Let's try this again. Me and Ale_Capone descending Powder Country at the sb.com meet in SLC [img]http://files.colonies.com/UserData/925259/GalleryPhoto/821440/500x500_5_0_1.jpg[/img]

^^^ heheh, we could right a TR about what NOT to do...

this is a trip report from a little over a month ago..... This winter I got a rare oppurtunity to go do some riding with one of colorado's legendary mountaineers, cody, and his owner killclimbz. We went up to berthound pass near winterpark, where we were to meet with some guys from splitboard.com., The traffice was a nightmare, even for so early on a saturday morning. Flipped vehicles on the interstate... avi bombing on the highway... fresh powder in the mountains. We got to the parking lot to find a couple guys waiting on us. We geared up, did a short hike to an area called floral park, and then decednded to the road through nicley spaced trees and snow that will disclaim utah's "best snow on earth" claims.. knee deep and ligther then air. are ride was waiting at the bottom almost instantly. not hard to get a ride in bumper to bumper traffic. during that time, a few more showed, and now we where ready to go. This meet was mostly split boarders, but there was one skier, and me with a board on my back, and killclimbz snowshoes. when we got to our destination, cody had to get some ice out his paws.. [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442339-S.jpg[/img] then , killclimbz had a moment of esp..."dude, you are gonna drop my snow shoe right over there!" [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442468-S.jpg[/img] [Edited on 3/20/2006]

that was my first drop of the day.. iwas really hoping i would start off with anice 10' cliff, not someones snow shoe. WE hiked back up the same way, and it was right where killclimbs esp said it would be. tehn, we continued on a bit to this spot. sorry, i forget the names.. this picture may look like everyone is drooling over which line they will take ... but no....... [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442349-S.jpg[/img] everyone was looking at a wall of super hard windpack in horor! in this picture, cody is about at the point where the powder actually starts. killclimbz was doing the falling leaf and getting in his way. [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442357-S.jpg[/img] from here we went to a hut, and had a break. pretty cool little spot. here is everyone getting ready to put their skins on and stuff. [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442373-S.jpg[/img] the weather was gorgeous!!!! not at all what i was expecting. not long after teh hut, we where stripping down to base layers to enoy the sun and temps. [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442383-S.jpg[/img] unfortuantly, i learned lesson number 2 shortly after.. i hung my jacket over my board on my pack.. not long after a tree decided it liked my jacket and snagged it as i walked past. I noticed when i stopped to take some pictures of winter campers... i soon found out that it is actually FUN to run downhill with snowshoes. after going back about a 1/4 mile, and a couple hundred feet of vert, and then catching back up, i was whipped!! literally.. always remeber to let eveyone know if you back to retrieve something, or you may get an ass whoopin. here is everyone waiting for me at the top. before an awesome decent down the 110's(?) [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442393-S.jpg[/img] for me, this was the best day riding i had all winter. I am extremly thankful for my gracious hosts, on this day and the next. Can't waiit to go back someday.

awesome reports and pics ben and TJ!!!!!

Well last weekend, my plans to hit Jackson just weren't working. So as a consolation prize I went down to Crested Butte to do some BC with my buddy Evan who lives there. I was not dissapointed. Stuff there is big. We climbed 4800 vertical that day and rode just about as much downhill. Big, continous lines. We started around 9:30am. Here is the standard warning signs telling you it's dangerous. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_001.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_002.jpg[/IMG] and of course my favorite part of the warning. Someone had to be unreasonably acted upon at some point for this to make the list. I wonder what the "act" was... [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/UnreasonableAct.jpg[/IMG] Will and Evan getting ready to go. Both are in sick-o shape so it was an arse kicking for killclimbz all day. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_004.jpg[/IMG] Just starting to skin up our first climb which turned out to be 3500 vertical. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_005.jpg[/IMG] A view across the valley after maybe the first 1000 was climbed. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_006.jpg[/IMG] More from the same spot. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_008.jpg[/IMG] Will skinning over a big mushroom. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_010.jpg[/IMG] Cody doing what he does best. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_011.jpg[/IMG] After climbing 3500 vertical and having some problems staying in the skin track, (I had a global thermal nucluer meltdown at one point) we did our first drop. Close to 50 degree nicely spaced trees up top mellowing out to around 35-38 degrees for about 1700 vert. No pics of this drop, but nice stuff. Pillows, mushrooms and long arcing turns with about 20" of snow. Then we decided to do what no one else did that day, climb back to the ridge top for another run. We stopped about 1500 vert shy of the bottom, so to get back to the ridge turned out to be a 1300 ft vertical climb. Fortunately the ridge we were aiming for was a little lower than the previous one. On the way up the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the valley in spectacular fashion. You can see the Crested Butte ski area in the background. Mt Crested Butte is the triangle peak on the right side of the mountain. Very few ski areas are this steep over all. CB is in the class of Squaw, Jackson Hole, and other resorts of that nature. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_012.jpg[/IMG] Then as I was skinning up Cody started barking like crazy up ahead of me. He was circling a tree. I thought he had a squirrel in the tree. Turned out to be this guy. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_014.jpg[/IMG] So I quickly made him leave the porcupine alone and continued on to the top. Exhausted but ready to do a long drop. Evan kicked it off and man it was good. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_016.jpg[/IMG] Will and Cody getting after it. Sorry this one came out a little blurry. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_020.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_021.jpg[/IMG] Then on the out I told Will to go ahead and get into splitmode as I glided past him. Turns out there was one last steep section to get across a snowbridge. Will got to do some "extreme" skiing. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_022.jpg[/IMG] At least he pulled it off. A look back at the ridge line we worked. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/CrestedButte3-18-06_025.jpg[/IMG] After an hour flat skin out in the dark and puking snow, we got to the cars at around 6:30pm and made our way back to Gunnison for some burgers and beers which turned out to be an adventure in itself.

