Mountain Project: Forum: splitty help

By vermaine
Feb 1, 2013

Hi there,

I was lucky enough to pick up a Jones mountain twin splitty. I know I have to also find the voile universal splitboard interface or something like that, as well as skins.

I have a couple questions that maybe could be answered here.

Is the voile universal interface the only way to go? 160 bones for a slider system that isn't that great seems steep. I know the alternative is the karakoram bindings or something like that but too much cash for me to spend now.

Are the 125mm skins the way to go or should I go fatter or skinnier?

Should I consider the mountain plate binding for my climbing boots or just throw a pair of old snowboard bindings on there and save up for karakorams?

Has anybody strapped into a splitty with conventional strap bindings and ice boots? How scary is the ride?

Just wondering if I thought of everything... Thanks for the feedback. Think snow...

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By dsmit
From Flagstaff, Az
Feb 1, 2013

I would just post your questions here. Excellent site. www.splitboard.com

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By Jason Halladay
Administrator
From Los Alamos, NM
Feb 1, 2013

Definitely check out splitboard.com's forum for more opinions but here's my input:

vermaine wrote:

Is the voile universal interface the only way to go? 160 bones for a slider system that isn't that great seems steep. I know the alternative is the karakoram bindings or something like that but too much cash for me to spend now.

I think it's a fine system. That said, the only other system I have to compare it to is the old school, now defunct Burton interface which totally sucked.

vermaine wrote:

Are the 125mm skins the way to go or should I go fatter or skinnier?

That's a good width. I wouldn't go skinnier. You've got fat "skis" so take advantage of the surface area. I've always used the Voile splitboard skins (130mm x 152cm)

vermaine wrote:

Should I consider the mountain plate binding for my climbing boots or just throw a pair of old snowboard bindings on there and save up for karakorams?

It'll be a sloppy ride in your climbing boots in plate bindings. I tried it a few years ago and it was pretty sketchy. However, I do often use my plastic mountaineering boots in strap bindings and that works. Still a soft ride but doable. If you go with plate bindings, put the big bucks into a stiff pair of AT boots.

vermaine wrote:

Has anybody strapped into a splitty with conventional strap bindings and ice boots? How scary is the ride?

I often ride strap bindings with my Koflach Vertical plastic mountaineering boots. Not the best ride but certainly alright.

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By Scott McMahon
From Boulder, CO
Feb 1, 2013

I picked up a pair of the Spark blazes a couple years back and man they are amazing. Don't buy the voile sliders, get the pucks and spend the rest of the money on a better binding system. You won't regret it.

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By Nick Stayner
From The Magic City
Feb 1, 2013

Good advice offered by Jason and Scott. Just "throw down" for the Spark bindings now.

vermaine wrote:

Is the voile universal interface the only way to go? 160 bones for a slider system that isn't that great seems steep.

Any Spark R & D binding will be a huge step up from mounting a binding on top of the Voile slider track. The main thing is that it gets your binding as tight and flush to the board as is possible, as opposed to the Voile slider track. With the old slider tracks, it may not have seemed like much of a difference but your binding actually sat quite a bit higher than the pucks. Going from regular snowboard bindings mounted on the Voile track to a Spark R & D is a huge difference, basically the biggest quality-of-ride innovation to splitboarding since the splitboard itself.

So basically, don't even consider the old Voile slider tracks an option :). If cost is truly an issue, hit up splitboard.com. There are always older Sparks binders being sold on there for under $200 (often under $100).

Also, lots of shops (and probably some places online) will sell you just pucks for like $20 maybe?

vermaine wrote:

Has anybody strapped into a splitty with conventional strap bindings and ice boots? How scary is the ride?

Is there a particular reason you're wanting to ride in your mountaineering boots? Over on splitboard.com you'll find huge discussion threads on the merits of mountaineering boots vs. AT Boot/"dynasplit" system vs. traditional soft boot + Sparks, etc.... My two cents is that you need to really consider your objectives and let those dictate the choice. Also look into some of the burlier snowboard boots being produced. The most recent model of the Deeluxe Spark boot has welted Vibram soles for fully rigid crampon use should you want/need it. For my part, there are very few things I've ridden that have mandated using a fully rigid step-in crampon. For much snowboard mountaineering, IMO, you can get by with a regular snowboard boot paired with a strap-on crampon i.e. the Petzl Vasak or the Black Diamond Contact (my choice). I'm thinking along the lines of the Grand Teton here.

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By Scott McMahon
From Boulder, CO
Feb 1, 2013

Nick is right on the boot aspect. I use the burton driver X myself.

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