Eliane Droemer: 20 years ago, around the turn of the millennium, you were already standing on a split board? Where did that come from?
Simon Graf: I went through the relatively common evolution of skier - snowboarder - ski tourer, in the absence of a functioning system for touring snowboarders. Snowshoes were not an option for me. In 1999, I was one of the first in Europe to go on tour with a 2-piece splitboard from Voilé. I was immediately convinced of the potential of this splitboard from Utah, USA, and its system: easy to use, robust, reliable. A potential that 3 or 4-piece splitboards never had in my opinion. With the two-piece, my back remains free of equipment on the ascent that I would only need for the descent. And on the descent, the two-piece gives me the most stable version of a touring snowboard that is technically possible.
And these splitboards from Voilé have brought the breakthrough?
There was still a long way to go. I became a partner in Voilé Europe, a small company that started importing the 2-piece splitboards from the USA in 1999. The first few years were hard work to convince people. Snowboarders were very skeptical about splitboards. We had to get them on the board - and that was only possible directly on the mountain. We spent many weekends in the ski resorts and offered test boards. The lack of developments from other manufacturers didn't make our work any easier.
Sounds like a dry spell...
Yes, it was hard work. But the Voilé splitboards with their robust and extremely reliable binding system worked. However, the breakthrough was a long time coming. In 2005, we were only able to sell around 150 splitboards in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. An economic disaster. My partner at Voilé Europe left, but my faith in the market success of the 2-piece splitboard remained unshaken. Voilé began to offer licenses for their binding system at low prices. A ray of hope! When Burton Snowboards finally switched its languishing splitboard division to the Voilé system, things slowly started to pick up. Now more and more manufacturers began to build splitboards. I also promoted the splitboard on challenging tours, for example on Piz Buin.
