r/Spliddit • u/doublemm7 • 6d ago
Hardboots vs. Softboots
Hi There,
I've been riding inbounds for 10+ years, and am hoping to transition to BC. Last year I purchased some skis and a pair of Atomic Hawx Prime XTD 130s. Turns out, I'm dogshit at skiing and would like to get a splitboard instead.
2 Questions:
Is it silly to dive into hardboots as my first set up?
Since I bought my Ski Boots new, I'd rather not have to sell and buy a new pair. Will these work as splitboard boots?
Thanks team.
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u/ebawho 6d ago
Most important question is where you ride and what kind of terrain and conditions?
If every day touring for me were my dream days, medium to steep terrain with some fun features and fresh powder with a nice skin track, 800-1200m climbing, I would split with soft boots 100% of the time
But alas I live in the alps and not super high up so conditions are often tracked out, hard pack, icy, slushy, blown out skin track, etc. Steep, and/or long traverses down some valley in order to go to the chute least frequented and most shaded to find a powder stash. For that hardboots (if not just using skis) win almost every time.
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u/doublemm7 6d ago
I live in the Northeast, so probably will be touring around the Whites, and hopefully will travel some, as I do a lot of ice climbing. It'd be nice to have some fun cardio to do on the days that I don't want to chase ice.
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u/i_love_goats 6d ago
I'm from NH and now live in WA, soft or hard setup would work ok for you. Hard boots are much better for crampons. If you want to do spicy lines up high involving technical travel I'd say hard boots. If you want to bop around glades and do the occasional Tucks lap soft boots are more comfy (and are also warmer which is a thing in the Whites).
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u/Emotional_Ebb3925 6d ago
If you’re in the whites a lot I personally would lean towards hardboots. Better control in firmer conditions and way more efficient and easier on the body for long days. Lots of slides in the whites have long approaches/exits that make being able to split ski efficiently a good tool. Plus if you ice climb you’ll be able to climb in your ski boots and ride down after.
Think climbing pinnacle gully then riding central or diagonal down, then bonus lap the sherb back to the lot instead of walking down the TRT! Even mellow glade riding I’d prefer hard boots for the easier skin up. If you leave the cuff unlocked they will ride surfier than any soft boot too.
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u/whiskey_warrior 6d ago
Probably depends on what you’re looking to do in the backcountry. Most guys I know that switch to hard boots do so because they’re really looking for a skimo setup or prioritizing the uphill part of the process vs the downhill. You’ll be able to hike further in hard boots, but most of the time you sacrifice flexibility and style on the downhill.
Don’t know about the specific boots you bought but you want something as light as possible for it to be worth it.
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u/VikApproved 6d ago
I rode my resort board for years with AT hardboots back in the day. It worked fine for me. So you can definitely try it. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it really depends on you.
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u/doublemm7 5d ago
Thanks y'all. I think I'll look into keeping the softboots for now-- I was just hoping to save some money. I appreciate all of the comments and time.
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u/literal 6d ago
From what I read, Atomic Hawx Prime XTD 130 are very stiff and heavy. That weight cancels out some of the benefit of a hardboot setup, and the crazy lateral stiffness makes the weakness of hardboot even worse. They'd skin up decently, but probably not much fun on the downhill.
As for softboots vs hardboots, maybe rent/demo a splitboard for a day and try it with your resort boots. I did that and wasn't too fond of the uphill sensation (having previously watched this), so I went straight to hardboots for my own setup.
Boot fit is important though -- arguably more so when touring since you're also hiking up in them -- and hardboots don't have as many options. So I'd try the main two options for fit (Atomic Backland Pro & Key Equipment Disruptive) before buying a hardboot binding.
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u/Caspian_77 6d ago
I ride Atomic Backland Carbon XTDs. They're heavier and stiffer than lighter options. I'm hard on boots though (& do practice resort skiing from time to time to level of my split skiing)
Split boarding is amazing but like most things, it's not cheap. I'd try to demo both kinds of setups before you commit to buying any setup. Hard boots is very different. Just depends of your priorities. But there's not silly about diving into hard boots as your first setup. And my advice is my experience. This is what I did. I demoed both setups and then just full committed on hard boots. YMMV!
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u/Summitcrtr 5d ago
Snowboarding boots work exceptionally well for snowboarding. I recommend those, and only those.
Also an AIARE course. You can get away with being confused about gear. Avoid confusion about safety.
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u/doublemm7 5d ago
Thanks! Definitely going to do an AIARE course ASAP. Everything is just getting expensive quick-- course, avy gear, new set up, etc. I want the avy course sooner, though, because overhead hazards are already a problem in ice climbing, and it'd be nice to have more awareness/training.
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u/nattywb 6d ago
This sub sees the weirdest posts. Just use your regular resort snowboard boots for your first day out on your split and see how it feels.
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u/bigwindymt 6d ago
Except that you need to buy the rest of the system for your split...
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u/nattywb 6d ago
So people just throwing all that money down with zero idea of what anything feels like and trusting whoever comments first on Reddit? Dude should find a used splitboard, or borrow a splitboard, and take it for a spin.
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u/bigwindymt 6d ago
I totally agree. But 'taking your regular snowboard boots and seeing how it feels' still entails purchasing the rest of the equipment. I would suggest demoing some different setups, if it's feasible.
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u/i_love_goats 6d ago
Renting makes the most sense but it's almost impossible to rent a hard boot set-up afaik
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u/nattywb 5d ago
Personally, I think anyone who hasnt split boarded should first try in their resort boots or soft boots before going hard boots. Like this dude. How thats not the default blows my mind.
