Testing the Lann Split…

“One of my dreams was to have a splitboard that rides as well as my regular board and this was one of our goals when starting out with this venture”.

“I started out in the Backcountry back in the day of Snowshoes and stomped my way around the High Mountains, board on my back, breaking trail through knee deep fresh”

Splitboarding is a huge part of my life as both a Professional Freeride Snowboarder and UIAGM Backcountry Snowboard Guide. I started out in the Backcountry back in the day of Snowshoes and stomped my way around the High Mountains, board on my back, breaking trail through knee deep fresh as ski tourers whistled effortlessly past en route to a distant summit. Frustration led me to play with early Splitboarding, but the ease of effort on the way up was so often shadowed by the disastrous performance of the equipment on the way down that I very quickly went back to Snowshoes.

Eventually, Splitboard equipment started to improve, bindings got better, lighter and the system simpler to use and the boards started to wobble and flex less.

I started to Splitboard more and more, adapting my equipment with bars and plates bolted on for stiffness until eventually the boards got stiffer, more fun to ride and needed less of my bolt on products to make them Rideable.

With regards, the Splitboards that I have ridden so far, and I have ridden a lot, when comparing them to riding a normal board (especially in variable conditions, which I ride a lot!) describing them as Rideable is often as good as it gets.

For sure, Splitboards have got a lot better over time, but in technical and variable snow conditions (which is big part of most Splitboard adventures in my experience) obviously there is always going to be a compromise, I mean, the board is cut in half for a start!

Splitting up Glacier de tour noire in the Chamonix Backcountry

So where to start in building my dream splitboard?

I have always lamented that a Splitboard should be built as two individual halves, rather than a Snowboard cut in half.

Each half should have individual flex properties and be stiffened appropriately so as to not flex torsionally or ‘V’ along the center line, which decreases edge tilt and grip when you need it the most.

With the goal to power up the contact points, as soon as we perfected our solid Lann model, Phill got to work on the Split version.

So last season I got to try out the Lann Split for the first time in quite challenging firm early morning conditions with softer tricky spring conditions in the afternoon, actually, ideal for the purpose of the test.

My first impression was the weight, for a 165, the split was very light. Keeping the weight light is something we’ve been working with all our boards and the Split felt light and on the stiffer side of the flex scale, just as I like.

As I one footed to the lift on that Icy morning, the board tracked clean and straight, something that I don’t often feel on a Splitboard with one foot strapped in and it immediately made me curious as to how this board, the 2nd ever Splitboard that Phill had crafted, would ride (Phill had previously made himself one for our trip to Lofoten, Norway the year before which he had ripped on and absolutely raved about).

With icy morning conditions on piste, the Lann Split 165 immediately carved clean lines and felt solid and poppy in the tail at the end of the turn. As I gained confidence, I found I could carve harder and harder and push more and more with out any feeling or fear of loss of edge grip, even with the firm conditions. The first run felt good!

In fact, the board felt and performed, exactly like the solid version, the Lann 165 that I had tested the day before and I could easily have forgotten that this was the Split version under my feet.

For comparison, after the first run, I then swapped out to my regular Carbon Split. Curiously, I immediately feel that loose wandering feeling under foot as I skate over to the lift and head up to repeat the same run for comparison.

The board I’m now standing on is the accumulation of 10 years of intense research and development, in effect this is the level of ride that we’re trying to match.

Conditions are still firm and I immediately skid out on my first heelside turn. I temper expectations down, reminding myself that it’s a split and the conditions are icy, so I should expect a little less. I concentrate on trying to engage the edge and follow the arc, but again I skid out and I just can’t get it to carve.

I skid my way down the icy piste really trying to get a clean line on the edge with out success and at the bottom I quickly swap back to the Lann Split to get another comparison run under my belt, thinking maybe it was just me.

I have to say I was pretty shocked by the performance difference here as up until this moment I’d kind of just coped with the compromise in performance and accepted it as an element of Splitboarding. After all, the Carbon Split I was riding is the accumulation of 10 years of development and at the cutting edge in terms of build quality and innovation.

I did some more runs on the Lann and began to gain confidence in carving it on the firm conditions, actually looking for the firmer snow to see how much I could push it on the edge.

As conditions improved and softened the board just got better and better, carving at speed just like the solid version I’d ridden the previous day.

Splitting under the gaze of the North Face of the Droites, Chamonix.

With a Split mission planned for the afternoon, I had intended to take my regular Split. Knowing it to be reliable and a safe option, but with the morning ride under foot there was now no question about which board I would be splitting on.

Conditions weren’t great, (see video above) but the board performed incredibly and was so much fun to ride and in a way this was the perfect test as it tested the board performance on the edge in changing snow rather than surfing the base in powder, which any board can do.

I have to say I was amazed by the performance of the board, it made Splitting more feasible and a fun option on those ‘melt freeze’ days where you want to shred the groomers for a bit first, before heading out later once the conditions have improved, but are put off at the thought of skidding around inbounds on a Split.

Splitting sea to summit in Lofoten Norway

Unfortunately, I only managed a couple of weeks Touring on the Lann Split last season and the snow conditions were pretty poor. With Norway and Greenland planned for late season I was very excited to get out on it and ride it in cold winter snow, but alas, the Corona Virus Pandemic put a stop to that and my season was cut short.

Conditions weren’t always perfect for Splitting last season, but for testing performance in changeable snow they were ‘perhaps’ perfect.

I learned a lot riding the Lann Split last season. The R&D continues and I’m very excited about where this project will take us as we develop and refine construction and design.

I’m basically so excited to go Splitting now I can’t hardly wait for next winter.