What ideas do people have for a snowboard touring setup? I’ve done some hiking from lifts but nothing more than maybe 200 meters vertical as it is pretty hard work, especially on powder days. I don’t want to ski tour even though I learned to ski as a kid and can cope with most snow conditions.

I don’t snowboard myself but tour with a couple of friends who do. It is not an easy road. At the start of out Pilliozan video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkCvHb6-ykw

You can see that Eric’s technique is to drag his snowboard on a leash and climb on snow shoes. Most boarders prefer to carry their board in a rucksack but they are quite heavy. Snow shoes are not as easy to get around on as skis. They sink further into the snow. If you are a nice skier you will make nice tracks for your boarding buddies to use - fairly steep. You also need good technique on snowshoes which is an art in itself. ISE who posts here sometimes is training to be a snowshoe guide and could probably tell us lots.

The alternative is a split board but I’ve maybe seen one around here in France in the last 5 years.

Here is an article on the subject (written by a boarder, not me)

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Backcountry-Snowboarding

and this is an alternative

http://www.zurich.ibm.com/~bmi/snowboard.html

Take a look at this, poor Jeremy Jones has had his helicopter taken away and has to hike

http://www.tetongravity.com/videos/Jeremy-Jones-Deeper-Trailer-A-Snowboard-Film-807352.htm

before he can ride.

davidof - 10 October 2009 10:43 AM

You can see that Eric’s technique is to drag his snowboard on a leash and climb on snow shoes. Most boarders prefer to carry their board in a rucksack but they are quite heavy. Snow shoes are not as easy to get around on as skis. They sink further into the snow. If you are a nice skier you will make nice tracks for your boarding buddies to use - fairly steep. You also need good technique on snowshoes which is an art in itself. ISE who posts here sometimes is training to be a snowshoe guide and could probably tell us lots.

I try not to ruin a good day out on snowshoes by lugging a snowboard along though

You can sink a bit with snow shoes on, but if you’re breaking trail on skinny touring skis you get the same problem to a degree compared to the fat skis we’re all on nowadays. Something like the MSR Denali Evo snowshoe gets around this by having the option to add extra flotation tails available between 24 and 34 cm. Depends where you want to go though, there are places I can get on skis where snowshoes wouldn’t work well, rock hard icey on traverses for example although when bravado gives way to common sense I prefer crampons. Using snowshoes somedays you might need to use crampons sooner, but it’s a lot of gear to carry. Most snowshoes have a crampon arrangement on them and I can front-point over a small section using an axe for security personally but I’m a climber as well so I have the knack of that which some people wouldn’t.

Another snowshoe like the MSR Lightning will hang in longer on ice but there’s alway going to be a limit and you can’t stick float tails on them..

I’ve been out with people using short skis with board bindings on them. I know the last time though she was stepping out the binding although I can’t recall how. You can find their stuff here :

http://www.stc-swiss.ch/

There’s a lot of places snow shoes are way better than skis though, moving through forests or sections where there’s no snow cover you can clatter straight over instead over messing around like you do in skis, and show shoes hold way better on flat ice where the ski edge doesn’t help too much.

Hey try split boards they work great!
“voile” is a good starting point

rock hard icey on traverses for example

Sounds like some of the skiing in the Jura. The wind blows any fresh away on the ridges and polishes what is left to glass. Even on a 5 degree slope you can slide!

I will have to ask what Eric is using. I think they are the MSR shoes but he has had no end of problems with them coming off his boots. I’ve seen some snowshoes which will clip to softboots. Steph, who I used to tour with before he decamped to Corsica, had some old plastic shoes, TSR I think. He was able to front point up 40 degree couloirs although I was never too sure how prudent this was.

a mate of mine from winters is a snowboarder and has one of those silly splitboards. he gets some good banter from us…

he goes to a specialist shop in Chamonix for all his gear.  I can’t recall the name though i’m afraid.
he struggles, like has been mentioned before with traversing and quite often uses snow shoes or just climbs up if steep. Its the soft snowboard boots and width of having half a snowboard on each foot.  I do occasionally struggle traversing with my rossignol b94’s cos of the width when combined with my touring boots.

This might be of interest. The STC approach ski, comes with binding and skins

http://www.expe.fr/catalogue-sport/ski-de-montagne/skis-de-randonnee-venture-set-c1_222_475-p4259.html

they do a softboot adapter kit

http://www.expe.fr/kit-snowboard-p4260.html?language=fr

Here I am, have not been to the alps for 2 years, probably doing less snow sports stuff than ever, middle aged, with kids and spending my time on message boards - Ah well.
Anyway, I gave up skiing in 1995 - been snowboarding ever since BUT love the mountains - as opposed to resorts.

If you want to board in the mountains then get a split board.  I’ve carried a board - too heavy and acts as a sail if there is any wind.  I’ve dragged a board using approach skis - and you very quickly learn that snow can stick like ?????? to a ?????.  I used to call my ‘dragged’ board the Baked Alaska as it resembled one and weighed a tonne.

Split boarding is great but there are compromises.
It is slower at the change over - practise makes perfect.
Parts get lost and damaged - so carry spares.
The planks are wider - so get harschiesen
Board boots are soft so you get no support, your feet ache and traversing is difficult SO I use Garmont touring ski boots - get the lightweight ones and have the topr straps loose.  You get support and comfort.  Turning in the woods is tricky but you learn.  Also as you use ski bindings (the Voile Mountain plate) they are quick to change.

On a big mountain in big snow the only problem is waiting for the skiers to catch up.
I’ve only used a Voile board but its great.  You don’t notice its limitations as a board as your not in the park and your carrying a bloody heavy sack anyway.  Apparently they do a stiffer board now.

I have just finished building my girlfriend a splitboard. She often strugles to keep up on her shoeshoes. Although she can ski she would really prefer to be out there on her snowboard. The Voile split kit is a great option if you have a board your willing to cut in half, although it has some disadvantages i think the advantages should outway them. Has anyone used the voile crampons?
I’m looking forward to exporing lots more of the Portes du Soleil with her this year.

I’ve put some more pictures up on our website if anyones intrested Click here

Nice graphics!