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Splitboarding
*edited 06 Sep 2011 17:24
*edited 06 Sep 2011 17:22
the chute off the main sholder? it had been skied yesterday with a small size 1 popping out of the bottom. pack is pretty bomber but its fairly steep. i think i got a photo of that tho
not my groups lines tho (took the pics before we skinned up)
we rode this section, again forgot to get pics from afterwards
Yea man that's it, handy shot, gives a nice impression of gradient, access looks straight forward. Wet slide? Wouldn't wanna go near it with slab deposited from the W, one hell of a terrain trap! here she is full frontal:
Looks like you guys got the goods! Seems like a spot that should corn up well with that altitude and aspect, will try get up there this weekend. How's GC holding up?
Snow was pretty dry still. creamy sort of snow. so id say its probably slab. we found wind crust of about 2cm, between 5-10cm of decomposing storm snow, a melt freeze crust of about 3-5cm and then sh*t loads of rounds. be careful on the SE aspects there was a very small graupel layer inbetween that crust and the new storm snow. might slide(has slid in that shot from lots of weight).
GC has a large slide from the Choke, quite some way down. A few around the out of band chutes (terminator, exterminator etc)
That chute is quite gnarly! would be a long time before i was getting in there though. the north shoulder looked un real though. still good lines up there though!
http://skitouring.co.nz/hawkdun-range/ [skitouring.co.nz] - Someone hit your zone!
Hit the doolans behind the keyhole today (inbetween Galipoli chutes and centurion). Quite nice snow for snowboarding. not so much for the few in the group on teles. it was nice for me though!
Cheers for the beta man, starting to sound like climbers! haha.
Forecast was looking good to settle things down a bit last time I looked.
Thing I like about that line is that it looks like it should be relatively easy to retreat out and hit that north shoulder if it does indeed appear too sketchy from the top. Always nice to not have to commit 100% if possible, too easy to be tempted into silly decisions otherwise... ha
Yea saw that! Good on them! Bummed I haven't made it there, but stoked someone else has reccied it so we know it will be worth while. With a bit of luck the snow will last well into spring in those deep gullies.
Suppose you'll be working this weekend dude?
in the close up of my shot of it you can see how the skier has cut high out of the chute, its got a small convex right where that slab slid, so its probably easier to cut high out of it and on to the sholder than it is to try and bomb the whole thing.
Yeah im working, which i wasnt coz i rode some nice snow and there was a few spots id be keen to lap!! keep in touch and ill try and shuffle some days around.
yeah, I think it would be the way to go to stay above that rock and hoon out wide. Pretty classic slab deposit zone in there below the cliffs. Is that a fairly large crown towards the centre of your first pic in the shadow?
Yea man, looks like a good zone for laps. Will do, you should hit up split fest if you can...
Wasnt massive.10-15cm deep. just the top layer of storm snow popping out. would knock you off your feet on most of that slope, up on the shoulder it might cause some havoc tho
Shiz, the weather is conspiring against me! CRAP forecast for qtown area this weekend. At least there will be some fresh by mid next week...
This saturday might be the one for a day trip to the Hawkduns, MODIS sat images showing a pretty good cover up there still, should be able to hit it and get back to Dunedin in time for England vs Argentina.
Nice plan ST. By the looks of things we may have got some snow last night. May head out back tomorrow and try and get some fresh lines with the light dusting. If you head up into the Hawkduns ST try and get some pics. Keen to hit that area sometime.
Yea man, we are gonna hit it early, ha, won't get super cold over night so any freeze probably won't last long. As long as the NW sh!testorm stays away. Will take a tonne of pics, for sure.
can confirm that the Hawkduns are RAD. Heaps of snow out there, straightforward access (although the drive in took longer than anticipated... ha), brilliant spring corn. Didn't make our objective due to time/weather issues, but got some rad lines none the less and a good chance to scope it out. Will be heading back for sure.
good to know! the link i sent you the other day made it look pretty rad. huge big wide faces!
Dude, the place is awesome. Just wrote up a report for another forum, will chuck it up here too
Yesterday G and I finally got around to doing a day trip from Dunedin to check out the Hawkdun Range in Central Otago. The place is epic. So much potential out there, straightforward access, currently plenty of snow, and more bowls and basins than I could be bothered to count. After a bit of a drive and scoping from the bottom, we decided to give Healeys Creek [topomap.co.nz] a nudge. From memory I think we hit the ground relatively late (9.40 am or so). Getting up high was straightforward, we climbed a moderately steep tussock spur between two snow filled gullies to gain the ridge at around 1150 m. Of course by this stage in the season, N aspects are pretty bare at that elevation, and the ridge was windstripped too, so we kept approach/gym shoes on until the snowcover on the ridge became consistent.
