The Karakoram Blog

Mt Baker Splitfest 2011

2011-03-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes... last year at the first annual Baker Splitfest we unveiled our new Split30 system to the public for the first time. We scrambled like mad to get everything in order for our first demo and I have to admit the nerves were a bit high, our minds running, “What will people think?”

Fast forward to this past weekend... we sold out of bindings in December, had a great showing at SIA, and have some new partners for the 2011/12 season. It’s been a whirlwind of a year and there is no better way to celebrate than touring and shredding with some friends, new and old, at the mecca of snowboarding, Mount Baker.

Day1: We picked Jim W. up at the airport a little after midnight due to long weather delays out of California. After a short night’s sleep and finishing up a couple sets of superlight bindings, we hit the road for Baker. Rolling into the Heather Meadows parking lot around 5pm to blue skies and a couple inches of new snow, we decided to go for a quick tour with the little light that we had remaining. As we scurried up to Swift Creek for a short lap, we ran into Zach Clanton up from Utah, sporting a tasty looking prototype Chimera Split. Sweet!

A quick chat and we were on our way, kicking mini methods :)

and hoverboarding

down to the creek.

Snow wasn’t great, but it sure felt good to be sliding again! We climbed out of the ravine and up few hundred feet, just in time to catch the sunset...

and then a bit of a whiteout made things interesting on the way back to the truck.

We met up with the Splitfest Crew down at Chair 9 to finish off the day with some pizza, a few cold ones, and talking gear for the rest of the evening.

Day 2: To our surprise we awoke to blue skies instead of rain. After meeting up at Chair 9 to sort out demos

and trip plans for the day, our group (Russell, Jim W, Mattia, Issac, Esme, Bryce, and I) set out for Helitrope Ridge. A group that had left a little before us had sleds to shuttle them in the 3-4 mile approach to the trailhead, a luxury we did not have :( So our fearless plan, drive in as far as we could on the snowpacked road and skin the rest of the way. This decision in hindsight would lead to the culmination of a “type 2” fun day. For those who don’t know the “fun” scale, per Jim W., there are three levels:

“type 1 fun” : fun while participating
“type 2 fun”: some boarderline type 1 fun moments, but really only fun when you recount the story
“type 3 fun”: not fun anyway you look at it...

So we rallied our way within 2 miles of the trail head, packed our bags, and headed out

about 1 mile in, we could see our objective the top of Helitrope Ridge and clearly visible were the massive crowns from the past avalanche cycle.

Upon arrival at the trailhead we decided on the longer hiking trail approach rather than approach up the main drainage due to the massive avalanche path down the middle. The evidence of the slide path from the recent cycle were front and center.

The trail meandered through the woods, over numerous gullies and slide paths as it traversed it’s way up the ridge.

Crossing the biggest of the slide paths, we mastered a new technique to lower one’s self down the shear wall of a slide path: sapling jumping

As we rose above treeline, the Coleman Glacier came into view. We stopped for a quick bite and to dig a pit to look for signs of instability. The snow from the night before had formed a clear wind slab layer about 4”-6” deep on the lee slope and another layer about 24” below that. The game plan was to stay on the ridges away from lee slopes and on lower angles.

As we ascended higher, the clouds and fog socked in, not a complete white out, but visibility was far from good.

We opted to stop on the Hogsback instead of continuing to the top of Helitrope Ridge, due to the changing weather. Our goal was to drop into the main basin, but all hopes were dashed when signs of cracking appeared as we approached the ridge. We aborted the main line and started searching for a safe route down riding from safe zone to safe zone. We ended up descending the main slide path that we had crossed earlier in the day, as we felt it was the safest since it had already slid in the earlier storm cycle and the new 4-6” would be the main concern. Jim set off a small slide as he dropped off the crown of the old avy.

Skirting across the slide path and into the trees, we were able to make our way safely down back to our skin track for a short boot across the traverse and then a bank slalom-esque ride back to the trail head.

Not a lot of riding for all the traversing and climbing we did, but we made it back in one piece. After two miles of road riding back to the cars, we thought our adventures were over...

