FALL/WINTER2016
MLCM
69
words ::MikeyNixon
Throughout the 80s and early 90s, backcountry snowboardingwas an awkward affair.Accesswas extremely
difficult, andunless youwere steppingout of a snowcat, helicopter, or ducking the rope directly beside the
resort, youwere kinda screwed.Of course you couldbootpack,which is a huge part of snowboarding’s roots,
butwalkingballs-deep through the snow is a horribly inefficientway to cover longdistances. Snowshoes
were, and still are, anoption, but as anyonewho ever tried touse themon something like the Spearhead
Traverse can attest; the results canbe comical at best.
In the late 90s, aWhistler local named Scott Fennell createdYUPIs, a flat-based snowshoe that used traditional
climbing skins.With their ability toglide, theywere better than snowshoes andwere a fairly common sight in
the local backcountry, but they didn’t revolutionize the sport.
Instead, the standarddevice for backcountry snowboard travel was createdbyUtah Forest
Service avalanche forecaster Brett “Cowboy”Kobernik andMark“Wally”Wariakos, owner
ofVoileBackcountryManufacturing. Cowboy started tinkering inhis basement in 1991 and
eventually approachedWallywith the design that’s still largely inuse today. In1994,Voile
released the first splitboard available for purchase by the public.
However, snowboarders canbe a toughdemographic to engage,withmobmentality
gravitatingonly towardswhat’s considered tobe cool at the time (Mambosoks!).Voile’s initial
boarddesign,whichhad amassive gap runningdown the centre,wasmockedby themasses.
Itwasn’t until endemic snowboard companies pickedupon the emerging trend that people startedpaying
attention.DaveDowninghelpedmuffle the naysayers by filminghis entire segment, a healthymix of big
mountain freeriding andbackcountry booters in Standard Films’ TB9 (2000), on aBurton splitboard.And the
new subsectionof snowboardingbegangetting the street credit needed toplow itsway into themainstream.
Meanwhile, atWhistler-basedPrior snowboards, founder Chris Priorwas introduced to splitboards in themid-
90s, by awide-eyedbelieverwho showedup at his original shop inNorthVancouver.
“A fellow fromPemberton came in frothingat themouth saying, ‘this is thebest thing since slicedbread.Cutmy
board in two!’”Prior recalls. “I thought hewasnutsbut he said, ‘no, this is it, this ishappening, this is the future.’”
Prior split their first board in1997,moved their factory toWhistler in1999 andofficially introduced splitboards
to their line in2002 after putting in enoughR&D tooffer people a product that performed at a level the local
mountains required.And they opted for the straightforwardness of theVoile reattachment design.
“TheVoilewas a really simple system thatworked,”Prior says.That combinationof function andperformance,
alongside Prior’s core legitimacywithin the snowboardworld, got the attentionof backcountry snowboarders,
and just like thatwide-eyedguy proclaimed, splitboardswere suddenly the future.
According to figures providedby SnowSports IndustriesAmerica, splitboard sales for 2015-16 actually
matched alpine touring ski sales (roughly 4,450units). “[Splitboarding] became the only growthpart of the
snowboard industry; the industrywas flat and the backcountrywas expanding,”explains Prior.
OFA SPLITMINDSET
SPLITBOARDINGCURRENTLYENJOYSPOLEPOSITION INMAINSTREAMSNOWCULTURE,BUT ITWASN’TALWAYSSO.
Splitboarding has
effectively eliminated
every disadvantage that
snowboarders used to face
in the backcountry.
