Thoughts on approach skis?

Having actually spent a fair amount of time on each...

Approach skis are not for breaking trail.
There is also a limit to how steep a pitch you can ascend on them as well.
They also suck when traversing on an angle (side hill) where the snow is hard, unless you are rigging them for use with an alpine boot.
Lastly, you have to carry them while you are riding, which means extra weight on your back which I personally found a little on the unwieldy side.

On the other hand...

Splitters will climb trees (almost),
are great for breaking trail,
and you don't have to carry anything on your back except your poles.
Regarding side hills, unless you are using an alpine boot, they suck too (IMO).

Get a split with dynafit's for up and plates for down. Can mount a wire toe/heal crampon on it too for steep alpine approaches too

Get a split with dynafit's for up and plates for down. Can mount a wire toe/heal crampon on it too for steep alpine approaches too

$$$$
What he said.

I'll pass on everyone's opinions. Thanks!
I think he rode a splitboard a few years ago and it sucked, so now he's anti-splitboard. Probably one bad board spoiled the idea for him, but I think he'll be off the approach ski idea after all the opinions here.

Jeremy Jones rides a home made split and kills it so your mate is obviously too good for a spiltter. I wish him luck on his snowshoes or at the lift served moguls where he's destined to reside until he gets to the realization we here all know.

Way more options out there for splitboards now than in the past. Your friend needs to do a little research and find a board that fits his style of riding and maybe demo a couple. I know Venture does demo days all across the west (or at least they did last year) and there are several stores that demo Prior and Voile. The nice folks at Voile sent my son a new board last year and it is way better than the board just two years ago, so there has been a lot of improvement in the last couple years. Another good resource is www.splitboard.com Tons of info available there. If that doesn't work for him he can always try skiing.