October Splitboarding in Tahoe
Story by Allison Lightcap, Photos By Seth Lightcap
Have you ever had the feeling that Old Man Winter was going to come early? I started to get
this feeling in Tahoe a few weeks ago when I saw the squirrels rushing around collecting food.
They knew what was up. Then I got this subconscious urge to clean out the garage and find all
my winter stuff. I never like to clean the garage. Something was seriously screwy. But then all of
a sudden it made perfect sense. Tahoe got dumped on last week of October!
Halloween Fun
We brought in the robots, dragons, ewoks, devils, frogs, cookie monsters, and mad scientists to help build for the day.
Karakoram Splitboard Binding Pre-Orders Shipping
After a long summer of machining parts, coordinating suppliers and assembling bindings we are finally shipping product! Our first pre-order have shipped and we are now opening a second round of pre-order that will be delivered starting in mid-October. Grab a set now to guaranty you’ll have your binders before the snow starts to fly!
New Colors for Split30 Splitboard Bindings
For 2012-2013 we’ve decided to add two new colors to the Split30 Splitboard Bindings, white and red. We’re big fans of the black, but we wanted to give customers a couple more options to choose from. I really like the way the red splitboard bindings pop on my board, but I’d have to say the white splitboard bindings are my favorite because they remind me of a Storm Trooper.
Split30 splitboard bindings will be available in September.
Jeremy Jones’ Further Trailer
Every once in a while I take a step back from the daily grind to think about how far Karakoram has come in the last three years. Watching the Further trailer is one of these moments. We started making production bindings in our garage three years ago and now we are working with some of the most talented athletes in the world like Jeremy Jones, Forrest Shearer, Lucas Debari, Mitch Toelderer, Bibi Pekarek, Ralph Backstrom, to name a few. Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way.
Innovate. Ride. Explore.
4th of July on the North Twin Sister
There is some fun summer shredding going on right now. Our friend Kael Martin sent us this nice little report of his trip with Lucas Debari and friends.
A Mountain Adventure to Celebrate America’s Independence
Lucas Debari, Kael Martin, Anthony Gervais, Calvin Patterson, Daniel Sandberg, Jerry Mark, Quinn Baumberger, Cody Garrington
July 4th, 2012 was a unique day not only because it marked the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in which America went to battle with our northern neighbor Canada, but also seemed to be the beginning of summer in the Pacific Northwest. It was hard to complain about such a cold spring. The rest of the country has been in a horrible heat wave/drought and we were coming off a second amazing winter due to persisting La Nina conditions, but it did seem like a very dreary June.
Sun Cup Season
As the Spring warms into early Summer, the quest for smooth corn snow inevitably ends with sun cups. Sometimes you can hit the sun cups when they’re soft enough to carve right through and other times they’ll make you feel like a beginner snowboarder. One of the most annoying things is having your splitboard tip clips pop open while riding these challenging conditions. A simple upgrade to your splitboard to prevent your tips popping open is to outfit your deck with Karakoram Splitboard Clips and Tip/tail clips. Karakoram Splitboard Clips actively pull the skis of your splitboard together, pre-loading the seam. In addition, the tip and tail clips are made from Dupont Zytel ST making them stiff and durable. Grab a set of our splitboard clips and tip/tail clips and say goodbye to tip and tail rattling and scissoring.
Karakoram Splitboard Heel Lock Down Update
I just put together a new video for the heel lock down showing more details. Check it out.
In our endless journey to make splitboard equipment the best it can be, Karakoram will be releasing a new heel lock down system for 2012-13. The heel lock down will be compatible with all Karakoram Splitboard Bindings (Split30, SL and Prime) starting from 2010. The purpose of the heel lock down is to allow splitboarders to skate more efficiently on flat terrain, and traverse and side step without skins on in tour mode.
The Karakoram Heel Lock Down will be available for upgrades to your current Split30 or Split30SL set up in Fall 2012.
Spring Time in the North Cascades
The North Cascades have to be one of my favorite places to tour. We are pretty spoiled with the variety of mountainous terrain we have within a three hour drive Seattle. The North Cascades are a little different than the rest of the mountains in Washington. They seem a bit more grand, maybe it’s the higher elevation, maybe it’s the larch groves, maybe it’s just that I always end up going to the North Cascades when have a bit more time to tour on my splitboard. What ever it is I always have a great time splitboarding up north. This season I was lucky enough to carve out time for two trips.
Trips usually start with a long drive from Seattle and then a bonfire on the side of Highway 20.
Mt Shasta and the Great Pleiadian Eclipse Alignment
“On May 20th, 2012, for the first time in 26,000 years the sun, the moon and the constellation responsible for our evolution and ascension, the mysitc Pleiades, [aligned] in a spectacular total solar eclipse directly over one of the most powerful, mysterious, spiritual vortexes in the world: the mighty Mount Shasta” (http://www.divinetravels.com/Shasta.html).
Chris, Tyler and I drove down from Seattle to meet up with the Jones, TGR, twsnow and Further crew, for this was a once in 26,000 year event we couldn’t miss. Anticipation was high and everyone was on the look out for Lemurians, UFOs and Crystal Cities ascending.
A possible UFO sighting or maybe it’s just a glow in the dark frisbee… Read more