The fun continued on the way down the softened snowy road, the subie getting high centered twice, the Ridgeline once, and Ranger almost drifting off the road into the ravine :( An hour of digging cars out and the “type 2 fun” was over.

We made it back to Chair 9 by 8ish in time donate some board clips and t-shirts to the raffle. The raffle was a hit, raising a couple thousand dollars for NWAC.

Day 3: For the last day of the splitfest, we met again at Chair 9 to say goodbyes to those who had to jet early, set up some more demos, and plan the tour for the day. Coleman Pinnacle was the chosen route for our group, which included Russell, Tyler (friend of Russell’s from Baker), Ray (Tex), Jim W, Bryce, and I. We cruised up to the saddle up a couple of steep switchbacks where Tyler performed his first ever kick turns flawlessly!

As we entered the moonscape of classic Baker touring, the clouds started to form around us and socked in our original destination of Coleman Pinnacle.

We opted for a new destination, a little closer in due to the cloud cover. Little Alaska was now in our sights. We skinned up to the side of the Chimney, packed our splits on the packs and booted up the steep face.

On the top of the Chimney, we put the splits back on and headed across the cornice line towards Little Alaska.

Unfortunately, on our late-ish arrival at the top of Little Alaska, significant signs of warming in the snow pack and a rutschblock test by Jim and Russell that showed a 6” layer that went just by stepping on the block and a 2ft layer that went on down weighting had us turning around back to the Chimney. We were bummed to turn around, but we all felt it was the right decision.

The Chimney still offered some fun, entertaining riding, with a steep entrance, a hop over a small bergshrund to some ripping slashers down a wind spine; we were all smiles on the way down.

Bryce hoping the little schrund.

Tex sneaking into the entrance.

We continued down Blueberry Chutes to the base of the valley and headed back for another short lap. It was getting close to 3pm as we topped out at the gate, so Bryce split skied back to the lot to retrieve some demos. Tyler and I decided to just do a quick 10 minute trees lap, while Jim, Ray, and Russell who all had a little more energy headed up a little further for a tasty steep section.

We all met back up at the parking lot after a “type 1 fun” filled day, chatted a bit with Kyle Miller and Al Capone about their previous week’s 25 hour touring adventures, and then hit the road home.

The end to another good Baker Splitfest. The scenery on the way home summed up the whole weekend.... Double Rainbow!!!

Thanks to everyone that came to the splitfest, demo’d our gear, and provided great feedback. We appreciate all the support!

‘Til next year!!!

High Avy Danger... To the trees!

2011-02-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

The snow hasn't stopped falling here in the PNW, which is great for snow accumulation, but not so hot for avalanche conditions. Avalanche conditions were high to extreme this weekend, so Tyler and I decided to find some fun low angle trees in the Common Wealth Basin with some natural features to play on. Here is a little helmet cam footage of what we found...

I'm working on trying to figure out how to get a little higher resolution video.

I wish I was in Chamonix...

2011-02-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

While I'm stuck behind my computer working on the 2011-2012 bindings (lots of top secret stuff we're working on here...) I keep seeing friends getting after it on their splitboards. Here's a little helmet cam video from Liz Daley shredding in Chamonix.

Liz's Prior Brandywine with Karakoram Split30s

Dan Donnelly Slashing Up the Mt. Baker BC

2011-02-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

Washington has had a bad month or so of snow, or should I say rain, but winter hasn't given up and the Snopacalypse is back! Tyler just received some awesome pics from photographer Mike Stamm (www.mikestammphotos.com) of Mt. Baker local Dano Donnelly taking advantage of the new snow.

Dano laying out a toeside slash Baker style on his Split30 splitboard system.

There are a lot of different mind sets on what size split you should ride. Dano showing us how it's done on a custom 158 splitboard made by his buddy Jake.

Keep getting after it Dano!

Ralph Backstrom Binding Review

2011-01-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

We've been in the trenches building and shipping bindings lately and haven't had a chance to post anything on the blog. So, we're posting something we haven't written. Jones rider, Ralph Backstrom, has been testing our binding for the past 7 months and just posted a review on UnofficialNetworks.com.