We would have loved to have gained the main ridge of the Hawkduns to score an awesome looking gully into a wide basin, that would have offered at least 700 m of vert, but after a combination of a slow start, ominous weather to the NW (all the models looked good, bar a little wind, for the Maniototo, but metservice was expecting rain, we got the odd light shower, and while confident conditions would hold we weren't keen to be on an exposed ridge at 1700 odd m if the sh!t did hit the fan), and a need to get back to Dunedin fairly smartly we opted to instead ride the beautiful corn snow on the S aspect off our access ridge. We skinned to a knob just shy of 1300 m and got about 200 vert m of lush spring corn. The snow was particularly nice below about 1250 m. We then took a long ascending traverse back toward the W end of the ridge we came in on, and found enough snow to get another run >200 vert on the way back out to the car. The final gully of this run was very soft and patchy, and in hindsight we probably would have gotten better snow slightly back to the east, but we knew the way out from that gully would be straightforward, didn't have time to muck around scrub bashing our way out.
Bottom line, the Hawkduns are amazing, there is a lifetime of options out there. In midwinter with snow to 800 m or so access would be a breeze to most basins. With a decent amount of snow to that level, you wouldn't actually have to go very far in to get good turns. The snow above 1200 or so m should last a while yet, especially on the S/SW aspects, and if possible we will back this spring to try gain the main ridge and score that gully. We will definitely be back next winter. There is a (probably musterers?) hut at the bottom of Healeys Creek basin, just before the conservation land starts. That would be an awesome base if we can track down the owners. Overnighting there and starting early would open up a LOT of options.
Here are a few crap pics from my phone, and GPS data plotted in GE.
The zone, the gully we would have liked to hit is shaded about a quarter of the way in from the left. The ridge we traversed and rode/skied off is the lower shaded one at the left hand end. Big terrain.
Fun terrain on the south side of the ridge. We rode down to the lower down patchy vegetation. We then sinned back up towards the upper right of the second pic.
G scoping out the face, ominous clouds in the distance provided a refreshing shower on the climb back up.
My baby, thanks to Adam at The Cornice Store and Rich at Splitn2!
Looking along the ridge to the main ridge of the Hawkduns and the gully we would have liked to hit. Would have been another 1.5 hours away for us I think, so very do able given a full day.
We climbed to the ridge up the tussock spur between the two snowy gullies. We rode out from above the top knob in view, on the distal side of the ridgeline, before linking up with the patchy gully in the centre. Bottomed out around 1000 m, traversed out of the gully on foot and galloped back down the spur. This pic taken from where we parked up, around 770 m.
Overview of Healeys creek basin, with our target and GPS track and profile of what we managed to do.
Same again with GE pseudo perspective.
Nice job ST - theres some great looking potential there. I have trout fished quite close to where you were - that range gets some fantastic sunsets!
What time of the day was it when you were getting the corn? doesn't look like there was too much sun that day
we were riding from about 12.40 pm onwards. Not much sun, but very mild temps. Right from when we first hit snow it was starting to soften nicely. The last bit of snow we hit was super soft/rotten.
Awesome work bro. The Hawkduns are amazing range. Can't wait to ride them some time.
Yea man it's awesome out there. We might have another go before the snow disappears, depending on how things go.
Mint. Let me know the next time your thinking about hitting it. I might try and get down for mission with you guys if thats ok.
yea man for sure!
sweet pics southenrtrash! and even sweeter forecast. Seems like winter was over before it started this season.
some good reading here boys....
http://push.ca/blogs/spencerfrancey/archive/2011/04/08/scott-newsome-canada-s-first-snowboard-guide.aspx [push.ca]
Big ups to Richard, Shane and the Temple Basin Crew for organizing the splitfest this past week end. Great times. Meet a whole bunch of split boarders. First time back at Temple with a splitboard and the options there are just crazy. Thanks again for organizing the week end.
Yea what a rad weekend! Even clocked a cheeky peak! haha
Rad post some photos! gutted i missed it sounded all time at temple.
I was moving house so missed out but Rich popped around to show me a board he had just made up. Droool....
