Backcountry snowboarding is an expensive sport to take on. You can always go somewhere with car shuttle access like Loveland Pass here in Colorado, or you can trudge your way up in a pair of snowshoes with your board on your back. What I wanted to know was can you start from your resort gear and get out splitboarding on new gear for around $1000?

I suggest renting or borrowing a split set up before plunking down cash for a brand new set up. If you can, scour the local used market for deals. I see people selling whole kits for $500 regularly on craigslist and facebook marketplace, but if the used market is non existent in your area, then maybe buying new is your only option.

This is going to make several assumptions.

First, you have to have some existing snowboarding gear to build off from. Boots, bindings, and clothes. You can use your existing gear to get started, and build a more splitboard specific gear horde once you get into it. Check out my gear list to get an idea of what I use and see what you have that might be similar.

Second, this does not include the price of an Avy 1 course. The price varies so much regionally, so I can’t make that part of this guide. It is something you should budget for though. If anything, you should do your avy course on snowshoes so you’re not fussing with your splitboard. Every avy course has a few newbies without a clue how their brand new splitboard operates, and I think they miss out on learning what they came to learn, and have to have the guides teach them how the climbing skins work. Just make it easy on yourself when learning skills that will save your life!

Avalanche Safety Gear

We are going to start here, because it’s the most important. You can either buy your beacon, shovel and probe seperate, or as a package. I would approach it like this: find the beacon you want, then if it comes in a package get that, otherwise buy it separate. I am going to recommend two different beacons.

Peips DSP Sport

BCA Tracker 2

Those are both very good, mid range beacons, that review well. I use the Peips, and I think it is a very solid and reliable piece of equipment. The BCA is good as well, and can be found in a package deal with shovel and probe for $380. They do go on sale too, so keep watch early and late season for good deals.

If you are looking at other beacons, you need a beacon with three antennae. Dont skimp.

A Note On Used Beacons: If you know what you are doing, and have another beacon you can check to make sure everything works with the used beacon, then by all means get a used one. Just remember this is something that can potentially save your life, or your partner’s life. Saving a few bucks is just stupid in the grand scheme of things. Your life is valuable. Plunk down for a new one and you’ll get years of use out of it. Unless you absolutely know what you are looking for, do not buy used. Some sellers might pass on a bad or outdated beacon. Be aware!

If you don’t get a package deal on the beacon, you might be able to find a used shovel or probe in the usual used gear haunts. If not, Voile makes some nice stuff that is pretty affordable. The probe should be at least 280cm, the shovel must be metal, and ideally telescopes to make it a bit longer so its easier to dig with.

Total Price: $380 – $450

Bindings

We can’t afford a split specific binding without breaking the budget, as nice as they are, so we get to repurpose our normal resort bindings for use on our splitboard. The Voile Splitboard Hardware Kit comes with pucks, climbing wires, and plates so we can use any binding on any splitboard. You can also get the DIY kit if you want the choice to do DIY or not, though go down that route only if you really like DIY projects.

One thing I can recommend is that if you can afford to drop a little more, instead of the Voile kit, go for a split specific binding like the Spark Arc, which is a fantastic upgrade over plate bindings. Be ready for about $400 if you go split specific, but you’ll end up there one day anyways if you get into the sport.

Total Price: $160. Troll ebay for a while and see if you can find some used ones from an upgrader.

Splitboard

DIY is the obvious budget choice, but unless you like fiddling, go for a factory split. You have a few choices here. Buying out of season will save you serious money, though with less choice. If you just have to have it now during peak buying time, here are three options I like at the $500 price point:

Voile Spartan $550

Prowder ATK $530

Nitro Nomad $500

The Voile and Nitro are both pretty basic camber and flat camber boards respectively that are nothing special, but are reasonably priced and will get you out there. Prowder is a pretty interesting company. He is based up in Evergreen, CO, and makes his own boards and sells them for pretty reasonable prices. The ATK have some rocker and camber in it, which I personally like in my Never Summer Prospector. Rocker in powder is tremendously fun, though there are touring issues if the rocker is too pronounced. I have yet to ride one, but it makes my list because at the price it’s pretty intriguing for what you get. They also review well on some forums. The Prowder comes in a smaller women’s version too, and the others do not, so for the ladies it is probably your only choice below $700 for a factory board.

A fourth choice is to pay for someone to split your board for you. Prowder does this too, and while the splitting part costs $60, you can pick and choose how fancy they will make it for you. You can get inner edges, touring inserts drilled, and a few other pretty cool things. I priced it out as being about $300 with everything done I would want. Give them a shout and see what they say for your solid board you might want to split. Google around in your area, you can probably find someone nearby that will do it for you if you’re crap with a saw like yours truly!

Total Price: $500-600 for a factory made board, much less DIY route.

Climbing Skins

Climbing Skins Direct sells splitboard skins for $120 dollars. Everything else when full price sits around $180, so this is the way to go.

Total Price: $120-180

Poles

You want three piece poles so they collapse down small enough to fit in a pack without jabbing into your head. The Black Diamond Expedition 3’s are the standard. Reliable and sturdy, I have had mine for seven seasons and have yet to get a reason to upgrade or replace. You might be able to find some collapsing poles at a big box store like walmart, but just make sure you can get powder baskets on them vs the small little baskets they probably come with. You will want those bigger baskets for skinning.

Total Price: $100

Conclusion

If you can’t borrow a friend’s or find something used, and don’t want to DIY, buying new is your only choice. I tallied up my picks and for about $1300 without taking advantage of sales, you can get out with a very competent setup. Being patient for sales you can sneak under $1000 I think. Buying used gets you cheaper, going full diy goes even lower.

But this is a starting point that gets you out there with some good stuff. As you go along, things might break or wear, and you can upgrade some things as that happens.

Best of luck!