Splitboard

The Aura Split from the US snowboard company Never Summer from Denver is a reliable machine for splitboard tours. It guarantees stability, fun factor and safety even in steep and icy terrain. It is super easy to control in powder and offers enough float even at a size of 151 centimetres.

Lisa Hempfer, winner of this year's risk'n'fun camp competition on PowderGuide.com, reports from the Next Level Camp on the Kitzsteinhorn. After injuring her knee during a training session at the beginning of the season, she was fortunately able to take part in the second training level after a speedy recovery. The Next Level Camp is primarily about independent tour planning and execution.

"ISPO in Munich is of secondary importance for the snowboard industry. The pulse of the industry beats at the retailer trade fair (Shops 1st try) in Alpbachtal."

This year, together with risk'n'fun, we have once again awarded a training place for the r'n'f Camps Training Session, Next Level and for the Chillout. Lisa, this year's winner, reports on the training session in Sölden. By the way, the next free places are at the camp on the Hochkönig in February!

Anyone who thinks they can simply go splitboarding with hard-shell boots is mistaken. A functioning AT setup, as it is called in modern German, still requires a lot of trial and error as well as a certain amount of motivation to tinker in order to find the individually functional settings.

Alongside classic snowboard boot manufacturers such as Deeluxe or Northwave, the Italian company Fitwell, known for its mountaineering boots, was long unknown in the snowboard sector. This changed abruptly about 4 years ago when the first pictures of a crampon-compatible snowboard boot from Fitwell made the rounds in the relevant forums.

After some manufacturers launched the big "powder shape competition" last year, this trend is now entering its second season. In addition to well-known concepts (swallowtail), the trend among many manufacturers is towards short but wide boards, as K2 demonstrated last year.

The proven splitboard testival Climb the Mountain goes into the next round. From 27-29 January 2017, test equipment for splitboarders will be available at the Berggasthof Piz Buin at the Silvretta reservoir on the Bielerhöhe. There will also be a lecture program, a film screening with Aline Bock and guided tours in the Silvretta on request.

If you delve a little deeper into the subject of splitboarding, you will inevitably come across people who splitboard with ski touring boots: "The dark side of snowboarding", so few people that they practically form their own minority in the already small community of splitboarders.

If you translate the word "hovercraft" with a translation program, the suggested translations are hovercraft, aeroglider, ground effect aircraft and the like. In any case, a term that has to do with buoyancy and hovering just before flying. The Jones Hovercraft lives up to the promise of its name: it can't be brought down by any powder in the world.

Who doesn't know the longing for curves? This longing can be satisfied with the Korua Pencil splitboard in combination with the necessary amount of fresh snow. With its surf-inspired shape, the Korua Pencil is a quiver (second or third) splitboard that makes drawing curvy lines in deep snow a pleasure and also invites you to carve on the piste.

Stompede Snowboards has been on the market for a year and offers freeride boards based on the direct-to-consumer principle. To start with, there is a split and solid version of the shape, each in fiberglass or carbon construction. PowderGuide was there right from the start and tested the carbon split version last season.