Read Ralph's review here:

Ralph Backstrom Karakoram Split30 binding review

Powder Day-Off

2010-11-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I have been working like dogs for the last three months, so we decided we deserved a day off this weekend. We headed out with my wife and brother-in-law. The timing of the little trip couldn't have been better because a big storm front just came through Washington. I guess we were "working" because we were "testing" product :). Needless to say, the testing went well!

Mattia riding a pillow line.

My wife, Melissa, "testing" her splitboard setup.

Playing on the powder marshmallows!

A fun sequence of Tyler playing hide-and-seek through the boulder field...

and breath...

hold your breath...

and breeth...

Now back to work. We're supposed to have the parts we are waiting on coming in this week, so we should be shipping again soon.

First Production Run Progress

2010-09-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our first production run. Tyler and I are currently assembling the parts we have while waiting for the final parts from one of our local suppliers. Board Clips will be ready to ship out this week and we are still on track to start shipping Split30s by the end of this month. Thank you to everyone who has purchased, we really appreciate the support.

Some heelcups racked and ready for finishing.

Cedar came to the shop today to help rivet the board clips.

A bucket full of toe stays.

Heel stays waiting for the second operation.

Some grunt work. Tyler cutting out side spacers and me deburring them.

Deeper Unplugged in Seattle this Friday

2010-08-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

For anyone that missed the Deeper Unplugged showing in Bellingham, it is showing again this Friday August 27th at Evo's location in Seattle. Tyler and I will be at this showing with our latest set ups for people to checkout. Click here for more information. We hope to see you there!

August Testing on Rainier

2010-08-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I got out last Saturday to test our improved ride mode interface and our first article bindings. For this trip we zipped down to Mt. Rainier and hiked up to a little below Camp Muir. On the ride mode interface we modified the toe attachment portion to be a single bent sheet metal part instead of a sheet metal part and a CNCd aluminum part. This change makes set-up easier and it shaves .25 lbs out of the system. All of our engineering calculations showed the part was stronger than the old set up, but we needed to get out on snow to verify. The snow wasn't great, I'd call it "sun bucketed" instead of "sun cupped" because the pits were two to three feet wide and about one foot deep. At least we had snow to test on, sliding in August is always fun. It turns out that our calculations were correct, the bindings felt even more tightly attached to the board!

Deeper Unplugged Premiere 8/20/10

2010-08-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I are going to be at the Deeper Unplugged showing at the Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham, WA this Friday, August 20. We'll have our latest binding system for people to checkout. For more information on the event click on this link to the Boundary Bay Brewery.

Split30 Pre-sale

2010-08-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

With the first production run of our Split30 Splitboard System in full swing, Tyler and I would like to announce the details of the pre-sale. As an introductory offer to those who pre-order we are offering a $50 discount. Simply enter:

PreSale

as the discount code at checkout on our store, www.karakorambc.com/store . The $50 discount only applies to the complete Split30 Splitboard System. If you would like to purchase the Split30 without straps and highbacks please contact me at bryce@karakorambc.com to work out a different discount. This pre-sale discount will only be valid until September 1st, 2010.

We should be assembling the bindings in mid September and then shipping them out at the end of September or the beginning of October. If the binding size you need is out of stock send me an email (bryce@karakorambc.com) to let me know what size you need and I will update the quantities in the store.

All Karakoram hardgood products will be backed with the following warranty: Karakoram warrants its products to be free of defects in material or workmanship for a period for two (2) years from the date of purchase for the original registered owner, validated with an original sales reciept. Damage resulting from impact, abuse, misuse, neglect, non-factory modifications, and normal wear and tear are not covered. If in the event there is an issue that falls outside of the warranty we have a "Crash Replacement Policy" which is a lifetime guarantee. If you destroy your binding system in any way we will replace the broken parts for a nominal fee and the return of the broken part(s). For more information on Karakoram's Warranty visit our website, if info isn't posted yet it will be posted in the near future.

Tyler and I greatly appreciate your support, and look forward to having you be a part of Karakoram. With your support and feedback you are backing a new wave in backcountry innovation.

-Bryce

Split30 Technology Page

2010-08-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

We've had lots of requests for more information on how the Split30 system works. I finally had the chance to put together a technology page and post it to the website. Click on the link below for more information:

Karakoram Split30 Tech Page

We don't have any production bindings built up yet, so all of the pictures are from prototype systems. The production bindings will be much prettier :).

