Hej Josh,

Im in, with a bit of luck I will get my split in next week.

for the time being, Im going out there with the snowshoes...

send me a pm with your contact details. and ill let you know when the next time is i hit the mountain.

Hi Joshua -  I am into off piste boarding and this is the first I've heard of split boards but this looks like one way off finding some powder in the absence of a recent dump.

What other gear do you need?

cheers, matt

Well I am no expert but you need:

-Splitboard (obvious), there is kits to cut an old board in half and convert it.

-Voile Hardware for using traditional bindings or split specific bindings with hardware for touring mode

-Crampons

-Skins

-Poles

-The rest of the normal safety gear you should have for normal off piste riding (beacon, probe, shovel, etc)

I'm fully equipped and always ready for the backcountry...

I'm near Lausanne, so get in touch if you're interested in going somewhere any weekend.

Cheers

It would be better to pm me rather than post on here, if anyone is interested in getting out on their splitboards.

I'll be going somewhere this weekend, not sure where yet, and every weekend thereafter if I can.

Cheers

This weekend im not around, but I would say lets all head out to the Teysachaux, next to Chatel St Denis on Saturday the 4th Feb. 

It's a mellow mountain, where you can ride some nice lines, even if you're not a back country pro.

Pm me if you wanna join, we can connect later through phone or facebook or whatever.

@J h - That sounds good lets organize something for next weekend

@ Tobias - I can't this weekend either since I am going to Verbier to board at the resort.  Also my board comes today but my bindings, poles, skins, etc have not arrived yet.

Looking forward to get out there.  Boarding on Groomers is so boring.

Big question remains, what board did you order?

I bought a Jones Solution 168W.  Trying to buy Karakoram Bindings as well, if so I may have a Voile Interface kit to sell if anyone is interested :)

Any recomendation on poles?

Nice one, got the same in backorder :)

The karakorams are beautiful, and expensive!

Poles are poles i reckon, if you wanna go bling, then black diamond has some nice ones. Even one with an intergrated ice pick!

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-eur/shop/ski/ski-poles/whippet-self-arrest-ski-pole

Yeah the Karakorams are a bit expensive but I was playing with them in Chamonix last weekend and I really liked the setup.  I was looking at the Spark Burner but they didn't seem all that much cheaper if you consider the cost of the Voile setup.

Where did you order your board from that it is backordered, I have seen them all over.  They even had one in the shop in Chamonix.  Hope your getting a good price at least ;)

About the poles I guess a pole is a pole but I was looking at compactibility to put in my sack for the decent.  For instance I was looking at these:

http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/ski/ski-poles/compactor-ski-pole/

Them BD ones look nice. 

And yeah the wait shoud be worth it :)

I never take anything with me off piste .. I just figured it would end as follows without the happy ending

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/09/25/the-next-worst-thing-to-getting-burried-by-an-avalanche/

I'll look at getting the gear as boarding on piste is too dull

I got all the Voile kit and skins with the board, brand new and pretty cheap I reckon, so I got the Spark Burner. They're decent but I would have gone for the Karakorams the board hadn't come with the setup already.

For Poles, I was going to get the contour elipse, but they were a bit too much for just going up with. But the locking system on the BD poles is a lot better than on other ones.

I wish I could say yes but I cant:( I need to learn snowboarding first. Done cross country skiing for 19 years every winter but I still am bit afraid to slide down the mountain.. I just wish to know how hard it realy is to controll one board?

@ Reitz - No problem, usually I just point it down hill and see what happens.

@ Tobais - I went with the Karakorams even know my board came with the voile kit, I am sure I can sell it.  Board came yesterday, I am excited to get out.

@ Joshua - I'll ride with the Sparks this season and then sort out some Karakorams for next season. Lets get out and ride next weekend then, Taysachaux...

Guys,

in case you snow/split-boarder don't insist on staying exclusive: I'd love to join you guys on a trip with my backcountry skis! 

@Ingmar - No problem from my side, the more the better.  Snowboarders are all predjudice like skiers are :)

Just got back from ISPO, and yes those Karokorams are technically way more advanced then anything else out there...

And it looks like my gear has some delay, so I'd have to join this weekend with just the snowshoes...

@J h - That is fine with me I am sure you will be able to keep up with a first timer on a splitboard assuming all my gear arrives.  My bindings just shipped today still waiting on my skins/poles to ship hopefully today as well.

Hey Guys,

So I am all geared up and good to go for the weekend.  Who is in?

In.

@Joshua, could I hitch a ride with you? as you live almost next door....

I like to be there early, with some luck we can catch some first tracks.

I'd say 8 or 8:30 at the parking on the route de la dent de lys?

If you drive through the Les Paccots ski area, you can continue a forest road up, at the end is a parking spot and the start of the trail.

Check the map here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Route+de+la+Dent+de+Lys&daddr=Les+Paccots,+1619+Ch%C3%A2tel-Saint-Denis,+Switzerland&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=46.519156,6.964731&spn=0.02203,0.044975&sll=46.517237,6.974902&sspn=0.022031,0.044975&geocode=FdLJxQId2YlqAA%3BFXPdxQIdTQRqACknbWknyYWORzEHkteIvmiLiw&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=15&t=m&z=15

I'm in as well.

When do you guys plan on getting back to Geneva? On Saturday I have to be back at 3 at the latest, I have a rehearsal later in the day. If you guys plan on staying longer I can take my own car, otherwise it would maybe be easiest if we car-share with the 3 of us?

@J h - I am not sure about getting up at 6:00-6:30 on Saturday.  Would prefer to sleep until at least 7:00-7:30 and then leave at about 8:00.  I would be happy to drive otherwise, with a bit of sharing in the petrol costs.  

@Ingmar - Not sure about return time.

I actually also prefer leaving at 8ish, you can never really compete with the locals when it comes to first tracks. I will go with my own car such that I don't hold you guys in jeopardy of my time planning.

That would mean we'd meet at 9.15 at the parking. J h, can you give me again the exact GPS coordinates? I can't see a parking spot on your Google maps location.

@ Josh, 8 is fine with me too, ofcourse we share petrolcosts.

@ Ingmar, if you type this in the google maps page, you get the right road. Where it ends there is parking spots, it cant miss.

FYI Guys I made a group to try and make it easier to organize and find people to ride in the backcountry:

http://www.glocals.com/groups/geneva-backcountry-snowriders-group.htm

Good idea! I was thinking of organizing a little backcountry outing to the Aravis next Saturday... maybe we could integrate it with the group?