Next month, Jasper will play host to a festival celebrating the sport of splitboarding.
The Ascend Splitboard Festival, from March 21–23, hopes to attract those who are new to the sport, as well as the “seasoned mountain goats” who have been touring in the backcountry for years, said organizer Lukas Matejovsky of Edmonton.
Splitboarding is a relatively new sport. It began in the 90s, but has picked up steam in the last decade.
A splitboard is a snowboard that can easily be separated into two skis, allowing snowboarders to travel high into the backcountry on skis before clipping back together to ride down through the untouched powder on a board.
“We’ve been splitboarding for a few years,” Matejovsky said of himself and his co-organizer Geoff Kramer, “and we’re from Edmonton, so Jasper is our closest location. But there [are no festivals] in Northern Alberta or Central Alberta, so we thought it would be great to put something together to bring the community together and to celebrate backcountry snowboarding.”
The weekend-long event is open to 27 participants, who will be split up into three groups, each of which will have a guide with them as they explore Jasper’s backcountry.
Matejovsky said he isn’t yet sure where the touring will take place, as it depends on the conditions and on where Parks Canada permits the groups to go. But, on the Saturday and the Sunday mornings, the groups will meet with their guides before heading out into the snow, to go over a trip plan.
“They’ll be reviewing it with the group, so the group will know how this is being done. We want to increase education, because there might be some people who don’t have any education. That’s why we’re working with guides from the [Association of Canadian Mountain Guides].”
Following the first day of touring, the festival participants will head to the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives for a presentation from Parks Canada on trip preparation and how to monitor avalanche conditions.
“We’re focusing on awareness of the sport and also safety,” said Matejovsky. “And it is going to bring awareness to the location of Jasper. I’ve been boarding in this area for the last few years and usually people go backcountry skiing or snowboarding outside of Calgary, mostly Kananaskis or down in Lake Louise. Of course people also backcountry ski around Jasper, but it’s not as well known as other locations.”
Ascend is a not-for-profit event, so all of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Avalanche Centre, which has partnered with the event, along with Matt Reynolds Mountain Guiding, The Alpine Club of Canada, Vicious Cycle, Mountain Park Lodges, Wild Mountain, Voile, Splitboard HQ, Olive Snowboards and Prior.
To register for the brand new festival, visit www.ascendsplitfest.com.
Nicole Veerman
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