Kick me while i'm down why don't ya
Nice. I had a ride on Rich's board up at the splitfest. It rides well if a little on the stiff side for my liking but a really promising start. Would love to give it another go and get out touring on it as well. Good work Rich
Next one is gonna be a little thinner in the core all the way through, we'll reduce the overall thickness before we take any out between the feet, small steps. Most important we get the board in the press so the tip and tail and camber sections are all the correct length thats the bigger issue in this board I think. Next core all ready to go and have another pile cut ready to glue up to complete a third, so 3 boards ready for the special project!
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
went for a wee adventure today.Up to the wye down a peak on the small range seperating the doolans and wye. up to near the top of helicoptor flat and then back down and then out into sugar. Really nice snow out there, some of the more steeper sections should settle up nice in the next few days, make for some great shredding.
Line Down
Awesomeness
Awesomeness from below
Second line was from the ridge in the back ground down past the rocky outcrop in the middle of the image.
Nice man! Looks like there should be plenty out there for spring missions. Probably a while till I get back over. You shoulda got up to splitfest man!
*edited 22 Sep 2011 21:31
Here is a line me and Chris (aka splitboard7) did last Saturday. It drops from the shoulder of Mt Izard in the Craigieburns for close to 700m (i think according to maps). Access is from Texas Flat on the Cheeseman Road and we walked in on the new Hogsback MTB track. Took about 3 1/2 hours up. No skinning at all!
I'd been scoping this chute for a while, but wasn't sure if it was still rideable. You can't quite see if it goes from the road and we were literally halfway down before we discovered we would have to take our boards off for 2 small sections. It was good at the top, deteriorated in the middle with lots of stones, but got a touch better in the very last bit.
then of course there was the creek bash to get out.
Thanks to my girlfriend who walked up the parallel ridge and took some shots.
Chris with the line behind
long walk up a scree ridge
the biggest chute going from centre to bottom leftish
Chris ready to drop
getting nice snow at the top
I get some turns, still in good snow
dodging stones
Chris in the second boards off section
I dodge some more rocks in the final section
I would say it's more of a winter line as it faces NW and is relatively low. But if the face holds snow, then there is another 3 or 4 lines there, all of similar length and character.
Thanks to Rich for the Splitfest at Temple.
I went up on Sunday and it was great to meet some crew, find some good snow and eat bacon and sausage sandwiches!
Cheers fellas (and I can't wait to see Chris's new board and bindings)
Dude, rad line! Was good to meet ya on Sunday too
Nice Yossi. You guys have really been getting after it this winter. Awesome line. It's so much fun following veins of snow like that in spring down to the valley floor. That line would be really cool mid winter. Nice scoping.
How sweet are the photos from the other-side of the valley! We need Cathrine climbing and shooting more often haha. Riding new bindings this weekend cant wait.
Where about's are you riding this week end Chris?
Was keen for mt cheesman i think? the biggest peak closest to this chute, looked sweet from where we were. Weather isn't lookn to flash though. What your plans?
Nice. Thinking either Cheeseman or Crystal valley at Porters. I think Rich is getting up this week end to test out the new board as well. Going to head up both days
we were at cheese last sunday and mt wall was looking epic
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the older i get the better i was
Aiming to get the family moving early in the morning, def keen for Porters and a drop into Crystal Basin if its safe eh. Keep in touch fellas lets try and get a full crew in there eh?
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
Sweet. We'll see you there Rich
Big shipment of Spark R&D Blaze and Burner bindings, Spark Deeluxe boots, Spark Mr Chomps splitboard crampons and the whole range of Spark R&D accessories coming in to Christchurch in the next 10 days. This is a bit later that I hoped for folks but its still gonna be here for plenty of spring touring and there is still tons of snow left in the hills to go Splitting on. Its already half pre-sold so you need to be quick. Let me know your requirements incl boot sizes and color prefs and I will sort out a deal for you. I supply all the kit you need to go splitboarding on incl skins and all the Voile bits to go under your Spark gear, can split boards for you and even make a split from scratch if you want your own custom board ok. Have a look on www.sparkrandd.com at the new website all the gear is on there. Cheers, Rich
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
Right finally, I have it all here in CHCH hot off the plane, and its surpassed my expectations already! I have a big pile of boxes full of Spark R&D Blazes and Burners, Mr Chomps Crampons, heaps of Spark Deeluxe boots and Spark accessories and even some hoodies and t-shirts if you really feel the urge !! In a nutshell its first in first serve apart from those who have shown interest get first option. The bindings I expected to be better, they were already awesome I knew that, but with the Burton straps buckles etc they are PRIMO, the boots I had a good informant that they were wicked, now I can see why. Great construction, awesome sole, solid feel, light as !!!!!! Nothing more needs to be said this stuff is gonna rip!