I'm going through powder withdrawals right now, so I thought I would throw this picture up of Tyler exiting his powder roost. Snow...........

A New Toy and First Article Board Clips

2010-07-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

I just picked up the first article inspection board clip bases on Wednesday. They look and feel a lot nicer than the prototype versions we've been using the last two years. The base is a really simple part, but a lot of thought went into making this a cost effective part. In the picture below you can see the difference between the prototypes and the production bases. The protos are CNC'd aluminum with a lever mount attached with M4 screws. The production is a cleanly bent piece of stainless steel, prettier and stronger!

We've had some questions about the lever and loop rattling around while in tour mode. To prevent rattling the lever base tabs interfere slightly with the lever to create a small amount of resistance, there is also a foam damper on the underside of the lever to prevent the loop from rattling.

Last but not least, we just picked up a CNC Router to run our heel cups, crampons and other miscellaneous sheet parts.

Summer Fun on the Flett

2010-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we (Bryce, his wife Melissa, my wife Marcy, and I) headed up to Flett Glacier on Rainier for some casual summer touring and camping. The road to Mowich had just opened and after talking to the ranger we were expecting good snow coverage starting at the lake. Unfortunately it had melted out quite a bit so we ended up booting up and over Knapsack Pass.

Crossing the creeks,

scrambling up the mossy roots and across a few snowy patches,

we were over the pass and finally able to start skinning.

Just over the pass we spied some fun little chutes that were too good to pass up. Bryce and I dropped our packs and booted up

and got some perfect corn on the way down, only wish the ride was 3 times longer...

The view looking back towards Knapsack Pass.

Since we weren't in any real hurry to get any where, we decided to set up camp on the ridge,

decorate a few trees,

ate some grub, and watch the sun set on Rainier.

After a casual morning, we packed up, stashed our overnight gear, headed up,

Snapped a photo of the crew with Echo Rock in the background,

and then feasted on some mid-July, sweet corn... yummy!

Our route down the Flett headwall.

We repacked our gear and skied our way through the meadows.

The snow ran out about 2.5-3miles from the car, so we hoofed it out.

Another fun summer tour... where to next :)

Summer Season Riding

2010-06-28T21:29:00.001-07:00

Late spring/early summer riding, one of the many great reasons to live in the northwest.

So my day last Thursday: woke up and went to my paying job (no that's not working for Karakoram, yet :) ), cruised home at 5pm, met up with Aaron and headed up to Silver Peak to hit up the last of the late season up at the pass, at the trail head by 6:30pm

a short hike to the snow before we can start skinning

scoped the lines

headed up the ridge

dropped the west face down to Annette Lake

and hit some killer late season corn!

scramble up some heather fields,

over a small snowfield,

and reached the summit as the sun started setting, 9pm

snaped some pics of the raddest split combo almost available (I know I'm a bit biased...)

took in the views

time to drop!

rode down the bowl and we were back at the car before dark.

A couple cold ones to relive the fun and back home before ten.

I love the northwest!

Lassen Peak and Mt. Shasta

2010-06-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago JimW invited Tyler and me to join the California splitboard crew on their trip to Shasta. We jumped at the opportunity to check out a little more of the California split scene and also invited Russell to join. 50+ emails later the plan on where we were touring was still in flux, but we hit the road anyway.

We just finished our new crampon concept around 5 pm Thursday and were looking forward to testing them out on the frozen late spring corn. Despite finishing building the prototype crampon and hoping to be in bed at a reasonable hour before the Friday drive down, we couldn't break with tradition. True to Kloster form we were up late again, but this time it was to help Russell complete his DIY split Nitro Pantera. Sick looking SPLIT!

Friday morning we packed and hit the road for Lassen National Park. After about 8 hours of driving, Shasta came into view.

11 hours in and we were finally at Lassen National Park as the sun was setting.

We were the first to arrive at the Devastated Area trail head so we made dinner and went to bed.

