Splitboard Newbie

Newbie Splitboarder

Why?

Last year I rented a splitboard for a day. It was utterly brilliant to be able to get out of the ski resort into the wilder areas, and to be able to go up stuff and then snowboard down it. But, renting a splitboard on holiday isn't the way to go because:

1. In 2014 it cost €100/day to rent the board, bindings and skins.
2. In March 2014 there was exactly one splitboard available to rent in Val D'Isere. Obviously other resorts vary, but there seems to be little supply.

How?

Firstly, I bought a cheap board from eBay. I usually use a 160cm board, but the advice received was to go large, so my board is a K2 "Access wide", 165cm long, a bit like one of these:

Secondly I bought some bindings from eBay, in my case F2 quick access ones - these have a drop-down back plate for fast access.

Thirdly, I bought the excellent Voile DIY split kit. This is a set of bits that provide you with the clips to hold the board together and the special touring bindings you need:

Making the splitboard was pretty easy. I followed the Voile instructions on youtube:

Part one here

Part two here

With the exception that I cut the board using a hand saw not a power saw. I reasoned that things would go wrong only slowly with a handsaw. I went to my local DIY store and bought a handsaw with the highest number of teeth per inch available. It took about ten minutes to saw the board, but its ended up with a nice straight cut.

Fitting the Voile kit was straightforward - simply follow the instructions in the supplied booklet and the video on youtube.

The Other Bits and Pieces

Splitboard Crampons

I am really glad I got the Voile splitboard crampons, through careful eBaying. I checked the spe of these, and they support a board a couple of mm wider than mine.

Skins

I was lucky enough to win employee of the month at work in the crucial week, so bought the Voile splitboard skins with the proceeds. They are not cheap, but they have the advanatage that they are "sized to go" with the K2 Access Wide, fitting perfectly.

Coming soon

Will give some lessons learned from the field.