Hard Boots on the Splitty

Awesome, love it. Maybe you can train your hopvines onto it.

Heh.. it would end up being twenty feet tall! Darn hops are taking over the place.

Regarding the og post.

Buells got a high end piece of equipement, but you don't need to spend a couple grand to have an enjoyable experiance. I think johns busy comment was because he is used to seeing my spartan setup.

I've been getting by just fine on the voile slider and puck system. I like its simplicity and have no issues with the ride. Cant beat the price either. I really don't even have a desire to switch to any other other system. I do use spark bindings on the same voile puck system when i use trad soft boots. So the interchangability is great.

Home made pucks that don't shift, diy board, free boots from marcus, and repurposing voile parts. Works as well as anybody else's gear at a fraction of the cost.

There's some vital reading here

splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13776

Hah... especially the narrative by russel at the end. Be aware, that's the kind of harrasment you'll have to endure if you do switch to hardboots. Them sportiva are pretty sporty though, and I've heard a bit of a better fit for slightly fatter feet.

For what's itvs worth, guys are getting steep climbs done in soft boots that are getting more mountaineery every season. If I where a young guy with strong ankles I would probably stick with that road. Newer bindings from spark and karakormas are getting pretty light too.

Personally I'm not a gear head and not an advocate of any particular method.

Haha, I've been out skinning (and split mountaineering) with Russman a couple of times and despite the hardboots he still invites me along sometimes. 

I keep asking the Karakoram guys when they'll make a plate binding because my real holy grail would be one interface that works for both hard and soft boots so I can swap out easily based on the day. 

Since that's not currently a reality I have been hard booting since Christmas in BD Primes (only because TLT5s don't fit my feet) and have been really happy with the switch.  My GF tried on TLT5s but didn't do it because they are actually softer than her softboots and she doesn't have any problems with crampons fitting her snowboard boots.  What a difference it makes when you try to strap a pair on a size 10.5 boot...

My currently available dream setup would Phantom bindings with TLT5s (both scheduled for a generational update in the fall) with all the matching light weight bits to compliment them: step in aluminum crampons, Raven ultra axe, carbon 3-piece whippet, carbon 280cm avy probe, spandex, etc.

All that said...
I have seen the hybrid mountaineering snowboard boots and they work well for Russ. I hear that there are some snowboarders working on things that will bring a walk mode to softboots. And finally, it doesn't matter what system you use, if your boots don't fit well you won't be happy at the end of the day.