Hey everyone who attended the Silverton Splitfest. We had another successful event, and looking forward already to next year. Thanks to everyone who came out! We are going to use this thread to post all the pictures from the 2014 Splitfest.
Keffler riding out of Bear
Mastermind of Phantom’s stoke face
Hikeforturns off of bear on the white wave
HFT
Attendees practicing their beacon skills with Silverton Avalanche School Director Jim Donovan
Lynx on battleship, very rare to see these
Lots of demos this year, having our own area for sponsors to set up was a nice touch.
Great job with the event once again you guys! Keffler, HfT, Summersgone and I got an early start on the fest. The snow the week before left for some great conditions for the couloirs. The whole week turned out great with blue skies and corn by the end of the trip.
HfT has been eyeing this narrow line since we saw it a couple years ago. Couloir hidden in the gash angling on the right side Silverton Splitfest 2014 by MountainDog, on Flickr
After 8 straight days of splitboarding, it was time to relax The Montanya Rum Bar always serves it up well Silverton Splitfest 2014 by MountainDog, on Flickr
Keffler and SG wanted to do something nice for Cometogether after he represented the splitboard community well by saving buried life earlier this year. Have a backpack man! Silverton Splitfest 2014 by MountainDog, on Flickr
It was a really, really great time. The terrain around Silverton holds it’s own with just about anywhere. It is also fairly vast. The surface was just scratched.
Nice work fellas. And all this time I thought Colorado was nothing but roadside laps 😉 . I love the dry bags for creek crossings. My pack just got heavier.
What a rad thread! That terrain looks classic in every way. Thanks for sharing the pics. That has got to be one of the highest concentrations of lady splitters I’ve ever seen! Maybe nomad and I will roll down next year and represent the big sky contingent.
Can’t say thanks enough for all our sponsors especially Venture and Spark. I think half of splitfest riders were demoing your gear and had a blast out on them.
Awesome to catch up with old friends and meeting new ones. Hope to see more new faces next year. All are welcomed. Small warning though, Silverton can kick your butt. It’s taken me a few years to get to know this place, but it’s been really rewarding to see how each year just keeps getting better and new lines open up.
For the event this year we were especially honored to CAIC, AIARE and SAS lead some nice discussions after dinner. Much thanks to Josh at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) for the presentation on the local snow pack and for providing avalanche forecasts for this area throughout the year. Special thanks to Tom, a founder of the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), who came down from Boulder to Silverton just to participate by giving a talk about Decision Making Processes. Lastly, without Jim at the Silverton Avalanche School who supported us from the start, we would not have been able to coordinate with all the previous groups and for his support by providing the free companion rescue course and for the great talk on Group Dynamics.
We hope everyone liked the discussions after dinner and plan to do this every year. If you have suggestions on a 30 minute topic, we’d like to hear it. We are going to trying to mix them up each year so everyone will want to come. Thinking that next year we might try to pull together a talk about tips for traveling safely while going up?
Here’s Jim from SAS. Sorry, I forgot my camera on Friday night for Josh and Tom.
Pretty sweet of Spark to make a custom etch binding just for the event!!! Oh YEA!
It’s taken us a few years, but I think we’ve got more things dialed in like having the event at the Grand Imperial with catered food. Might add catered food for Thursday night Venture shop tour and demo set ups. Thoughts?
Summiting Battleship took some effort after riding the couloirs in V5, but you don’t always get stable conditions on the northeast face.
But when you do…it can be a fun ride!
MountainDog and I both had a blast on the Chimera 160 Uni Chaser. This board really is good for a much wider range of snow conditions than just pow, although, you don’t want to miss riding it in the white room! Sick!
I couldn’t wait to see how the Furberg would stack up in Silverton after riding it most of the season. I think HFT would back me up when I say it held it’s own on everything we could throw at it but of course, it likes pow the best. Who doesn’t?!?
Parting shot. Last stream crossing for the week and the bags were toast so it was back to the traditional Silverton right of passage.
Thanks everyone for another memorable time in Silverton. It takes some work to put this on, but it’s so much fun. If you see Summersgone, give him a big high five. He really did most of the work setting this up this year and it would not have happened without him. You rock!
Whole lotta sick pics in this thread! Been in the area a few times, but have only ridden the ski area a few days. I’m gonna have to put some serious effort into getting back there next winter.