Morning came too quickly as we all started moving around 6:00 am. Our crew consisted of Jim (Jimw), Storn (Sanfrantastico), Josh (jbaysurfer), Dave (Fullers2oh), Darren (powderjunkie), Russell (russman), Tyler and myself. We started the tour around 7:30 am.

The approach to Lassen Peak was pretty easy.

We crossed a huge avalanche run out,

skinned on dirt,

skied past a natural stone obolisk,

cruised up to the north shoulder,

snapped some pictures of Shasta,

and then got pelted with marble sized ice balls flying in the 50-60 mph winds.

We continued up to about 9,200 ft but decided the wind was too strong to continue up the ridgeline. The decision was made to descend in to the bowl where the winds were not as strong. Darren and Dave continued up a little higher, and had some fun with the wind... losing a helmet, a backpack and one ski of a splitboard.

The snow on the descent was perfect corn.

Storn enjoying the snow conditions.

Tyler cruising back into the bowl.

Josh having some fun.

After moving out of the wind, the group divided up to ascend different parts of Lassen Peak. Tyler and I went up to hit a cool looking narrow rock line and the rest of the group boot packed up the center of Lassen Peak to the summit.

I reached the top of the line I was aiming to ride and snapped a photo of Storn and Russell on the summit.

I took another photo looking down my line and then dropped in.

This was my first time on a Jones Solution and man was it a fun ride.

After my run down I snapped some pictures of everyone else descending.

Darren ripping down a ridge.

Storn, Josh, and Dave dropping in.

Jim surfing the corn snow.

Russell with one of the coolest lines of the day.

Tyler on a tight melt out line and showing off his fine ski pole attachment technique.

I reluctantly let Tyler give the Jones Solution a try on the last 1500 ft of Lassen Peak. I think he was enjoying his first run on the Solution. SLASH!

The whole crew heading back to the trailhead.

The original plan was to have a quick easy day on Lassen and then summit Mt. Shasta on Sunday, but our day on Lassen ended up going a little longer than expected. We ended up getting back to the car around 5:00 pm. After drying out our gear and resting a bit we packed the truck and headed up to Shasta arriving around 9:30. Dinner took a little longer than expected and we finally got to Bunny Flat trailhead at 11:30. Because of the long day and the late hour, half of the group decided to bail on the 2:00 am summit departure. Jim, Storn, Darren, and Dave some how managed to get out of bed with 2 hours of sleep and went for the summit.

Josh, Russell, Tyler and I decided to sleep-in until 7:30, which was a great decision.

Russell and I rolling out of our tents.

We moved a bit slow and didn't leave Bunny Flat until 10:30 am. Our line choice for the day was Green Butte.

The skin up was exciting. Josh, Russell and Tyler were trying a new skinning technique...

I had some hotspots coming on, so the duct tape came out to save the day and kept my ankles from blistering.

Just before we got to the top of Green Butte we saw Storn ripping down the Avalanche Gully (he is the little dot to the left of Josh).

On the way up we found a cool looking chute to ride into Powder Bowl, so we pushed up to the top of Green Butte and rode down a ridge into Powder Bowl.

Josh was the first drop the chute and ripped the center line.

I dropped in next and went for a little rock dodging.

Russell went next.

Tyler came down last, hoping to hit the tightest rock line but figured out how steep the wall was when he was actually on it.

After riding the cool little chute we decided it was a little too warm for a second lap so we goofed around on the mellow terrain heading into the mossy trees bellow.

Russell airing a little wind lip.

Tyler buttering the Jones Solution.

Russell with a rail grab.

Josh ripping down.

The cool mossy trees.

We got down to the road and skied back to the cars.

It turns out our choice to stay low was reaffirmed as we saw four helicopters come in to take away injured climbers from a morning icefall. The summit group aborted their route up Avalanche Gully and went for the west face (bowl?) to get away from the crazy crowds.

After a great weekend of riding we hit the road around 3:30, for our 9 hour drive back to Snoqualmie, WA.

Portland with the sun setting.

Psychedelic "Welcome to Washington" sign.

Another amazing trip!

Late Season Snow!

2010-05-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

It seems like this is the snow season that never ends, I'm not complaining because I love it. I woke up yesterday to two inches of snow at my house in Sandy, UT. Late April and May have been good to us in Utah. My only problem is my normal touring partners have hung up their boards and skis and turned to biking and climbing.

