Splitboard

"Bike-to-ski" is somehow trendy, although not too many skiers or ski tourers actually get on their bikes to reach the lift or starting point for a ski tour. Of course, the place of residence plays a major role here. The journey to the railway station or bus stop can also be covered quickly by bike in some circumstances and helps with the environmentally friendly journey to the snow.

Next weekend the Climb The Mountain (CTM) Splitboard Festival will take place on the Bielerhöhe in the Silvretta. We are giving away 2x2 tickets for participation on Saturday, 28.1.23. Who would like to come along?

The Arva Tour 32 Switch backpack is briefly and succinctly described by the manufacturer with the attributes "Large capacity. Low weight". In the test, the backpack was able to prove these characteristics and also score highly in terms of carrying comfort.

Splitboard equipment is an expensive affair. To be sure that the equipment is satisfactory and fun both on the ascent and the descent, a test festival offers the ideal conditions. As you are spoiled for choice at a test festival, here are a few valuable tips from mr.splitboards Simon Graf on how to find the best equipment for you personally.

Splitboards are now available like sand by the sea. Every season, tried and tested boards remain on the market, new ones are added and others disappear again. Different manufacturers try to stand out from the crowd with different designs and shapes in order to be seen in the ever-growing splitboard market. In the end, everyone has to decide for themselves which criteria are the most important when buying a splitboard.

"Nordstau! North jams regularly provide the Nordkette, Innsbruck's local mountain, with massive amounts of fresh snowfall. [...] We designed this board for just such days!" writes the manufacturer Stompede about the split version of the Nordstau snowboard released last year. We tested what it feels like to draw the first lines in the fresh powder, but also how the board behaves in other snow conditions, on around 20 days.

Splitboarding has definitely come of age in recent years. Even if there are still astonished onlookers at the conversion at the summit, the systems are now all very mature and are also widely represented on the market. With ski boots on your feet, however, you still amaze people. Although splitboarders who use a so-called hardboot or AT setup are also becoming increasingly common, they are still a vanishingly small minority.

There are still places available at seven different camps for splitboarders, including the "mr.splitboards Pyrenees adventure" in March and the big "Climb the Mountain" test festival at the end of January, where you can rent directly from the manufacturers. Participants include Arbor, Amplid, Jones, Furberg, Rossignol, mr.splitboards, Never Summer, Rome, Gara and Weston.

Why is the walk mode not for walking, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the different binding systems and how do you find your way around the range of special softboot bindings for splitboards? To find out more about the differences between the systems, we asked someone who has been dealing with splitboards more than anyone else for around 20 years: Simon Graf from Splitboards Europe.

One of the most famous splitboards is being revised after all these years, as the very stiff flex has been increasingly criticised in recent years, especially on the longer boards.

Since the 2016/2017 season, "Mr Splitboards" Simon Graf has been developing his own shapes. He can draw on his wealth of experience from over 20 years as a tour guide and knows the specific needs of splitboarders inside out. Simon Graf has developed various shapes for the respective areas of use and requirements on the mountain:

The Covid season was a successful one for splitboard manufacturers, that much can be said for this winter. Due to the lifts being closed in many places, the run on splitboards was large and sustained. As a result, Amplid, for example, sold its splits like hot cakes and another production series has been added. Our partner store splitboards.eu also reports a similar run