What an insane experience! I got to Buttermilk just before 11:00pm to meet up with my buddy Matt and begin the hike. He has 4 different splitboards and literally lives to ride, he brought along a board that I was going to be using and he couldn't have picked a better board! It was an Atomic Poacher 157 swallow tail splitboard, super stiff and super fast. He gave me the run down on how to set it up, showed me how the binding system worked and we were on our way. We started right at the base of Buttermilk and skinned straight up through the X-Games halfpipe, followed the slopestyle course up and headed toward our destination, Fort Frog. It took us about 2 hrs to make it, since it was my first time skinning up (and because I'm way out of shape) it took a little longer then it usually would have. So we made it to Fort Frog and I still felt like I could have kept on going, I didn't realize how helpful the split skis were when hiking up hill, it makes it so effortless. Well I've never been to Fort Frog but let me tell you, that has to be one of the coolest forts I've ever been in, it's this fort surrounded by a huge wooden fence. The best part is inside the fort it self there are couches, tables, chairs, electricity, and heat!! It was basically a mini house in the woods on Buttermilk, most comfy place to have a cold beer after a long hike. By the time Matt and I finally checked the time it was already 1:30am which is kind of a problem because the last bus we could catch back to our apartments was at 2:00am! So we rushed to put the boards together and get everything put away in our packs and started on the trip down. This was by far the most amazing run thus far in my snowboarding career. The moon lit up the entire mountain like the sun, it was only mid twenties and not windy at all. The way the board cruised down the fresh corduroy, the wind against my face, everything about the ride was totally different from any other run I've taken in my life. I felt a sense of accomplishment, I had climbed up a mountain so that I could take that one perfect run all the way down again. I have been bitten by the split bug! I love the feeling of earning that run and I want to keep at it! Last night may have been my very first splitboard adventure but it surely will not be my last. I have decided to start on a project and build my own splitboard, I've got the split kit ordered and I was lucky enough to find the perfect board to use for my project. Once I start building it I will keep updating you on the progress as well as with some photos! Speaking of photos I am sad to say my phone died before I had the chance to get any good photos from last night but next hike I will make sure I snap a few!
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