May 1st, Cruising up White Pine

May 4th, PM patrol

May 11th, lunch time pow run down Lone Tree at Alta

May 14th, looking down down the Cirque at Snowbird

May 22nd, looking down a chute on lower Baldy that has filled in with all the late season snow

May 23rd, my wife, Melissa, finally had a day off so we got out for a late morning tour into Alta. We went up to the top of Baldy and dropped in towards the Sugarloaf lift.

Looking back on the Pfeifferhorn and Coal Pit Headwall

Melissa dropping into a little chute

Melissa ripping the lower wind packed powder

Melissa doing her best skier pose next to the infamous Alta rope tow.

The funniest rope tow video ever...

May 24th, hi hoe, hi hoe another 9" of snow... :) and up to Baldy we go. Mike, Lauren and I got a late afternoon tour up to the shoulder of Baldy.

I don't own a helmet cam, so I shot this video by holding my cell phone in my mouth... I call it mouth cam :) Not the best video, but it shows the good late season snow.

Kalifornia SplitFest

2010-04-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Two words to sum up this last weekend: Freakin’ Amazing!

Day 1
Bryce and I really didn’t know what to expect going down to the Kalifornia Split Party, except that it was going to be an adventure. We decided last minute we were going and scrambled to get plane tickets. Keeping with tradition... the night before was another long one. Finishing up parts and packing by 1:30am and crawling out of bed at 4:30am, I sleepily flew to Reno where Bryce and I met up and began our road trip to Convict Lake.

Taking in the epic views of the Eastern Sierra,

we anxiously anticipated the backcountry adventures that lay ahead. Stopping along the way we snapped a few photos of Mono Lake.

Arriving at Convict Lake around 5pm,

we met up with the California splitboard.com crew at the Mt Morrison Cabin.

It was nice to see a few familiar faces (The Tahoe crew: Aaron, Kelly, Denny) from the Baker Splitfest. We grabbed some grub and and spent the night talking of the days adventures (an epic tour to Mt Tom, slushy fun on hippy chutes, the road trips in) and of course gear!

A few last minute preps

and it was off to bed.

Day 2
The next morning we awoke to the blue bird singing, another beautiful day in the Eastern Sierra! Crews were headed all over for the day; we cruised over to a nearby ridge line for some laps with Mike, Denny, JimW, Greg, Chris, and the whole Sentury Snowboards crew.

Lap 1- At the bottom we thought it'd be ~1600ft to the top. After a steep switch backing skin track up the ridgeline to the top it ended up being close to 2700ft per JimW's altimeter.

The group split up with Mike, Denny and crew hitting up the skiers left trees and drainage while Bryce, Jim, and I ventured over to a steep rocky spine for a helping of some little narrow shoots.

Me (Tyler) popping out of a turn

Bryce dropping in

Jim slashing the wall of the little chute and Bryce pointing it down the chute.

Jim rallying down to the bottom

Bryce playing all the way down

Me (Tyler) with a rail grab to finish off run 1

Lap 2- we switched our system onto JimW's board for a side to side comparison

and then headed up to the lookers left bowl. I dragged myself up the 1900-2000ft ascent, feeling it the entire way.

Greg, JimW, Bryce, I pinned it to the bottom down the bowl.

Me (Tyler) airing off a small cornice, little rock drop, and pointing it down the bowl

Greg soul carving his swallow tail!

Surprisingly good snow at the top, which quickly changed to board stopping slop.

A few rock hops to the bottom and we were spent.

A picture of our lines down the second run.

After a quick trek back to the cabin

for a well earned frosty beverage we relived the day with the others and start plotting the next days adventures.

After a quick chats with a few others in the group including Jbaysurfer and JimW. our sights were set on the Power House Shoots off the Dana Plateau (near Tioga Pass) with JimW.

Day 3
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn, packed the car, said our goodbyes, and headed for a quick breakfast with JimW. and Larry. Larry kindly lent us an ice ax and we were on our way.