4,800 vertical feet will make your legs ache the next day...if not most of the time you're doing it! Good Shot's Killz...Crusty Butt looks like they're not having such a good year though...seems pretty brown in spots...or are those aspen/trees?

Posted by: Ale_Capone [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442468-S.jpg[/img]

Hey....the guy has a Orignial Sin 3807(?)...I've got two of those...and he split his into a split board? Bizarre. I think I crushed my edge the third time riding it....got a bunch of them cheap...so they served their purpose...but over all...they fell apart on me, as did the one my buddy got.

Yeah that is the scrub brush and trees. They have around an 80" base. It's just fine. That is how huge the ridge was. I am probably a 1/4 mile away from the base of Skookle ridge there. It's just a massive ridge. Here is our routes. The yellow lines is what we skinned and the red is the downhill. We worked it left to right. There is about another 500-700 vert that you can't see in this pic. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Crested%20%20Butte%203-18-06/Skookle.jpg[/IMG]

Posted by: ult Posted by: Ale_Capone [img]http://ale-capone.smugmug.com/photos/56442468-S.jpg[/img] Hey....the guy has a Orignial Sin 3807(?)...I've got two of those...and he split his into a split board? Bizarre. I think I crushed my edge the third time riding it....got a bunch of them cheap...so they served their purpose...but over all...they fell apart on me, as did the one my buddy got.

Justin sure did split it. He really likes how it rides too. I don't think he's been on it more than a half dozen times. Seems to be holding up though.

Interesting. Like I said...mine seemed to be junk that couldn't take a beating...but I crushed mine on area...back country is a bit different on gear. I still have another that I haven't rode yet. Must be weird getting the skins over that funky nose tip too...I guess it would be a fun split board though...just for the novelty split tail/spooney nose ride you'd get from it. *And* those look like hard boots he's wearing!!!! Who'd have thought there was some other freak out there riding that big nosed, split tail in hard boots...I figured I was the only one. [Edited on 3/20/2006]

Hahahaha! Hard boots and splitboarder seem to go together like peanutbutter and jelly. With the guys I go out with, generally half of them are hardbooting it. Now Justin is the only one I actively ride with that has a split swallowtail. The the guy I rode with in Utah was a hardbooter on a 196 Voile split swallowtail. Man that board flew!

196 Voile swallowtail....yeah...I've seen those...I just have to many trees around my neck of the woods to even consider a tool like that. Just riding my 180 Grocer yesterday was a bit much...

Great reports and pics. I was thinking about going with hard boots on my split board next year but was wondering about any disadvantages or advantages they might have as far as actually riding goes. [Edited on 3/20/2006]

Posted by: reachben - "I was thinking about going with hard boots on my split board next year but was wondering about any disadvantages or advantages they might have as far as actually riding goes."

