Top 5 Alternate Splitboard Destinations
Lofoten Island, Norway
Gnarly sharks’ teeth mountains, protruding straight from a slate grey Arctic Ocean, make the Lofoten Islands one of the most, if not the most, dramatic mountains chains on earth.
It a spectacular location with advanced mountaineer tours to relatively straight forward day tours on offer. But such a destination comes at a cost, it’s busy! We’re not talking Chamonix busy, but you have to work extra hard or start very early if you want to have a tour from the guide book to yourself.
If the cash will stretch that far, a boat trip to Trollfjord for a skin above the sea eagle cliffs of this steep-sided fjord is a must. There are plenty of routes from the fjord’s dock, some involving a lot of stamina and the occasional rope too.
Visit in late Jan early Feb and there’s every chance to see the aurora borealis or hit this archipelago late in the season for long artic nights or even a midnight slide.
How Do I?
The Lofoten Ski Lodge will sort all your needs, with great accommodation, first-class scran, top-quality guiding and a sauna to sea heart-stopper.
Kaçkar Mountains, Turkey
Sweet honey, hearty stews and empty mountains should be enough the draw any splitboarder to the Kackar Mountains of eastern Turkey.
A four-hour transfer from Erzurum (which is home to Turkey’s largest ski resort), on very rough roads, leads you to the mountain village of Yaylalar. Not only home to the largest population of bears in Turkey but a multitude of splitboarding options too. There really is an endless choice of tours straight from your pension door.
Yaylalar is a popular hiking destination in the summer months, but in winter you’ll have the place to yourself. Other than the extremely loud mosque and the braying donkeys, the town is as sleepy as it gets.
If you can handle the load, take a tent (and maybe borrow a sled from the locals) and explore deep into the area’s backcountry, maybe tackling Kaçkar Dağı - the region’s highest peak at 3937m – which is a two day round trip from Yaylalar.
There’s no avalanche forecast at all in the Kackar Mountains and any help is a long donkey ride away, so either take a knowledgeable guide or know your stuff.
How Do I?
Ski Ararat run trips to the region, as well as accents of Mount Ararat 5,137 m, with all logistics run smoothly but mixed reports coming in about the standard of their local guides.
Ushguli, Georgia
Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough! Ushguli has taken on all-comers, from nomadic Khans and Romans to Soviets and overzealous property developers. All have been given short shrift and sent packing with a thick lip.
Ushguli is remote, it’s a good hour and a half - in winter- from the already remote and fantastic destination of Mestia. But unlike Mestia, which you could argue offers more varied tour options, Ushguli feels unchanged from the middle ages. You first realise this when dragging your coffin bag through frozen cow shit on your way through the snow stacked narrow lanes.
There may be more easily accessed tours from Mestia, but stepping out of your Ushguli pension, full of hibiscus tea and home-made bread and jam, straight onto your split is really rather special, and other then the village dogs you’ll have most routes all to yourself.
How Do I?
Look no further than the Georgia Guide Office, who’ll sort all your transportation, lodging and guiding needs.
Troll Peninsula, Iceland
It feels like you’re about to fall off the end of the world.
The Troll Peninsula, west of Iceland’s second city Akureyri, is an unforgiving zone of coastal mountains with some truly wild weather. These uninhabited hills, that are beaten by the Arctic Ocean, get dumped on by some ferocious storms and the areas high winds are to be respected, especially on ridge top transitions.
But when the wind drops and the skies clear, it a wonderful zone of isolated peaks and deserted lines. Wait till April, when the temperatures still low but the suns up for 17 hours, and you can sit out most storms and still get some riding in, even if you do start your tour after dinner.
How Do I?
Bergmenn Guides offer multi-day trips and adventure in and around the Troll Peninsula and even heli-skiing too.
Picos de Europa, Spain
This unassuming National Park, forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains, often get confused with the Pyrenees, but it’s far removed from the nearby and more visited, border range.
The proximity of the Picos de Europa to the Atlantic, which can be seen from many of the peaks, leads to some wild winter weather and a fair amount of snowfall, given we’re talking Spain.
Often awash with hikers and holidaymakers in the Summer, the short winter season here couldn’t be more different, as hardly anyone tours in the Picos, as only those in the know visit this tiny range with a big punch. There’s a real adventure to be found in these sleepy mountains, without a lift in sight, apart from the one central cable car which is really for Summer hikers.
Seafood is big on the menu in the Picos and at a price that’s sweet on the wallet, which is unusual being that the highest peak of Torre de Cerredo comes in at 2650m.
How Do I?
The Picos is mainly a do it yourself destination, but if you want a guide long term resident Mike, from Picos Rock and Snow, will pick you up, guide you and even feed you home-cooked meals.
Silverton, San Juan Mountains, Colorado USA
Ok so you could argue that Colorado isn’t alternative, and in many ways, you’d be right. You could also say what the hell is a ski resort doing in this list, but hear us out.
The San Juan Mountains are a different beast from the rest of Colorado, with sharp alpine peaks framing the skyline, and Silverton is possibly the best alternative resort on the planet.
The old mining town of Silverton is a simple affair, a few chilled streets which are a Summer terminal for a tourist train, yet Silverton comes alive in winter with a short drive on an unsealed road leading you to the base yurt and the one -two-person- lift, that chugs you up to a lung-busting 3750m, from where you hike or skin. With a near 2000 acres of terrain and single heli drops Silverton has no pistes and no cut trails and other than avalanche blasting is wild mountain terrain. The only thing holding you back from endless loops of powder is how far and how fast you hike from the top of the lift. Up to mid-March, you have to join a guided group, but after that you can go solo - and book in advance, only very limited numbers are allowed on the hill any given day. This place is so well managed that two weeks after the last snowfall, in the guided part of the season, they opened up a new chute that had been untouched till then and still in pristine condition - magic.
How Do I?
Silverton Resort for lift-accessed backcountry
If all that sound too organized, then the crew at San Juan Expeditions will guide you into the even wilder San Juan zones.