No warming up for this tour. It's right into the icy steep stuff from the car!

don't want to fall here or it's all the way back to the road :)

The stiffness of the the Split30 tour mode became very apparent on the up, allowing us to easily skin up the steep crispy slope without using ski crampons.

We quickly ascended to the first shoot and booted up. Jim was an animal with his verts booting the trail and left Bryce and I in the dust.

Again I found myself dragging up the hill, but the goods were now in sight with our first glimpse of the basin and the Power House Shoots!

We skinned up to the base of the main couloir, put the boards on the pack, and cramponed up.

Jim getting ready to boot pack up the chute

The snow in the couloir showed no signs of instability, but we were a little concerned with warming of the looming cornices above. After a quick discussion, we decided to boot up one at a time to minimize exposure to the cornices from above.

Me (Tyler) just about topping out. Again I would like to thank Larry for the crampons and ice ax :)

The views from the top of the Dana Plateau are unbelievable; definitely a classic tour.

After a quick bite, we were on our way down before the sun could heat the snow anymore.

Me, Bryce and Jim ready to rip up the Power House Chute on our Split30 Splitboard Systems (Mt. Dana in the background).

The main couloir offered a little bit of everything perfect corn at the top, wind blown pow, to compacted hard pack chunder, and finally opening up to the mellow apron below.

Jim dropped in first with Bryce snapping photos from the opposite side of chute. All I can say is EPIC! This was Jim's second day on the Karakoram Split30s. We'll let you decide if he was confident in the gear...

I dropped in next

After a few high fives we were on our way for the remaining 2000+ ft down to the car.

A few more open bowls to slash

Bryce snapped this cool silhouetted sequence of me.

Jim ripping to the bottom.

and Bryce slaying the exit shoot

through the trees,

and finally the car! Definitely a tour to remember!

We capped off the Eastern Sierra experience kicking it in a local hot springs reminiscing about the days adventure and talking gear with JimW. An awesome end to an awesome weekend!

Many thanks to Josh and Mike for putting this on. Truly an amazing event. We will definitely be coming next year hopefully with a few more folks from the PNW. Special thanks to JimW. for showing us the goods and for putting our bindings through the ringer. It was definitely cool to see a fellow ripper shredding his home turf on our new binding system! Schwalbster- Thanks for the feedback on the bindings, bummed we didn't get to ride together on the plateau, we'll have to hit it up next year followed by some surfing! To everyone that gave us feedback on our system, thanks! Your feedback is what will help us bring the best possible product to market!

It was great meeting everyone, too many to name, you all rock! Definitely a solid crew. This trip was definitely the first of many more to come!

Karakoram Split30 Change Over

2010-04-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of requests to post a video showing how our splitboard system works. I would have had the video finished yesterday, but we had about 12" of snow in Little Cottonwood Canyon and I would have been breaking company policy if I had worked on a powder day :). Here is the video.

Going to California!

2010-04-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Baker SplitFest was so much fun that Tyler and I have decided to check out the Kalifornia Split Party which is being put on by a bunch of California splitters on splitboard.com. Here is a link to the Split Party thread. Neither of us have had the opportunity to ride/tour in the Sierra Nevadas, so this is too great a opportunity to pass up. We'll be bringing a demo Split30 splitboard system with us for people to try out.

Toni on his Split30 Splitboard System

2010-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

I just got some pictures from one of our first users, Toni Walbridge. Toni has been riding his Karakoram Split30 splitboard system on his DIY Split Salomon Sick Stick 160 on tours in the Wasatch, sled-in tours in the Uintas, and slackcountry rides at Brighton since January. Thanks for the pictures Toni!

Mt. Baker SplitFest

2010-04-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Leading up to the Splitfest Tyler and I were thinking we'd have a nice leisurely week getting ready. But again, true to form we cut it down to the wire. Our new boards for splitting didn't show up until Thursday night, some stainless parts we were waiting for were finally ready Friday morning, and our new straps arrived in Issaquah at 1:00 pm Friday afternoon. We were mounting t-nuts at 5:00 pm Friday.

At 7:45 pm we were finally ready to go. We got on the road and made it up to Mt. Baker around 11:45. We met a couple of people who were still up and brought a split system in to show them how it all worked. After talking bindings until 1:30 am we finally crashed.