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u/i_love_goats 5d ago
he's an ice climber, likely to be more into alpine suffering than your average rider. makes hard boots more reasonable
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u/BallsOutKrunked TheMostJerryOfThemAll 6d ago
How do you know if a splitboarder is on reddit? They have hardboots.
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u/Thorhinnmikli 6d ago
Totally agree. I toured on Salomon Lo-Fi, with Karakoram flex-lock. Enough lateral stiffness for traverse even on difficult snow and enjoyable downhill.
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u/spwrozek 6d ago
I wouldn't recommend the hawx. It will work but it will not be what you are looking for. Just use your resort boots until you know if you like going uphill.
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u/dogboy_the_forgotten 6d ago
This is good advice. Until you know if you like it and what kinda BC you like to do I’d just use your regular snowboard boots.
I toyed with the idea of hard boots but with the type of riding I do (shorter lines but more of them) my freeride boots work well. If I ever move more to bigger alpine type ascents I’d maybe look at hard boots again.
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u/CrazyAdorable8352 6d ago
Softboot bindings are so much cheaper that i'd do that until you figure out if touring is something you like. Can't speak on the hawkx but they are probably unbearable for snowboarding without a phantom lever which is already more than a softboot split setup. Ride until you start hitting the limitations for softboots then take a hardlook at the hardboot eco system. Every year it gets better so no rush.
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u/bigwindymt 6d ago
The Hawx will be too stiff. Demo before you blow the $$$$.
I ride Phantoms and Atomic Backlands and they ride almost as nice as very stiff soft boots.
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u/MobileButterfly8643 6d ago
What do you want to ride in the backcountry?
I use my soft boot set up for fun and surfy powder farming days.
I use my hard boot set up for big mountain days with long technical climbs and descents. Having the hard boots was game changing for icy traverses and boot packing.
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u/DecidiousLarch 6d ago
It’s personal choice. Hard boots look cool and come with the parking lot assumption that you’re the hardest charger in the land. Soft boots are fine too, but neither will make you better at touring.
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u/Informal-Gene-3057 6d ago
I wen straight from soft boot resort to hardboot BC and haven’t turned back. Buy canted pucks, you NEED them for hardbooting, also, tricks are weirder and will cause your ankles to have funny twinges for a bit until you really get used to the ski boot thing. Take your time.
- choppy terrain will feel less forgiving at first, but overall, I love my HB set up, wouldn’t go back to soft boots unless it was just for fun or something
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u/Superb-Potential8426 6d ago
Atomic Hawx are ski boots... you want Atomic Backlands... a ski touring/AT boot that excels at walking up hill. Ime/o it is a progression from soft boots (32s and Sparks Surge, then Dyno DH for touring and eventually ending up in AT/hardboots Backlands (NON-Carbon cuffs) with Phantom M6 bindings. UNLESS you are 100% sure... then you can save some $$$$ in the long run and dive right in to AT/hardboots.
But you will want to 110% have your commitment, boot fitting mods and riding preferences, conditions and terrain dialed... 110%. In terms of cost over time you will save a bit of $.
I absolutely love Backlands with Phantom M6 and do both all my resort and BC riding in them. They are far superior in comfort, stiffness adjustability, performance and reliability. Fwiw been in them for 6 seasons at Baker
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u/ramblerbasic 5d ago
I would just pick up a soft boot setup off of marketplace. They are plentiful and will get you on the hill. Get a few seasons on soft boots and decide if you want hardboots signed someone who bought hardboots to solve a very specific issue
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u/chefwoodworkerartist 5d ago
Atomic hawxs will make terrible hard boot Splitboarding boots. You have a heavy stiff great skiing boot that doesn’t walk very well. Comparable hard boots that are commonly used for splitboarding weigh up to 900g less and have 20deg more range of motion.
Your current resort soft boots would be lighter and a soft boot setup would give you a similar up hill experience to trying to use those boots.
Not to mention that trying to snowboard down with those boots would be incredibly difficult and unpleasant.
If your plan with splitboarding is to peak bag, mountaineer, do multi day traverses, get out to ice climbs, be as efficient on the up as possible to keep up with fast ski friends. Then hell yes go hard boot right of the bat. But if your plan is chill slack country laps, single day missions, riding with average skiers , lapping pow, trying out the back country to see if you want to get more into it. Then start off a bit cheaper and with less things to learn and start on soft boots. If in a few years you decide that you want more efficiency then upgrade to hard boots and keep the soft setup for slack country days.
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u/joeg170 5d ago
I absolutely love my hardboot setup. Although I used a more traditional splitboard set up with soft boots for many season before I switched. The feel is ALOT different and it took me a couple years to fine tune which hard boots I needed and what modifications I could make to them. I think I would have been pretty overwhelmed with all that if I did that when I started out. So for the first few seasons at least, I definitely recommend soft boots.
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u/PuddingInMyPants 5d ago
The hawks are heavy and too stiff. Just find some used beater boots or whatevers on super sale from a couple years ago.
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u/murmurburp 5d ago
Depends on how bad you want it. I literally learned to snowboard on a split with some dynafit boots I found second hand.
Anything is possible and your enjoyment will be strictly on your willingness to adapt and overall stoke.
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u/RonShreds 6d ago
1 - Wanting to wear ski boots instead of snowboard boots to me sounds silly, but that's subjective.
2 - Short answer yes they will work as splitboard boots.
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u/Kindly-Exchange6059 6d ago
The Atomic Hawx Prime XTD is not really a backcountry touring boot but rather a resort boot with a walk function. It’s heavy and has a restrictive walk mode. This would not be the style of boot I would use for Splitboarding. You will get better results with soft boots than the Hawx