hey man,

thanks for the post…i am curious to hear the replies. i have been thinkign about a the split decision and i would have to go with a 166. which is 6cm bigger than my new board. one of my friends, killclimbz rides a 166 but he’s a bit bigger than myself.

i’d personally blame the snow because it was less than ideal. nothing carves through the chunks left after weekend traffic at berthoud! 😛

I’ve been kicking around going with the 173 for my next board. My big worry is that I love darting through the trees which are often tight in spots. So I may just get another 166.

Francis, stick with it. The board is definitely a bit bigger than you’re used to, and sitting a little higher above the board probably doesn’t help. Make sure you have your bindings mounted as far back as possible to help with the nose dive. I was experiencing that quite a bit myself these past few outings. It’s more to do with conditions as Will stated than your ability or the board. I know on my first outing with my split that I thought it was a bit squirrely and I had to get used to the slightly longer length than what I had been riding. It’s all good now. You’ll love the extra length in deep pow. That is why I am contemplating the larger board.
If anyone has any experience on the 173 and what you think of it in tight trees let me know. I suspect I’ll just have to sack up and get one to get used to it.

You’ll eventually get used to the length. If you set the stance back it may help with the nose dive, but it will make it harder to initiate turns. I’d leave the stance more centered, then it won’t “feel” so long.

Hey Just_me (dig the screen name btw)

you’re 5’5″ but how much do you weigh? are you 125 wet and wearing boots or are you built like a brick! I’m 5’7″ and about 160-170 depending on how many donuts I’ve ate this week but…

I ride a 165 Prior for my split and its quite a bit stiffer than a Voile board. I find it ideal in powder but I’d prefer a 162 for the less than ideal conditions. My regular resort set ups are a 156 Zeplin and a 162 Recon Riser. I don’t think I’d ever even buy a board under a 155 cm unless maybe you’re willing to dump off that fish…but that is just me! 😉

I’m 5’5″ and 140 lbs. My K2 homemade split is 170+. I ride a 155-160 resort board. I’m in agreement – get the longer board and grow into it. A lot of the turn initiation & “bringing it around” issues can be improved with practice (at the resort or in the b/c). Some of this might be elementary but may be worth mentioning if it helps anyone:

1) Keep your front knee slightly flexed over your front toe just after you pass through the “dead point” (flat base ) when transitioning onto a new edge. This may help you initiate the turn with a bit more weight toward the nose, as ought be dun! As you drive the board through the turn, you should be moving the force from the nose at the beginning of the turn, to between the feet when your board is pointing straight down the hill, to the tail as you finish the turn and set up to unweight for the next one.

2) Make rounder, in-the-fall-line turns. Most of us, when we get freaked on steep slopes or in the trees, tend to bring our turns (especially heelside) around too far so as to bring our board almost perpendicular to the fall-line. Practice making rounder turns that finish closer to 45 degrees across the fall line instead of 90 degrees across it. When you’re a little guy, its really hard to get a 170 back into the fall line after you throw it horizontal to cut speed. This will help you ride a bigger board more confidently in narrow chutes & trees.

Hope that wasn’t too ski-nerd. 😳

Just me,

A good part of it is the board. I posted a review last year of my trip with a friend to Tucks with a Prior Split and Voile Split (I now own one of each) with identical bindings and stance. It was one of the best powder days in the bowl ever for me. And oth rode great. But on the way down to the parking lot, the trail was far less then perfect (a somewhat narrow trail (10′-15’wide) some POW, ice, crust, waterbars, etc). We switched boards half way down to get a comparison. And we both felt that the Voile was much more difficult to turn in those conditions. This is not a jib on the Voile Split. It’s just that in “those”

just…..

what terrain do you mostly ride? i’m not familiar with Bertha Pass.
mostly big open stuff?……..then stay with the long dong. mostly trees
and tight stuff?………get a stubby and trade in the boat.

a longer board is great for big open pow, but like most folks have been
saying…….it’s harder to turn in ALL conditions that are less than perfect.
get a board that you can handle, cause every day isn’t exactly a perfect
one…….especially spring corn. it’ll be nice to have a board you can
handle and one that doesn’t handle you.

i rode a 165 NS T5 and now a 162 Nitro on lifts. 166 NS split. bindings
set way back (still seems short), but it rips in all conditions. when i let go
and bomb out of control into big huge open bowls i wish i was on a 173
or something bigger, but that’s the only time i wish that. all other
times, i’m just fine with the 166. some days, due to avi conditions, you’re
restricted to trees so it’s good that i have a board that i can ride in tree’s a little easier.
i’m 6′, 170lbs

what you want is an all terrain board. get an all terrain sized board for your ability.
simple is as simple does……. 😆

Longer = better

Sure, there is likely a point at which this stops being true, but I haven’t found it.

I am 160 lbs and ride a 181cm. Everywhere. It is a dream, a true dream. Until I rode a board that was “way too long for me” according to much conventional wisdom, I really never knew what kind of edge hold and stability one could actually expect from a snowboard. Ice? no problem. Crud? no problem? Powder? heaven.

I do believe that I end up working slightly harder in very steep, very large moguls with the added length–but other than that, everything is easier on the longer board. And if it’s a split, chances of finding big ol’ moguls aren’t so good, are they? Tight trees are made easier by the extra floatation if there’s powder to be had and sure-thing edge-hold if there’s not.

Is there anyone out there who has ridden a longer board–long enough to get used to it–and actually prefers a shorter one?

I rode a 166 voile split last weekend and had to fight to keep the thing afloat. Too squirly, too sinky, too short.

For what it’s worth, I started with a 173cm Voile (I’m 5’11’, 155LBS). Now I’m using mainly a 160cm Khyber, and I’ve been suprised how much float I get – doesn’t seem like I’ve lost anything over the 173, but I’m able to turn quicker.
Maybe I’d suffer if I took it out in really raunchy conditions (deep, wet, heavy)… I’ll find out soon enough I guess.