw a atomic poacher in the store but i think it's not up to date yet - but i haven't tested it, and anyway i couldn't compare it to another splitboard yet... Unfortunately the dealer had never heard about Prior, Venture, etc.!! i can't take that serious...

Powder is hitting the alps these days! Oh yeah! Hope the season has started in your region as well!

The Prior Backcountry is torsionally rigid but it's defiantly soft along the flex pattern. I haven't used the Divide so I can't say anything about it.

I think the Venture Divide is stiffer, that is just from flexing them in the shop. The divide definitely seemed the stiffest split in the shop, and they had Priors and Ventures.

If you are a 11.5 foot, the Venture medium width has a 26cm waist whcih should be fine, the wide is WAY wide, I think 28. I think that would be a bit much for 11.5 foot.