General snow stuff

[Trev]

Never heard of a split board before.
Be good when a tree jumps out in front of you.

[Legion]

White can be a frustrating colour for skis. Doesn't apply to boards as much though.

[offshore1]

My splitboard arrived today.
Man I'm glad I didn't keep trying to DIY.

Unfortunately my sofa is quite tasteful so I took the shots on the crappy carpet.

By the looks of the graffiti maple leaves, must have been made by one of tardg's Canuck kin, eh?

[alakaboo]

White can be a frustrating colour for skis. Doesn't apply to boards as much though.

No, it'll be an avalanche anchor tearing my leg off at the knee.

It's from Utah, offshore, think the artist might be a Canadian guy they sponsor.

[offshore1]

Johnny Utah?



Lolz, boo. Taking the piss.

[channels]

My splitboard arrived today.
Man I'm glad I didn't keep trying to DIY.

Unfortunately my sofa is quite tasteful so I took the shots on the crappy carpet.

What’s the point of this compared to a normal snowboard?

[Legion]

Enables walking up hill.

[Trev]

Enables walking up hill.

Geez.
That's what ski lifts are for.

[Legion]

I've had some of my best experiences in places I've had to walk to. The quality far outweighs the quantity of lifted terrain in general.

[alakaboo]

Yeah, and walk out of flat areas back to the lift, or the car.
I've done a lot of postholing and swimming through powder.

You add skins, poles and specialised bindings.

[alakaboo]

Took my first tour on the splitboard today, up a closed forest road that wasn't very steep.
We had what I gather is a blockbuster storm for Maryland: six inches of wet snow transitioning to powder, some slush, some rain, some sleet, some graupel, then some more light snow to ice it off, with some serious hoar frost.

Translated to about boot-deep fairly light snow in the hills with an icy base, and pretty poor bonding with the ground.

Got a lot of exercise and saw some great scenery, even managed a few powder turns.
Most of it was too flat and too 'deep' so I did a lot of telemark skin skiing.

I'm fcuking wrecked, I've got a new appreciation for ski lifts.

Here's the start, before the uphill.

[offshore1]

Noice boo, no graupel but a nice little bit of surf down here in North Carolina.

[Legion]

I'm fcuking wrecked, I've got a new appreciation for ski lifts.

You probably don't have reasonable fitness. That, or the altitude.

[alakaboo]

Or it could be my technique, it's not as easy as riding a bike.

[steve shearer]

they reckon cross country skiing is one of the best workouts going around.

[alakaboo]

It's surprising the parts of my body that hurt.
Triceps in particular.

Went out for another session yesterday, did a few laps of the steepest section and worked on my transitions.
I was a lot more efficient with a bit more of an idea how to do it.

The fam will probably get some cross country ski gear later in the winter. Not sure about those full lycra bodysuits though. Might leave that to Mrs Boo.

[Legion]

Triceps are from using too much pushing. I'm guessing you'll be in an icy area so crampons might be a good idea. Nothing worse than it gradually getting too far onto ice without and then the sketchiness of trying not to slide to doom.

[alakaboo]

Yeah I know, my form was garbage on the first day.
I was also playing around with trying to ski the flats without the skins etc so I did a lot more pushing than normal.
Triceps were fine the second day. I didn't use the poles much at all.

I think I am a decent chance to swap to hardboots after a year so I'm holding off on the crampons until then.
I'm also solo so I'm staying away from anything remotely sketchy.