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High Gear: Weston Snowboards Big Chief splitboard review (video)

Z Griff
On The Hill correspondent
The Big Chief splitboard from Weston Snowboards of Minturn. The directional shape with traditional camber makes it perfect for charging big lines and even bigger cliffs.
Special to the Daily |

Big Chief | $899

Sizes: 157 cm, 164 cm, 168 cm

Shape: Stiff traditional camber (camber between inserts, rocker from inserts to nose and tail)

Core: Poplar, paulownia, bamboo

Base: P-tex 4000 Electra

Topsheet: Polymide

Sidewall: UHMW radial

Contact length: 115 cm, 121 cm, 124 cm

Effective edge: 119 cm, 125 cm, 128 cm

Features: 25 mm full-length carbon inserts, directional inserts for convertible splitboard bindings, stainless steel clips

Touring skins are sold separately. For more info on the Big Chief and all Weston models, see the manufacturer’s website at westonsnowboards.com.

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Earn Your Turns week

It’s finally March, and that means the meat of backcountry touring season is nearly here. To get prepared, local AT skiers and splitboarders are taking over the Summit Daily sports section in print and online this week with reviews, guides, videos and more.

Wednesday, March 1

Take 5 — Q&A with Zach Husted, a Japan splitboard guide-in-training

Thursday, March 2

High Gear — Weston Big Chief splitboard review, plus video

High Gear — Scarpa F1 AT ski boot review

Friday, March 3

High Gear — Unity Whale splitboard review

The Limelight — Local AT and splitboard athlete profiles

Saturday, March 4

Splitboard 101 — All you need to know about splitboarding in Summit, plus video

Thursday, March 9 or 16

High Gear — Voile kit DIY splitboard construction, plus video

“I am the Big Chief: ruler of the nation and whole wide creation.”

The Big Chief is an all-out powder machine. There’s no tomahawking the 2016-17 Big Chief, a reimagined model from Weston Snowboards that possesses the strength of an entire backcountry tribe born in Minturn, where the lion of Lionshead Rock meets the might Eagle River. This board has been my salvation.

Board basics



Steeped in the history of the area and true to local tradition, the Weston Big Chief is a traditional-camber snowboard that comes in solid and splitboard forms. Both models are wider underfoot than average boards and have a long effective edge. When coupled with a directional stance, this makes for effortless float on deep days.

In the backcountry and high alpine, it eats up steeps and lands big drops without batting an eyelash or bucking the rider. It’s incredibly stable at speed, moves edge to edge nicely with more torsional flex than expected, and has no problem going left, right and sometimes upside down.



This board is a big gun for big powder days. It’s stiff, durable and strong to provide float when pointing it down fall lines, but it’s also maneuverable enough to ride trees. The big, round nose is made for bashing through the deep stuff or ollieing over everything without sinking.

[iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/203821803?autoplay=1” width=”640” height=”360” style=”border: 0px;”]

Goes both ways

In solid or split form the board just wants to rip. It is the right kit for big, steep and open — a big-mountain monster with crazy strength and a playful side. You can do a trick off a 30-foot cliff on this one and maybe even land it.

Like Sleeping Indian Mountain outside of Leadville, it is awe inspiring in its quiet yet powerful nature, floating above all at times and firmly rooted at others. The word “soaring” comes to mind when riding on the Big Chief. It is my favorite board in the Weston 2016-17 line, and I can say with conviction that I have landed the biggest log and the biggest cliff backflip of my life on this board.

The Big Chief eats first — all others are second.

Z Griff is first and foremost a snowboarder. A longtime local, he is an adventure writer for the everyman. He can be seen as the winter host of On The Hill at summitdaily.com or vimeo.com/user/zgriff and reached at ZGriff_1@hotmail.com. Disclaimer: Z Griff is also a Weston team rider.


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