Review: Plum Cale Hardboot Splitboard Risers
What we liked
So easy to open and close
Low profile
What we didn’t
Single height
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
Honestly, why didn’t anyone else think to do this? As the Plum Cale Hardboot Risers are so easy to flip up and down, they really are a game changer!
When used last season in the Arctic, they never froze up and deployed easily with the end of my pole first time, everytime. Love them (even if they are only single height)!
At the time of writing, we believe these will be available for purchase from December 2024.
THE LONG READ …
When I first got the Plum Cale Hardboot Risers through my door I was a little sceptical, it’s not that I don’t trust all things Plum, as they’ve been making top quality touring kit in the Haute-Savoie for twenty years now, I was simply slightly dubious about the spring aspect of the risers and the likelihood that it would freeze up. Well I needn’t have been worried as the solid slap of metal on metal you get when opening and closing the risers is reassuring of its continued function..
The Plum Cale Risers couldn’t be easier to use, I found flipping my G3 Pivot Poles to use the hooked handle worked first time, every time, it was still super easy with the thinner pointed end of my pole too. There’s no fishing around to find a sweet spot, as there is with most of the other risers on the market, as the slight overhanging edges of the vertical risers is easily flipped up with the spring snapping it into place.
Plum and Phanton risers
Attached by two star headed screws, the Plum Cale risers are easily slid up and down on one continuous chanel to find the best setting for your boots, I did find that with the Phantom M6 bindings on the Stranda Biru Split that I could set everything up perfectly, but can only rotate the M6 in one direction to get it on and off otherwise it hits the risers, but at 5’6” I don’t have the widest of stances.
These Plum risers are only single height at 6.5 cm, unlike most others such as the Phantom ones above, which I’ve previously used, that offer two heights of 6 cm and 8 cm. To directly compare these two risers, it’s obvious to say there’s an advantage of two heights, but I rarely used the 8 cm ones, and found it difficult to only open the lower height so I’d often have to open both heights at the same time, so as to get the lower ones up, and then knock the higher ones back down again.
The Phantoms do also have a couple of slots that you can thread ski ties through to lock your heel down when split-skiing, something I’ve never had to do, but, if you do find yourself doing that, then the Phantoms are for you. The Phantoms have three channels for the screws into the board, rather than the one on the Plum, and I found that the best place for the Phantoms on my board to meet the soles of my boots meant that my ski crampons hit the risers wearing them, you can see this in the photo above, whereas the Plums are super low profile and flat, so it’s not an issue.
SUMMARY…
A simplistic hardboot riser, with one spring loaded moving part, that worked perfectly on test and are now firmly Loctited onto my board for the season ahead.
So much better then any underfoot riser you get on most softboot bindings and yet another reason to invest in a hardboot set up.