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
RAD!
amping for some spring shredding! i be around this week to get some new parts rich!
Awesome news Rich. Might try and get round tonight and check out the boots!
I've just been over for a natter and a look at all the new equipment. Its gear-head christmas morning there!
Deeluxe boots weigh nothing.
I'm so excited.
Went and checked out the new gear tonight. Stoking. Got to pick up my new Spark Deluxe snowboard boots as well. Can't wait to get out on them. A very stiff boot that I imagine will tour and boot really well but with enough flex in them to give the nice soft boot feel for on the down
Rich, I will drop off those demo bindings, sadly not used, but keen to buy sparks and chomps, maybe some boots if you got 13US and they fit
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www.BWMsnow.co.nz - Online and instore
Got out on my new Spark Boots today at Olympus. Unfortunately just in bounds riding due to instability of the new snow but wow, these boots are awesome. I think I have stuck in the dark ages with my old boots. Stiff and super responsive. Looking forward to touring in them hopefully this week end. Cheers for getting these in Rich.
Hey Greg, Next order I will make sure there is a 13 in there ok, sorry mate my biggest is a 12 right now. On the positive side there is a brand new 2012 set of Burners here and Mr Chomps crampons to match with your name on them ok. When are you in town? Great day today at Olympus , the mighty 160 Split I built slayed the spring porridge! Cheers, Rich
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
Anyone getting after it this weekend? me yossi and bret heading to Arthurspass to climb some stuff, first time ive packed crampons little nervious. Gota love spring. I read on Sb.com that the spark boots pack out a full size so dnt buy big...maybee 12 will fit 13.
Whooo hoooo!!! My Quiver Killer PRO KIT just turned up. If anyone needs a set of QK M5 inserts installed or a repair done then please let me know. $6 per insert, incl fitting (that is labour, epoxy, QK insert, stainless screw to suit your binding) and I will ensure you get the maximum length screw depth into the insert for max strength and durability. I use the best epoxy in the business , same as I use in my splitboards. If I can help out email me please. Cheers, Rich
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
Shall we get this splitboarding thread going again eh NZ Splitters???
What are your plans for 2012? What will you be riding and where?
Only 5 ish months to go till snow damn it , lots to do in the mean time building boards and ski's and getting plans sorted for some mean BC trips.
Right then over to you guys! Cheers, Rich
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
haha, I'm keen, summer is killing me. Too much work not enough play... at least this place provides a laugh or two! Enough missions on the list for this winter that could last a lifetime, anyone keen to come down and score some southland goodness let me know... Got a few climbs planned for later this summer to scope stuff out.
Rich, how freaking rad is that new Spark system?! Hope like hell they can keep it ticking along and roll it out down the track! Really nice, voile will have to step up their game if they want to stay in it, pucks and "traditional" hardware might be on their way out...
Looking forward to seeing a full range of splitn2 boards this winter 
and having more cash to bring the limping parts of my set up back up to speed.
Yeah its great to see all the splitboard binding companies stepping up with new developments. The Edison interface from Spark will be another game changer if it goes into production, I doubt that Will would release even a peep of a prototype unless he was going to follow through, that said it prob needs plenty of testing and refinement to be good enough to follow in the footsteps of the Blaze and Burner. Still the gear we have now is great too,and its super simple and reliable and not too shabby weightwise eh ! Def keen for some southern splitboarding hospitality this coming season, you scope out the territory brother and we'll get a carload down there ok. Cheers, Rich
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SPLITN2.COM - Custom Splitboards, Spark R&D | Fitwell | Whitedot Ski | Christchurch New Zealand | Email rich@splitn2.com | twitter.com/richie_splitter
sadly wont be doing a season in NZ this winter due to ahem, lack of work haha
but will be heading over for hopefully 2 weeks of BC missions anywhere but queenstown hills!
Taken the splitty out for a few missions this year but nothing exciting, a solo mission up a resort before it opened back in nov last year and up an abandoned hill this year, hoping to get out into the real stuff next 2 weeks
*edited 14 Feb 2012 19:56
Here is some new splitboard bindings that i have been working on for the last year. Uses all new interface. Rides very similar to a ride binding. changes over quick and has no lose pins/parts. Testing in BC now. RANGER SPLITBOARD BINDINGS [facebook.com]
*edited 16 Feb 2012 05:20
AF1 & Jordan 4 Fusion [goodous.com]
Jordan Comfort Max 11 [goodous.com]
Air Jordans Shoes [goodous.com]
Air Jordan DMP [goodous.com]
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http://www.GooDous.com