Don't get me going. With so much of the world riding softies...it's hard to justify plates with out sounding like you're from mars. Or getting heckled with "why don't you just ski?" to "are those from the 80's?" For *ME* (not anyone else...just my *opinion*...and opinions on the net are like rumpholes...everyone's got one.)...I like the support they offer my feet and ankles. I prefer the instant edge control. I feel like I'm more in charge of my board. Plus they can be life saving practical at times. Several times in the back country I've had to take my split board off to cross a hard packed side hill...the edges just don't hold since the snow is so hard and it's such a steep side hill. With soft boots I'd probably just slide, out of control, to the bottom (over god knows what)...with hard boots I can kick steps and feel 'secure'. There's other solutions to that problem...like crampons for the split deck...but over all...I like the feel, ride and control better...not to mention protection. *side note* - I haven't ridden in softies in probably 15 years now so it's not like I can truely compare the new *much* better gear to the plates I ride now. It's just what I prefer...others prefer other things...and that's fine.

I ride softies as ult knows. Everything he said about hard boot advantages is true. Kicking steps, attaching crampons to them, more solid edge control. They just are not "surfy" like soft boots, which is the feeling I love so much about them. Catching air, that sort of thing is easier in soft boots too. The flex alows you to get more "tweaked" out. So either works. Overall, I would say hardboots are more practical. Really it's up to you as to what you want to ride in.

Posted by: Killclimbz - "They just are not "surfy" like soft boots, which is the feeling I love so much about them. Catching air, that sort of thing is easier in soft boots too. The flex alows you to get more "tweaked" out."

Interesting. That 'surfy' feeling is exactly why I prefer hardboots. I don't want that 'loose-ness' feeling in my ride...I want it THERE. I want to know that if I put a little energy into the boot...I'll get a response...not some 'flex'/'surfy' and then a response. As far as catching air goes...that's just physics...doesn't matter what's on the feet...take velocity and move it off a drop and it'll 'fly'. Soft or hard. Sure...with the ankle flex of soft boots you can 'boost' it more probably. As far as the tweaking goes...I don't play in the park much (although on my trips to other resorts with friends we usually have at least one bozo session in the pipe or park. I was almost out of the super pipe rim at snowbasin a few weeks back.)...so I don't need that extra flex in my ankles....and if anything...I prefer the ankle support. Especially on those hard packed choppy days. The boot takes up a lot of the pain...rather then the ankle. But just like Killz said....it's really up to you as to what you'd prefer to ride in. The biggest advantage soft boots have over hard boots in my opinion is that there's a lot more models/bindings made for softies. Go down to your local board shop and ask for some hard plate bindings some times...or a bail to replace a broken bail on the plate binding. When they get done laughing at you, if they even know what you're talking about, they might be able to suggest a place...online.

Thanks for the input guys. the only store I found that carries the plates for hard boots was prior in whistler. Even when I went on the voile web site none of there listed distributers knew what I was talking about. but Prior is pretty good ( and I work next to them ) if I ask nicely they will probally lend them to me. I also heard that you could use a telemark boot with the plates. that might be a little more flexy and ride more like a soft boot, if any one knows any online stores that carry the plates let me know. thx again for the info.

Ebay generally has Burton race plates for around $100 or so. Tele boots will fit plate bindings, but with the long toe stub/piece, you'll get more over hang then you'd like.

See if you can get hooked up with Bomber bindings is you are looking at going plates. [url=http://www.bomberonline.com/]http://www.bomberonline.com/[/url] I have never heard of their bindings breaking. Pretty much everyone in Summit County that rides Alpins uses these plates. Of course bomber is located in Summit county so that could have something to do with it...

I got a pair of Bomber Trench Diggers (V1 not their new V2's) from Ebay two seasons ago. They are certainly nice. Although I still feel as though I don't have them dialed. Part of the problem is I don't ride in 'snowboard hard boots'...I ride in skier AT boots....Scarpa Denali's. Anyway...sometimes if I put to much force on the toe bail in the upwards direction...they pop open. Not a good thing. (This past firday I was bombing down one of my favorite runs...felt like catching a little air and jumped off a little knob, when I landed the force popped the rear binding toe clip open...I luckily was able to control my fall/stop.) I think it's due to the toe bail being tight/rubbing on the front side of the boot and I need a wider bail. Apparently they make bails that fit AT boots better...and I've been in contact with Bomber to try and get these types of bails. Beyond that...they are certainly solid bindings (all aluminum) and very adjustable. They really get into their canting and angles...but not being a carver...I don't pay much attention to that stuff.

