The Arctic Splitboard Festival

It’s 3 am as I roll out of bed, yet it’s not dark, there’s a twilight that is known to the beasts of the forest and the few crazy splitboarders who see it fit to drag themselves not just out of bed, but up a mountainside before the sun breaks the horizon.

Within an hour of my alarm, I’m standing next to the Arctic Ocean outside a orange painted wooden house in the far north of Finnmark - Norway, with a huge group of likeminded enthusiasts. Now normally, I’d be pissed off to see so many people in the skin track, but I’m happy to see all these people at the inaugural Arctic Splitboarding Festival, hosted jointly by UpGuides and Krister Kopala - a bit of a legend in these parts and an instagram extreme splitboarding dude.

The vibe is high and we’re all stoked to be in the skin track, with everyone chatting away as if we’re old friends. It’s day 3 of the festival and we’ve already had sessions on big mountain lines (run by Krister Kopala), yoga evenings, fine food, and an avalanche workshop run by Whitney Gilliam, an AIARE Instructor whose home mountain is Crested Butte, Colorado.

Strangers from across scandinavia and further afield, have all become firm friends, as we’ve shared our love and knowledge of all things split over the first couple of days of the Arctic Splitboard Festival. After a short skin, direct from the Festival’s base of Langfjordbotn, this is our first big skin together and everyone is buzzing.

We’ve broken through the birch forest, which reminds me of a stunted Japan, and are now into the alpine as the sun finally shows itself, warming us all after a chilly start.

Climbing more steeply now, the snow conditions improve with every metre gained and we reach a super wide face with seemingly endless lines to ride, certainly more than enough for all of our group to get fresh tracks many times over.

The ridge line is supporting a large cornice, typical of Norway's far north, which experiences extreme weather, often changing multiple times a day, and high winds which form cornices on many of the area’s ridgelines.

Fred, from UpGuides, along with lifelong local Tore pick a perfect line up to and over the cornice and we reach a large flat-ish summit.

The weather is responsible for our early start, as it’s due to close out by midday, but that’s fine, as it’s still only 8:00 am as we reach the summit of Coppartinden. The views across Finnmark and out to sea are breathtaking, fortunately the altitude isn’t as Coppartinden is only 900m, but the snow started at sea level so we’ve a long ride down to the sea.

The large group splits into manageable teams, with many of the youngsters charging a steep line with Kister. I’m too old for that and stick with Melissa Brandner, a now Tromso local originally hailing from the UK. She picks a short chute that opens into the steep powder bowl which we all rag it down, and I can’t help but let out a few whoops of joy.

We regroup and half the festival heads down into the trees while I join a hardy gang who spend the next hour climbing back up to the ridge line. The extra climb is well worth it, as the light, while fading, is still good, and the bad weather is still an hour or two off.

The open alpine is just as good, and the top of the forest is almost too much fun. The trees, while tight, are open enough for some agile riding, until we get down near the ocean and the snowpack turns to gloop and grips at your board as if there’s some little forest folk trying to slow you down to pop you in a pot for dinner, we are in the land of trolls after all.

It’s back to the Langfjordbotn community hall, the base of the festival, for lunch before catching up on lost sleep.

The following days of the Arctic Splitboard Festival sees a film night (with films introduced and discuss by Krister Kopola, Melissa Brandner and your very own Backdrop Journal), a super interesting rope workshop - where we set and rappelled off anchors in the snow using ice axes and even a Quick Lunch chocolate bar (AKA a Kit Kat), and a beautiful tour on a slim peninsula called Vassnestind (which is in the excellent ‘Safter Ski Touring in Norway’ guide book).

Tal, from Key Equipment boots, had flown in from the French Alps, with not just his excellent hard-boots, but also the Plum SOK hard-boot bindings, and was busy all week setting up a fleet of Stranda Split Decks for attendees to try out. I rode the new Stranda Biru Split, which is my new favorite mountain Swiss Army Knife of a board.

And if that wasn’t enough, heritage Swedish clothing brand Klattermusen had their latest backpack, gloves and soft goods to try out too.

The festival ended with a couple of local bands banging out some tunes and the obligatory bad dancing, well, at least from me anyway.

As the attendees departed, after an excellent festival, there was warm hugs between people who’d been strangers only a couple of days before, and promises of returning next season. The backdrop Crew hope to be there in 2025, to meet and make new friends, share knowledge and generally talk Splitboard until our larynxes need removing, hope to see you there!

How do I?

For more information about Festival tickets and accommodation packages or week long trips to Norway, Greenland and Svalbard, check out the UpGuides and Arctic Splitboard Festival sites.

Festival tickets in 2024 were NOK 2100 (about £148) for 4 day event or NOK 1100 (~£77) for one day.

Travel

Closest airport is Alta, which can be reached via Oslo on Norwegian Air. Airport Transfers can be organised through the Arctic Splitboard Festival booking page.

Unfortunately there’s no close train station , but there is a bus from Tromso and from Alta to Langfjordbotn

Accommodation

If driving a camper you can park at the festival site, or you can book an accomodation package along with your festival ticket.

The supplied food was excellent, and a great social event each meal, with eveyone chatting of past trips and whishlists for the future - NOK 1500 (~£106) for 4 days.