Splitboard: is a snowboard that can be separated into two ski-like parts used with climbing skins to ascend slopes the same way alpine touring or telemark skis are. The two halves can then be connected to form a regular snowboard for descent.
So what does this mean? It means snowboarders can opt to skip the overpriced, crowded resort lines for more adventurous, non-manicured runs through alpine paradises and fields of untouched powder. Don’t let me paint the picture perfectly. There is a lot of work involved in choosing this path. The vertical feet ridden drops dramatically; the hiking is strenuous; it’s a bit of an investment for the initial gear to start; and of course the inherent dangers involved with traveling in the backcountry ( avalanches, minimal to none rescue). But in the case of many people choosing to veer down the path less taken, a lot of that work is part of the fun. Also good to mention those runs you do get will be the best ones you’ve ever experienced.
Personally, what I gain from it is mental healing; it is life affirming. In our busy world of over consuming (information, opinions, entertainment, tech) this place is the peace my mind needs to reboot. It is the perfect world of nature untouched, vistas abound, true self reliance, and poetic motions of carving lines through swaths of snowfields. This is my temple.
So when others are itching for those gloomy winter days to end, impatient for the warm summer months, I’m still hoping for one more dusting. Don’t get me wrong, I am a warm weather advocate like the next person, but I find just as much mindfulness in the snowy blanketed forest and wind loaded ridges of winter in the mountains.