Ahhhh, Spring is in the air in Colorado. Second season is starting to get underway. To celebrate less traffic, warm weather and blue skies we decided for a late start and some "Urban backcountry". Getting ready to start our pilgrimage. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_002.jpg[/IMG] That starts right out of the town of Frisco. After skinning around 2000 vertical we finally got out of the trees. Not that the old growth forest wasn't nice, but it doesn't make for too many good shots. Getting out at treeline. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_003.jpg[/IMG] A shot of the terrain we were looking at. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_004.jpg[/IMG] Peak one rises behind this saddle. The bowl on the backside of this looks incredible. Warming temps and the fact we probably needed some techinical gear to do this made us stop at the ridge. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_012.jpg[/IMG] There was also this weird weather, communications shack thingy up there. No roads so the guys who have to check this, must hike it too. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_014.jpg[/IMG] A look back down from where we climbed up. As I said, Urban backcountry. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_019.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_020.jpg[/IMG] The lines off the backside of Peak One look crazy. Not sure if they cliffed out or not. I probably should have walked over more to get a good look at this terrain. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_016.jpg[/IMG] Cody as usual was ready to do a run. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_017.jpg[/IMG] Cody in form. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_021.jpg[/IMG] Vince making his turns. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_023.jpg[/IMG] Me getting mine. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Frisco%203-25-06/Frisco3-25-06_027.jpg[/IMG] The snow was just perfect corn. We had fun turns all they way back to the car. Something like 2500 vert down. Fun stuff perfect weather. Next weekend, I am going to try to do Dead Dog Couloir off of Torrey's which is a 14'er. Yes Cody will do it too.

Man that looks so fun, I wish I was that close to hiking great spots. Those are some great pics. I'll have to settle for the waves for that "backyard" stuff.

Well last weekend I got out for a day of backcountry riding on Monarch pass. The pass probably recieved about 16" of new snow Thursday into Friday. Then the temps really warmed up for Saturday. The snow has stabilized a bunch around here so we thought we might get to do a few things that were too sketchy in the middle of the season. On our way out to the Peck's Peak area, we ran into Greg. Another bc brother. It's funny how at a lot of these spots you know a lot of the people. At Monarch, it's very likely, since only 20 or so people ride there in any given week. Greg and Vince chatting with Cody making sure they play nice. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_001.jpg[/IMG] This area is what we were "chuting" for. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_002.jpg[/IMG] On the first run, we dropped a very sun exposed face. Mashed potatoes. I tried to carve it like it was light fluffy pow. Doh! First hard turn and my board just locked and pitched me, after a couple of back handsprings, I rag dolled to a stop. Worst crash of the season for sure. I was digging snow out of my helmet. At least the snow was soft. We skinned back up to the ridge and dropped some cornice bombs on our intended line. The snow saw I bought this year has turned out to be a great investment. Such an easy way to determine slope stability and fun! I dropped the chute lookers right that was visible in the pic. Vince nailed the middle line. Turned out to be the nice one. Both start out at about 45degrees, but the line Vince took stuck to that angle for 2/3rd's of the run. Vs the top 3rd of mine. The big surprise was that it was nice and light powder. Completely different from the previous run. It's amazing what aspect can do for you. Some shots of Vince doing the middle couloir. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_006.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_007.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_008.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_009.jpg[/IMG] A look up at our lines. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_011.jpg[/IMG] My line is lookers right. That boulder just below my track has a perfect landing on it, if you follow the same line I took. I didn't know it on this run but if the conditions are good next (could be next year) time I am there, I'll take it. Better to scout than just huck you meat for sure. The straight down line is doable. You would have to straightline it though. Lot's of rocks just under the surface, not leaving much for error. I looked at it, but had to pass. Again, maybe next time now that I have had a good look at the hazards. A couple of more looks at the line I took. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_014.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_015.jpg[/IMG] We then skinned over to Pecker face and took the skiers left line. Neither of us had done that either. It looked to be more out of the sun and wind than the main face. We were right. Perfect pow all the way down. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_017.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_018.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_019.jpg[/IMG] Cody loved it too. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_021.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_022.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_023.jpg[/IMG] Warming temps and wet slide possibilities dictated that we get out of there. One last run down to the car on perfect corn was had. Not often you can ride 16" of pow and perfect corn in the same day. I got to snap one last shot of the chutes on the way out. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarch04-08-2006_024.jpg[/IMG] It was good day.

I managed to lift a couple of shots of yours truly dropping into the chute. First making a hard cut, one last chance to check the snow stability. [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/Monarchride.jpg[/IMG] Then it was time to commit and go for it. WOO HOO!!! [IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/killclimbz/Monarch%204-8-2006/MonarchrideII.jpg[/IMG]