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I think I was being sarcastic. As long as you're having fun right? (unless you're having fun on snowblades...)

Shorties are fun too, when there's no pow to be had. My 94cm head liners made learning to ski switch easy fruitboots rule

b0ardski , is this you?

same Raichle boots but I'm too old to tweak airs

I don't know what the fuss over stiffer and stiffer boots is. I don't think I've even done my boots up for the better part of the last ten years. Stiff boots and bindings are shitty ski technology influence. Maybe they're good for kicking steps in ice but the last time I checked I fucking hated riding ice...

Ranquet doesn't even ride with highbacks!

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000 ... e-ranquet/

Is it just me or does this conversation pop up every year around this time. Like it or not, a lot of people have been riding snowboards for a long time. There's a reason that hard-booters have always been the minority and it's not because they know something you don't...

Yes Matt, there is a reason-backwards attitudes like yours. This is exactly the kind of attitude that limits equipment progress for our sport. I have no problem if someone chooses to ride soft boots, for whatever reason they might, but I do take issue with the ignorant attitude you express here.
I will put my thirty plus years of riding, and my double digit first descents, up against anyone's experience here. I do all of my backcountry riding in modified AT boots, because they are better than soft boots in every way. I have ridden every imaginable set up that has ever been available, and my current hard boot set up is the best performing set up I have ever ridden.

Right. I'm ignorant cause I don't like riding hardboots...

Ride hardboots, or don't. It's a free world, do whatever you want. But not everyone splitboards so they can bag peaks. Lots of us do it because we wanna ride powder and hit big natural features.

It's the same reason more and more splitboard companies are trending towards rockered twin-tip shapes. Those of us who grew up watching guys like Jamie Lynn, Johan and Terje aren't counting grams and carrying double ice-axes every trip.

No fuss, simple and sturdy.
Like it or not that "shitty ski technology" made snowboards what they are today. ski & snowboard is the same industry, might as well get over it. Yes snowboards gave skis shape, after skis gave boards some usability and an easy way up the hill. I did back country in leather lace up boots before I ever heard of a snowboard but I wouldn't use them now.
Just because I like the convenience of plate bindings with plastic shelled boots (that are almost too soft to ski in) and think laces are a hassle doesn't make me go around dissin' soft gear.

There's plenty of noboarders out there proving you don't have to use highbacks. I surfed the pow on bent plywood w/metal fins & rubber straps in sorrels and that's fun too. Hell I even tried putting a rope thru the holes in the nose I still bust out the performer once in a blue moon for grins on an easy access powder slope, fun turns but I always long for the control & response of metal edges & snappy fiberglass, you know, that shitty ski tech

p.s. Skiing is still teh ghey!

"Right. I'm ignorant cause I don't like riding hardboots..."

Matt: perhaps I was not entirely clear in my post. I did not suggest that everyone should ride hard boots, in fact, I stated that I have no problem with people riding whatever they want.
What I did say is that you espoused an ignorant attitude towards hard boots. Have you ever actually ridden a properly sorted out hard boot set up? I doubt it, it takes a lot of work modifying to get a pair of AT boots to perform really well for snowboarding. Please do not pretend to have knowledge on a subject you apparently are not familiar with-this is ignorance.
Secondly, I do not think anyone here considering trying to develop a hard boot set up that works is a freestyle oriented rider, working on nailing that last rotation in their 1080. It is clear that for the near future, freestyle oriented riders will continue to be happy with the Chinese toy boots that are marketed to them. But riders here who are concerned about the highest performance in the mountains, in all types of snow conditions, riding big lines in technical conditions, and getting the maximum amount of vert on powder days, should consider hard boots.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to "try" hard boots. As to really discover what kind of performance they are capable of takes considerable modification and tweaking of the system, unlike soft boots which "work" right off the shelf. I would not consider riding in stock AT, as they are way too stiff, and do not offer a snowboard style flex.

everyone in the crew of deeper used softboots correct?

Fine. But, my point was that for riders like me, whom I would argue are the majority (in comparison to those riding hardboots), nobody is "[limiting] equipment progress for our sport." In fact, quite the opposite (see split-specific binding companies X and Y). The sport is just moving in a direction that you don't like, but I do.

"Fine. But, my point was that for riders like me, whom I would argue are the majority (in comparison to those riding hardboots), nobody is "[limiting] equipment progress for our sport." In fact, quite the opposite (see split-specific binding companies X and Y). The sport is just moving in a direction that you don't like, but I do."

Matt, it appears that you are living in a little world in your mind. This site is "splitboard.com", take a look at the vast majority of the trip reports here. Most of them detail trips into the high mountains for the riding of big lines and powder. There are very few concerned with slackcountry/backcountry freestyle riding.
Personally, I could care less what direction "the sport is moving in", in fact, the less people in the high mountains the better as far as I am concerned (sorry BCrider). I choose to do my own riding, and am not influenced by the actions of others, and certainly not by the "media". The one concern I do have, though, is that there has been no development in snowboard boots for the last 10+ years, forcing riders who care about ultimate performance to develop their own solutions (whether hard or soft shell). This lack of development is partly caused by the ignorant attitude expressed in your first post, which, by the way, you did not qualify as for your own riding.
As to Deeper. I congratulate Jeremy on making this film (and did so here in Boulder), and hope that he will continue to work in this vein. But, this is not some kind of breakthrough (allthough the filming of it is) in riding, I (and a number of other folks) was doing this kind of thing more than ten years ago, sometimes in even more remote areas.
I do not blindly follow in the footsteps of other riders, in some kind of 12 year old's fantasy world, I make my own way, and develop my own equipment, which suits my needs. Indeed, I am frustrated by the lack of suitable boots for backcountry splitboarders, and so are a lot of others on this site. For those that are willing to put in the effort (modding/tweaking) and expense, hard boots offer a viable alternative to traditional soft snowboard boots.