I ask because I’m trying to not be looked at as a disabled backcountry shredder. Is there a way to perform at a skiers level or are we just limited by the simple biodynamics of snowboarding?
The guys I ride with are bigtime avalanche instructors and gnarly backcountry enthusiasts and they are all skiers. We don’t necessarily just hike up and ride down. We hike up a bit, dig a lot of pits, hike up more, dig more pits, traverse a lot of terrain and go through shit I’d never even think about going through. Anyway, its obvious that with who I ride with and where they take me, im limited as a snowboarder when comparing to my skier buddies.
Does anybody else feel this way?
Also, I’m quite new to touring in the backcountry as well.
I feel your pain. It’s taken me years of refining my system to be able to keep up with and often beat my skier pals at transitions, but it’s definitely possible. Provided you’re not touring with a bunch of rando-racer type mentalities…
My biased MT advice from years of touring in lots of rolling terrain and low-angle drainage descents- learn to ski your board (split skiing if you will). That’s probably the #1 time saver over the course of a day.
Also, it’s been said before but picking a system and sticking to it during transitions really helps speed things up. For me, I like to remember “Board, Body, Backpack”, meaning at the top of a run I immediately transition my hardware from skinning mode to snowboard mode, then move on to putting on shell/goggles/etc…, and finally dealing with putting skins and poles in my pack and heading down. There are obviously tons of refinements you can make, but I’ve found that if you just remember the three big things, you can always be mentally one step ahead of the game. Being dialed helps keep me faster at transitions than most of my skier pals (granted they aren’t trying to “win the race”, but I am, if only to help keep things flowing nicely).
First, show up at the trailhead ready to go. Board split, poles extended, I even put my skins on at home. Leave you jacket in the bag as cold as you are at the trailhead your going to be sweating balls in 10 minutes. Drink up before you get started as well then you can save your next drink for the first transition or at the top. Drinking constantly, fueling etc., super important try not to let other dictate when that happens but if you get a bit of it done at the bottom you can save some of it for the top.
Gear matters. Light is right if you want to go long and strong. If your rich, a HB set-up could be good for the crowd it sounds like your touring with. Of course you will have to be super fit. I haven’t been very good about this lately but, lunges, step-ups, etc with a weighted pack along with my cardio workouts plus don’t get in the habit when your by yourself to go slow, keep a good pace and push hard in those moments and it pays off big time later. I would add that skinning technique such as kick turns, traverses, etc. can be just as important as any of the above gear or fitness. Like others said split skiing, etc. I use kickturns to go down hill just as much as I do to go uphill, it’s super efficient. Keep your poles long.
Anyways that was just to add to what others have said. Nothing better than passing skiers on the up track. Sounds like you got into a good group of dudes to be around. I personally don’t care much for riding with skiers they see the mountain different than us shredders but if you do have to be around em better to have some dudes who know snow and respect mountains. Take care.
Hard boots would be better for traverses… (Skis will all ways traverse better) It sucks if the guys your with are in a rush, why rush things? We have the advantage in the powder, we get to surf it while skiers concentrate on holding their knees together…
Drop 3000 vert in one shot and see how long it takes skiers to meet you at the bottom. (30 seconds on a transition hardly stacks up)
Sorry if I repeat what others said above but here is how I try to do it.
Step one be more fit then them, I do have one group that is hard to keep up with but for the most part being in good physical shape keeps me in the front of the pack.
Step 2 show up to the trail head dialed
Step three, ski the split sooner rather than later, and be comfortable making turn in chopped up snow. I often go into ski mode once I am at the bottom of the run.
Step 4 shred with other splitboarders.
Step 5 Bring one token skier for cutting tracks through flats, a second skier is not necessary.
Super awesome information going all around in this thread! I love it.
I’m interested in hardbooting but I just dropped 600 on a set up with Karakoram and I like it. It looks like I will just have to really get dialed.
Also, the guys I ride with aren’t in a hurry. They are super lax about waiting but I’m such a lover of snowboarding I just hate feeling like snowboarding is lesser than skiing.
I just hate feeling like snowboarding is lesser than skiing.
Are you fucking kidding? Never let me catch you whining like that or I’ll smack you silly w/ your $600 K-binders before I steal them and sell them on ebay! Seriously get fit, learn to traverse, don’t overuse your heel lifts (they suck on traverse and low-angle), and style yer line so there’s no doubt that snowboarding’s raddest (because don’t forget up is incidental to down).
Are you fucking kidding? Never let me catch you whining like that or I’ll smack you silly w/ your $600 K-binders before I steal them and sell them on ebay! Seriously get fit, learn to traverse, don’t overuse your heel lifts (they suck on traverse and low-angle), and style yer line so there’s no doubt that snowboarding’s raddest (because don’t forget up is incidental to down).
As far as travel, safety, and efficiency goes, skiing wins. bar none. When we get to the bottom of our runs, my skier buddies just romp out of the powder flatlands while I have to take 5 minutes to go back into tour mode. when we are in dangerous avy terrain, my skier buddies gracefully push out with their legs and poles while I wiggle and flop around to get out. When we are scaling up gnarly faces, my skier buddies are the ones making the boot pack. There’s no doubt that skiing is more bio dynamically advantageous for the back country travel when compared to snowboarding. You can’t argue that.
That’s the way it is but I still love snowboarding. I will take it to the grave with me and that is why I’m on this forum so one day I can be proud to surpass skiers in their performance.
When I plan traverses I always make sure that the descents are fall line runs. Practice is the only way you will get faster. For the first few months I toured with skiers they would give me shit day in and out, that was until I broke the whole trail up and had transitioned before they made it to the summit. There is no doubt there are a few drawbacks to having a snowboard in the BC but the advantages (the run) make it well worth it.
does this really matter? any skier that bitches about not wanting to wait for you to take 1-2 extra minutes at the top is a douche bag. tell them to chill the fuck out and enjoy the scenery. if they had to wait 2 minutes for you at 5 transitions that is only 10minutes added on to their day. I highly doubt that is going to ruin their day or amount of laps they can do. I have done a handful of skimos races and when competing against a group of skiers in the same fitness level as me I find that I pass a lot of them on the up or at least keep up, fly by them on the down, and lose a little at the transitions. when you add it all up I find that the times are about the same between us.
the only time I can see an issue with this is when you are with a super fast group that is going to be 5-10 minutes ahead of you anyway. or if you are in a larger group with varying speeds and you end up being last, then the leader can end up waiting for you for a while. really I find that wait times are based more on the speed that you skin at and not the transition. if you keep up with the group you can transition before your skier friend can tell if his gopro is on or not.