Alpine Split Board? WHY??

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Concept: Build a true alpine board (Long, Narrow, Stiff(er) for skinning up and carving down.

That said:

Yes, this could be on the split board forum. (few members/ vistors and this is infact about "Alpine" not "Backcountry".

Why? The thought is, rather than go to the club or other arobic activities,IE treadmill , stairclimber etc. Use the mountain , skin up , reward coming down!

The trick is building a good enough alpine/ split board that the ride coming down is good alpine riding.

The Plan. Take one of the stiffest , older alpine boards that has a beefy wood core, split it, voile set up with TD1 Step ins. Travel light, arrive early, skin up to Palmer on Mt Hood, get a few thousand feet of carving and cardio.

Still costs 25$ for gas, however it has some benefits too. Being on the mountain, fitness, carving, photos of the conditions for the forum, etc.

Anyone done this with a full on alpine board?

FYI: Yes, of course I would love to have Tinkler build one custom for this, however, the price tag is only worth it if I used it allot. I thought of this :)

[D-Sub]

personally I just dont think that an alpine shape is the best shape for the variable conditions you might encounter in the backcountry

its definitely not the best for deep powder.

and the super stiff, unforgiving flex is gonna make variable terrain much harder to handle.

MAYBE something like a wide 4WD, or an Axxess.

but if you wanted to cut one, skin up skyliner and carve down, rock on! :)

I also wonder how well a split carver would hold up to the force some of you guys generate?

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Not Backcountry. Been done for years , entire industries surrounding it.

" "Alpine" not "Backcountry". "

ALPINE CARVING via "Skinning". Groomers.

Yes, the "Connection" to the board is probably my biggest concern, next is the two halves staying tight.

Thanks,

[Guest]

I'm thinking about getting a powder specific alpine splitboard made this fall. I used my WCR everywhere, and I'm more comfortable on that in deep pow than I am on my pow boards. A more upturned nose, 2 or 3 centimeters of taper, 21 waist width. Obvioulsy I wouldn't be using it to carve many turns in the backcountry, but I still feel more comfortable on it. So while I feel an alpine splitboard would work great, a split-freecarve board wouldn't.

[D-Sub]

oh come on JIM read the post. He was CLEARLY not talking about backcountry

(being facetious, btw)

I thought so too...but what was meant was skinning up, and riding groomers. for exercise, and physical reward. earn your turns type thing (except...in a lot of places I think youd still have to buy a lift ticket...and youd have to deal with all the nutters coming DOWN!

might actually be pretty dangerous.

[Jon Dahl]

Yeah, I've done it on 2 alpine boards, and Voile's were built at one time on Checkered Pigs. I know that one for sure, having seen a factory one at splitfest this year. When I get home tonite, I can send you a pic in the email, Bryan. Both the boards I've done were on wider alpine boards, 21.5-22.5 waist width boards. The biggest problem with the narrow board and high angles is the fact that you have to widen up your stance as you turn up the angles, to accomodate the skinning hardware. For an idea of what you might have to do to make this work, go to splitboard.com, splitboard reviews section, find the 171 mtn. gun mods for Eric (of the old orecarve site) and see what he has done to make the slider tracks work with his high angles.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Thanks Jon, much appreciated. I ran into the high angles issues on my Voile boards and I knew the alpine splits would make it even worse. Thanks for the tip. I know Eric and I will contact him about his mods if need be.

Thanks for the info. Bryan