Keep Mt. Hood Weird - Tele Tuesday Rando Race - Deeluxe Spark XV - 2.5.13

Pure pow!!! First 1", then rocks and ice.

The results of tonight's Tele Tuesday Rando Race at Ski Bowl were...weird. I showed up for the race and was told that they weren't doing the usual uphill-downhill race, but had changed it to a judged telemark expression session, and that you could only compete if you had retro gear and straight skis. Bonus points for leather boots. No joke. I couldn't make this up.

So I saved myself a few dollars and went snowboarding instead. Earlier in the day, UPS had brought me some new Xavier De Le Rue pro model boots. I have been waiting for these boots for a long time, and was excited to give them a try.


FIRST IMPRESSIONS

FRESH LINES

AFTER THE JUMP


5 reasons why they are better for splitboarding and splitboard mountaineering:

1. They are stiff. This helps with side hilling and gives you more control when skinning, billy goating around, and of course riding as well. It also gives your calves a break when you are climbing a steep slope. You can add an additional tongue insert to stiffen them up even more.
2. They accept semi-automatic crampons. The only snowboard boots to do so. This requires a plastic heel piece, which then allows for a much more secure fit--which is a big deal when you are doing any technical or exposed climbing. I summited Mt. Hood last year on a day with bulletproof ice, in a pair of old Burton Ion's and some borrowed strap-on crampons. I swore to never do anything like that again with that equipment. The boots were so soft that the crampons were pushing back into them instead of into the snow, and whenever I was crossing a slope, the toe of my boot wanted to slip out, with much potential consequence. Moral of the story: a secure fit is highly desirable.
3. They have a Vibram sole designed for mountaineering. Most snowboard boots are made for standing in bindings and walking around the lodge, and that's it. These are designed for kicking steps and climbing mountains.
4. Warmth. They are bulkier than normal, but that is because they offer more insulation than the average boot. That thick sole also gives you much better insulation from the snow, which is perfect for cold conditions, long boot packs, and just generally spending a lot of time on the snow.
5. Xavier De Le Rue rides them. Just the experience of watching his clips is probably more exciting than many of our own splitboarding adventures, and if they give him the control he needs to ride down the sides of mountains that should probably never be snowboarded, then they are sure to be more than enough boot for you or I.

Alright, so I kind of blew my whole initial review there in my list. I will say that I waited for these things to arrive for a while, and in that time I built up a lot of expectation. I have a trophy line that I have been eying, that involves technical mixed climbing, exposed traverses, and some rocky rappels--things I have never done before with a snowboard. These boots are a key component for me to even possibly get that line without packing two types of boots. In the time leading up to their arrival, I began expecting a fully-rigid mountaineering boot. When I first tried them on, they didn't feel all that stiff. But riding them back-to-back with my regular snowboard boots, I can definitely say that they are by far the stiffest snowboard boots that I have ever ridden, and I wouldn't want to snowboard in anything stiffer. And I am happy that all that bulk counts for something--warmth. Looking forward to a long rest of the season and many great climbs in these things. I will keep you posted, dear reader(s).

So back to my night: it was fully dust-on-crust, with some real choppy, icy, conditions underneath from the now re-frozen power days of yesterweek. I went and found some steep, technical, icy crap, and went to work paying some dues. Getting better at riding in challenging conditions makes you that much better of a rider when it comes time to score the goods. On that day, I hope you'll be scoring too!