Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

100lbs. of stuff strapped to your back makes an awful skier

If you think that's bad, Canada's military made allowances for splitboards. Feeeel the inclusion

But that's OK. Canada's security plan is America

Solid binding, but medium supportive boot. It looks like a black Alpina Alaska. Add a large and heavy backpack and I think they are actually quite all right at skiing, depending on how much experience they have. It sounds like they have short/kicker skins, which is probably a good choice with their gear.

We Norwegians like to make fun of foreigners skiing for the first time, both soldiers and others. They usually fall on even flat terrain though, and any downhill is a challenge. Short skins would probably help though, as they usually where on wax or waxless skis that glide much better, in all directions..

90% of what they are learning in that exercise is how to live in an environment of cold and snow. Splitboards? ok, sure.

I was at the pancake house with a view of the local ski area in May and a baseball team just arriving from Florida was in the place. Fun listening to one guy trying to convince another that the 100+ inches of snow was real. That skeptic might some day be a Marine. That's why they train on snow.

Not sure you're picking up what I'm putting down.

Splitboards are snowboards. They don't go uphill until you turn your splitboard into skis. It means there's a "transition" time beyond pulling skins. You have to mechanically change your mode of transportation by removing then and putting them on again. It's retarded. Your enemy can pick you off while you're fucking around with your splitboard, and everyone else has moved on after seamlessly transitioning from climb to ski. Hope that helps. Le sigh

@Lhartley what's the topsheet on those army splitboards? Rainbow flags?

NATO rainbow alliance

Military's main use of skis is to get an infantry force with 100 lbs of gear each from point A to point B. Safely. Commando attacks or recon in alpine mountain terrain may happen but is not SOP. My dad was in 3 different WWII units. The FSSF was ski and mountain trained. His Ranger CO led the 10th Mountain in Northern Italy until he got KIA. Military use of ski's has kinda been on my radar for a few decades. How someone showing up with a private split board for a ski exercise without getting KP for a week is odd. Must be more to the story.

Nothing more to the story. I personally know the guy using them. He's a good dude and part of elite operations in Canada. The splitboard as far as I know is so far only used in training exercises, like the video shown here. But far more difficult terrain. My only point being is that it's hard to take the military serious these days. And maybe we don't need to anyways with drones doing most of the work in far off never ending proxy wars in counties temporarily written off