Splitboardbindung

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.

The splitboard trend, which was already apparent at ISPO 2014, is continuing in winter 2015/16. Every brand, no matter how small, now has at least one splitboard in its product portfolio. Product differentiation continues to make inroads among established brands - more or less in line with Porter's business management textbook and the competition matrix it contains. Roughly speaking, the motto is more and for all groups and budgets.

The PowderGuide crew was out and about for you at ISPO 2014 and took a look at the material for the coming season. Part 4 of our ISPO special is dedicated to developments in what is probably the only growth area in the snowboard world: splitboards and the associated binding systems.

For a long time, splitboards were frowned upon by touring snowboarders in Europe. A splitboard was said to be too heavy and therefore too sluggish on the descent. Far too much weight per foot had to be dragged up the mountain compared to a touring ski setup. And then there are the problems caused by the wide skis and soft boots when traversing on hard ground. The European solution of choice was short skis plus a normal freeride board.