Hardboots vs. Softboots

[u/doublemm7]

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:

1. Is it silly to dive into hardboots as my first set up?

2. 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.

[u/Kindly-Exchange6059]

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

[u/doublemm7 → u/Kindly-Exchange6059]

Sounds good. Thanks for the advice!

[u/lonbordin → u/Kindly-Exchange6059]

I do like the Drupi spring set for inbounds but the Phantom set is great for earning one's turns. If you're a bigger fellow the Hawx are fantastic.

[u/ebawho]

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. 

[u/doublemm7 → u/ebawho]

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.

[u/ebawho → u/doublemm7]

In that case I have no idea as I don’t know what the touring conditions are like there so hopefully someone else will chime in. But probably mostly trees and not that much elevation gain and not too steep of skin tracks? For that I would just stick with soft boots 

[u/whiskey_warrior]

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.

[u/VikApproved]

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.

[u/doublemm7]

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.

[u/literal]

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.

[u/Caspian_77]

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!

[u/Summitcrtr]

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.

[u/doublemm7 → u/Summitcrtr]

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.

[u/zhnki]

If you have to ask whether you should go soft or hard boot. Just stick with your soft. You’ll know after some time whether hard boots are really worth it.

[u/nattywb]

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.

[u/bigwindymt → u/nattywb]

Except that you need to buy the rest of the system for your split...

[u/nattywb → u/bigwindymt]

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.

[u/BallsOutKrunked → u/nattywb]

How do you know if a splitboarder is on reddit? They have hardboots.

[u/spwrozek]

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. 

[u/dogboy_the_forgotten → u/spwrozek]

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.

[u/CrazyAdorable8352]

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.

[u/bigwindymt]

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.

[u/MobileButterfly8643]

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.

[u/DecidiousLarch]

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.

[u/Informal-Gene-3057]

1. 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