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First of all, I have to give a special shout out to Brian from Down the Middle custom splitboards (http://customsplitboards.com/) for working with me and putting this splitty together for this season. After riding two factory splits, I decided I wanted to have a custom split made up. Brian was really good. During our first conversation I asked him a lot of questions about the quality of his builds. How I really wanted a board that was tight. He not only had a lot of experience to share but I really felt reasured that he was the man for the job. So, I went online and ordered the board I wanted, had it shipped to his place in Park City, UT and then I waited.

Brian alway let me know, via email, at what stage he was at with the board or if he had an idea about the build. Like for instance, we discussed the inner edge. On this board we went just past the inserts as to take advantge of the flat area before the rocker at either ends of the board. Something I would not have thought of.

Finally came the day where we got to touch base again and talk about stance. Once he got all my information, the board could be completed. I still haven't ridden the board yet, but I wanted to post some pics and, well, show off my baby. I worked really hard this summer to save up so that I could ride all Winter. Once I get some days on it, I'll post a review.

Hey, I am curious what he said about construction of slack country, how will be this board perform after the carbon strings are cut, I have the same curies when making my ride decade witch has the same construction, cant wait to ride it.
ziby

I should get some days on it this week. Once I do, I'll post some reviews, but for now. There isn't a lot of solid evidence out there to support the idea that the board will loose a significant amount of performace after cutting the carbon stringers. Just like most boards, it will loose some performance because of the slice down the middle. Actually, when I decided on the board I hadn't thought much about it. It wasn't until after I bought the board and sent it off to be cut that I found some forums expressing concerns about cutting Ride snowboards. So I decided to talk to some riders who had gone ahead and actually have cut and ridien Ride boards and they all said it was fine, but there is only one way to really find out! Have fun on your Decade.

Thanks, yes send some feedback please, I like to know what to expect.
Ziby

It doesn't look like carbon stringers were cut? Perhaps the Down the Middle dude could comment on this.

Sorry for the confusion. There are also carbon strips that run from the inserts out towards the edge on either side called Carbon Array, which give the board some torsional stiffness. So you are right, the stringers were not cut. Here is photo to demonstrate what we are talking about:

I see, thanks for humoring my ignorance. i understand the concern now.

This is what I found in my ride, attached in the photo, UL, strings going acrose nose and tile and abot 6 going acros in the midle. So I am realy looking forwoard how it will work.
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Ride Slackcountry is my most favourite solid board, it rides excellent and stands exactly to its name, so I am very curious how it will ride and hike as a splitty

Great board, have fun with it and let us know what you discovered

The finished splitty looks great. Very nice work!

Glad to see another Slack split! Looks awesome, love the black on black hardware and bindings.

Here's mine.....

Here is my first impressions of the RIde Slackcountry UL as a splitboard. It's light! I mean really light. On the uptrack I could feel a huge difference in weight. This board is a 164 and is lighter then my past two factory splitboards which were both 159's. Anyone who spends lots of time touring around in the backcountry knows that the lighter your setup is the less energy you are going to spend. Another thing I really liked about this board in terms of the skin up, is the flex pattern. It's stiffer between the inserts (the flat section of the board) and has a softer flex in the tip and tail giving it a surfy feel on the ride down. This flex pattern also helps huge on the way up. The flat section of the board is where you are going to have the most grip from your skins, so you want it to be stiff. Having this area stiff creates more traction. And having your tip and tail softer will allow your board to absoard the variations in the skin track, which in turn will keep that flat section flush to the track. A side note: the touring bracket was positioned in relation to the flat section as to take full advantge of this area.

Now, to put to rest all the concerns about not having enough board surface for skinning due to the Slackcountry's High Rise rocker profile. It skins very well. I have been on moderate to steep compact skin tracks so far and next to no slipping. My Spark High Traction skins may have helped also

I have to admit, I was a little anxious about the ride down. This board has carbon strips running from the tip to the tail as well as a carbon array just after the inserts. The tip to tail carbon didn't get cut in the process but the carbon array did. My thoughts were concerned with loosing too much performance from cutting the carbon array. For sure there is a loss of performance from cutting a board, and unfortunately I have never ridden a solid Ride Slackcountry UL before and cannot compare the difference, but the board performed exceptionally well. I am really impressed. If anyone has a chance to get out on a Slackountry, it's worth your time. It floats well, the transition between turns is fast and is stable on landings. I haven't taken it off anything huge yet and have yet to test is on harder icier conditions. Once I do I will post my experience.

Keeping this review as objective as possible, I still do have some concerns. Mostly I am curious about how it will hold up to backcountry abuse. You know, core shots, nose dings etc... Also curious about how it will break in beeing that it was a brand new board when it was cut.

Thanks

PS: jgusa your Slack looks awesome bro!

thanks for the impressions,
keep updates how it is doing during the season, I don't want to split my Slackcountry UL yet, I love that board too much, but I am very excited on what you will experience about the Slack splitty.

It took me awhile to convince myself to cut my Slack too, but I realized I didn't need both a Slackcountry 164 and a Salomon Sick Stick 163 in my quiver. My SS was my go-to solid for just about anything last year so I figured I could sacrifice the Slack.