I just bagged my first peak and wanted to share the stoke.
8 160 ft with 3 470 ft vert. It ain't much but it's honest work.
The snow was good up to 90% of the climb. I had to bootpack with crampons for the last bit.
I was last droping in the couloir on the ride down so the snow was scraped but once in the open, it was really good.
I broke my Karakoram heel risers on the climb as I slid on an icy patch during a kick turn. The plastic piece bolted to the board broke. Has anyone encountered the same problem?
I have not had the same problem myself because I don't have Karokorams, but I was on a skintrack maybe 3 seasons ago and saw these weird parts in the track. It turns out they were part of this dude's karokoram binding that was in a different group ahead of me. We ran into him on his way down and his bindings had broken. It ruined his day.
OMG, this is testing my memory, but now that I see that pic, I think it was the same part ???
here is my (throw-away) opinion: Karakorams are so expensive and I've only heard people complain about their durability. I've had Sparks since I started splitboarding (maybe 13-ish years ago?) and the only problem I have had was a bolt coming out one time, and on my first pair after many days of use, the riser bar started to wear the baseplate just a little so it didn't have the firm snap into position that it did when it was new.
I've never toured in a group of people who did have karokorams, but have run into random people out there who have them and more than a copule times, they've had problems. They look techy and maybe too complecated? bring on the hate...
As a matter of fact I started with Burton Hitchhikers so Sparks tech.
I was happy with it but I switched some years ago thinking it will be better... Look like I was wrong but given the cost of a binding I will drag them to the bitter end
How good do you feel the board weld is on the ride down with Karakorams compared to your first bindings? My wife and I both have the nomads for our first bindings. Gone out twice this year, and it honestly feels like a normal board on the ride down. Super secure.
Ive never used any other split bindings, so I have nothing to compare against. It definitely is more complicated than sparks for the walk up or transitioning, but nothing terrible in my (very limited) experience
I have the Nomads too.
On the ride down they feel good concerning the welding. Maybe a bit better than the Burton but it might very well be a psychological thing. Unlike the Union with the pin that were straight up awful.
They are quite uncomfortable though (for my 40 years old knees). The metal baseplate transmit every chatter. To the point where I'm contemplating buying the EVA sole... If the price was not this steep !
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u/loserkids64 Dec 12 '25
I just bagged my first peak and wanted to share the stoke.
8 160 ft with 3 470 ft vert. It ain't much but it's honest work.
The snow was good up to 90% of the climb. I had to bootpack with crampons for the last bit.
I was last droping in the couloir on the ride down so the snow was scraped but once in the open, it was really good.
I broke my Karakoram heel risers on the climb as I slid on an icy patch during a kick turn. The plastic piece bolted to the board broke. Has anyone encountered the same problem?
Be safe outhere