(postponed) 2014 Tahoe SplitFest and Splitboard Games

Just putting the feelers out there for this year’s Tahoe event.

I made it to the Dirksen Derby this year at Mt Bachelor and was really inspired to do something similar in our neck of the woods. It was a blast and motivated me to come up with the following…(venue is unconfirmed but we’ve got our fingers crossed for Homewood Mountain Resort on the West Shore :thumbsup: )

Here’s the thoughts so far…

2014 Tahoe Splitfest presented by splitboard.com to benefit Sierra Avalanche Center

This is a grassroots event. By the community for the community. The goal is to raise money for our cause, celebrate splitboarding, promote our partners, and have fun!

February 21-23, 2014 (most likely will be push back a week to the February 28 – March 2)

Events include:

Self guiding splitboarding – Friday
Meet and Greet/Avy Discussion by Sierra Avalanche Center (unconfirmed but likely) – Friday night
Splitboard Games hosted by Homewood Mountain Resort – Saturday (unconfirmed but likely)
Awards Ceremony and Raffle – Saturday night
Self guiding splitboarding – Sunday

Splitboard Skills Race – Full course (cost TBD, probably $25-35, split between SAC and Homewood)
Men’s and Women’s splitboard divisions
Anything Goes Division (open to skis, snowshoes, approach skis, flip flops, etc)

Course description – Total vert and distance is unconfirmed but the goal is to make it fun for splitters of all abilities. Racers will start the course as a group and complete a number of splitboard orientated skills and challenges. The start will include a hundred yard sprint upslope from the base lodge/starting area. Racers will then convert their boards to ski mode and splitski down to the beginning of the skinning section. Racers will follow a designated and marked uphill route to the next checkpoint. After completing all checkpoints and challenges (traversing, kick turns, booting, transitions, etc) racers will descend the mountain by the route of their choice (adhering to Homewood’s skier and rider responsibility code) and cross the finish line. The racer with the shortest time in each division wins. Winners of each event would win prizes (hopefully a splitboard!).

Splitboard Games (skills challenge)
Men’s, Women’s, and team divisions (4 people per team)

Events include:

Skinning
Traversing/sidehilling
Kickturns
Transitions
Split Skiing
Beacon search

Course description – The course for the games/skills events will be relatively short and designed to rotate racers through the events quickly. The skinning course could include a flat section for sprint-skinning and/or a steep skinning section. The transition race would include multiple transitions and test splitter’s speed while converting from ride to ski mode and vise versa. The kick turn event could feature a gated course (think uphill slalom course). Traversing and split skiing could also be events (split skiing could be especially entertaining). I envision the games to be in a relatively small area to allow for spectator enjoyment and group participation. Winners of each event would win prizes.

Here’s a pic of a sprint course at the Wasatch PowderKeg. Our’s could be similar…minus the lycra. 🙂

Award Ceremony
Winners of the day’s events will be recognized and prizes awarded. We’ll also have our fundraising raffle for SAC. Other possibilities include live music, keg, food, etc.

A splitboard demo fair is also a possibility.

Let me know your thoughts and ideas! #needsnow