When you sign up for Oregon Splitfest, you’re committing yourself to hauling 3 days worth of overnight gear, avalanche safety equipment, and your snowboard gear uphill roughly 3 miles and 2,000 vertical feet to reach the Tilly Janes A-frame. Sometimes there is snow the entire way, sometimes there isn’t, usually there isn’t. Either way, roughly 30-40 people each year head up in support of the Tilly Jane restoration project and to spend the weekend with friends or strangers who love snowboarding.

(Joe Kromer, Julie Murrell and Jay Swain skinning up to Tilly Jane)

Tilly Jane, a historic campground with roots in early 1900’s mountaineering, sits on the Northside of Mt. Hood. From this staging area, you have access to an endless amount of terrain and missions. From wide open snowfields to crevasse filled 60 degree slopes, the northside has it all. During Splitfest, people usually join friends or strangers within their skill levels and head out to enjoy the snow.

(Joe Kromer, Julie Murrell and Jay Swain snowboarding down from the stone shelter)

During Splitfest, besides touring there is a handful of “competitions”. They usually include gully races, blindfolded transitions and backwards skinning races. This years was even more challenging as the races took place at dusk with headlamps and frozen conditions. Winners receive prizes from the countless amount of awesome companies who support the event.

(Joe Kromer – 1st gully race, Monique Leslie – 1st woman’s gully race, Cory Betzel – 1st backwords skinning race)

Each year a ton of amazing companies support the Oregon Splitfest. The annual raffle helps provide donations to the Tilly Jane restoration project, which is currently raising $213,000 to restore the A-frame. This year’s Splitfest raised $1,100. Sponsors included @adidassnowboarding @bigagnes_ @trewgear @kindsnacks @choadcheesewax @dakine @rerack @nextadventure @sparkrandd

This past weekend people from all over the PNW came together for the annual Oregon Splitfest. Compared to other splitfests and backcountry festivals at resorts here in the PNW, Oregon Splitfest was designed by Geoff Guillory to be an event where you go to find new touring partners, learn from each other, and ultimately breath in homegrown backcountry splitboarding. How does this differ so much from the other events you can attend? Well.. the catalyst of this is the location of the intimate and hard to access Tilly Jane A-Frame on Mt. Hood’s north side.

Sitting quietly at 5,900’, the trip to the A-Frame involves a 2.5 mile hike and 2,000’ gain with your overnight, avalanche, and splitboard gear. Not forgetting your food and adult beverages to share. The cabin holds about 20 people and has ample room for those wanting to snow camp outside. This isolation from cell phone towers, hotel rooms, and distractions really brings everyone together to share beers and get to know each other. Exactly what backcountry snowboarding is about.

Oliver Murray starting his dry approach in.

Oliver skinning the burn on the way to the a-frame.

The terrain on Mt. Hood’s north side has something for everyone too. This past weekend we had people like Carmen Brown, Cameron Brown and Kevin Kelly who summited the forty-five degree Cooper Spur route and then snowboarded down the Old Chutes on the south side of Mt. Hood. Their day didn’t end there as they then had to hitchhike around the mountain and hike right back up to the A-frame where they started. On the other spectrum, we had people new to splitboarding who did 45 minute gully and tree laps all weekend long.  At the end of the day, everyone came back together to hang out, cook food, and drink a beer around the fire.

Mt. Hood’s northern routes and Elliot Glacier

Carmen, Cameron and Kevin heading up the Cooper Spur

Carmen, Cameron, and Kevin at the top of Mt. Hood

The late morning crew heading up to the stone shelter

Like other backcountry festivals in the region that support a non-profit, Oregon Splitfest raises money for the restoration and preservation of the historic Tilly Jane A-frame cabin. The weekend is filled with gully races, backwards skinning races, beacon search contests and raffles supported by a lot of great companies. This year companies like Pallas Snowboards, Voile, Spark R&D, Mountain Hardwear, Trew, Choadcheese Wax, Dakine and Next Adventure all showed their support and sent over quality gear for prizes. Everyone walked away with something this weekend.

Men’s uphill and downhill gully race

Andrew Rupp taking first in the men’s gully race

Noelle Veveiros taking first in the ladies gully race

Kevin Kelly taking first in the split ski gully race

If I haven’t convinced you enough to attend next year’s Oregon Splitfest then I encourage you to start your own and use what Geoff Guillory has created as a model for yours. Find a backcountry lodge, help support it’s preservation, and start to invite your friends in. They keep saying the snowboard industry is on a decline, if it’s true then backcountry is our future and it’s time to embrace and support the culture behind it.