We were up Saturday morning around 7:30 ate some breakfast and found a group to tour with. Our crew, the biggest splitter group I've ever seen, headed out to Mazama bowl. John and Fritz served as our local guides showing us the goods.

The tour up hurt a bit from my lack of sleep, but I started to feel better after a few white room turns on the first lap. I barely got my camera out in time to snap this sequence of Tyler slashing his way down the first run.

The second lap had a perfect back drop of Mt. Baker waiting for toe side slash.

Cruising up for the third lap.

The crew from left to right: Fritz, John, Alex, Aaron, Wade, and Tyler

The third lap was by far my favorite. We skinned over what I think was Mazama Peak and encountered a cool little 5-6 ft cornice that most of us attacked in tour mode (photo from Alex).

Tyler, Wade and I went for a nice little chute that we had spotted on our lap. Tyler got the honors of dropping first. He ski-cut the top and released a 6 inch wind slab that washed down the chute and then followed it down. (photo from John Cocci)

This past weekend at Baker was Karakoram's first public demo of the Split30 Splitboard System. We received a lot of good feedback from those that checked out the system. Thank you to everyone who took the time to tinker with the gear and give us feedback; your input is very important to Karakoram's success. This was an incredible weekend getting to meet and tour with so many passionate splitboarders. Tyler and I had so much fun we're planning on attending the Kalifornia Split Party April 16-18.

Slot Couloir

2010-03-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

I flew back to Seattle March 20th to prepare for our first demo at the Mt. Baker SplitFest. My flight came in around 7 pm and I went straight to the shop to finish building up my bindings with the production changes coming from input from our beta testers. We didn't change much, only combining a couple parts to shave more weight and reduce hardware. True to Kloster form, Tyler and I finished machining and building the bindings around 1:00 am.

We woke up around 6:00 am and threw our gear in the car and picked up Aaron by 6:30. We were up in the Alpental parking lot around 7:00 am and it was pissing rain. We almost aborted and went to the Pancake House for breakfast, but decided since we were up we should just go for it. The tour up was interesting because of the low snow pack. The usual route up past the lower cliff band was pretty exposed and icy.

It finally started snowing about 2/3 the way up Mt. Snoqualmie. We made it to the Slot and it looked good. We dropped in one by one working from safe point to safe point.

The snow was a nice wind packed powder with a cream cheesy consistency. At the choke point of the couloir it was a bit icy from our sluffs ripping through and wiping out all the new snow.

At the bottom of the Slot we had a brief window of sun and then it fogged up and rained on us the rest of the way. There's nothing like ripping northwest mashed potatoes...

Despite the rain below 4,000 ft or so the tour was great. We got back to the car and we were completely soaked.

Alpental Vertfest 2010

2010-03-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

I wasn't able to get back to Seattle for the Vertfest, but Tyler got his first go at it. The race is mainly AT guys, but there were still 10 splitboarders. For those familiar with Alpental, the race went up under Armstrong Express to Chair 2, then up the Fan with a booter section and then up Rollen with another booter section with the up finishing at the entrance to International. The riding portion went down International, Snakedance and finished at the bottom of Sessel. Here is another write up with some pictures of the event: http://www.wildsnow.com/2721/vertfest-2010-race-recap/. This guy only focuses on the AT contingent. I think Tyler could have shaved some time if he used one of their awesome lycra suits. Tyler finished in 4th place and one of our testers Ruaraidh Stenson finished in first.

Flagstaff, Days Fork, Toledo Chute

2010-03-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Snow conditions finally started to stabilize, so I was feeling good about riding some steeper lines with my friend Manuel and some of his friends from Chile. The snow in upper Days Fork was nice on the north facing aspects. Here is Manuel dropping into upper Days.

The weather was perfect, so I skinned up to the Reed and Benson Ridgeline to take some pictures of Cardiac Bowl on my way to Toledo Chute.

I skied down Cardiff pass in split mode and then skinned up to Toledo Chute. Here is Adolfo on skiers right of Toledo Chute. The snow was fresh hidden under a thin breakable crust.

Here is a shot of Toledo Chute from the parking lot.