Step one: Saw your snowboard in half down the middle.

Step two: Attach a versatile set of bindings so that the snowboard will work like telemark skis on the way up but convert back to a snowboard for the run down.

Step three: Head for the backcountry.

Snowboarding has almost always been about breaking boundaries, and now those boundaries have moved into the backcountry. But the problem has been getting there.

Many snowboarders simply hike in wearing snowshoes and carrying their snowboard on their back. But this is slow and burns a lot of energy.

The solution in recent years has been a split snowboard. Snowboarders at first resorted to making their own split boards by grabbing the nearest available saw and cobbling together telemark equipment. Now, at least two companies Voile and Burton sell split snowboards for around $700.

Or, if someone has a snowboard he or she doesn’t mind chopping in half, kits are available for about $130 to convert a snowboard into a backcountry tool.

”There aren’t as many as the other sports, but definitely it’s a niche,” said Drew Holmes of Pine Mountain Sports in Bend. ”But if they want to snowboard in the backcountry, they’re going have to get a split snowboard or snowshoe really slow.”

With Holmes and several others I tried out one of these split boards a rental Voile from Pine Mountain Sports on Tumalo Mountain. I began the climb up the mountain with the climbing skins on the bottom of the board, which provided plenty of traction for the ascent.

Some split boards employ bindings that require telemark boots, but on others the bindings are designed to use soft snowboard boots. I’m used to soft boots, but I was in a pair of K2 telemark boots on this trip.

At the top of Tumalo Mountain I changed the bindings from telemark to snowboard style and snapped the snowboard into one piece about a four- or five-minute process, but faster for someone more familiar with the equipment.

I admired the graceful lines of the telemark skiers as they made their way down the bowl. The split snowboard worked like a solid board all the way down and I felt the confidence to let it rip, throwing up a spray of snow as I leaned into the turns.

At the bottom, I converted the snowboard back to telemark style, stuck the climbing skins back on and started back up the mountain.

So far, so good.

Partway up we began a traverse to the other side of the mountain for the run down to the vehicles. This is where I discovered that split boards don’t work well on a traverse. The telemark skiers took their climbing skins off and were able to push themselves across the flats efficiently while I floundered. Partway, I converted the split board back to a snowboard, but this was still tough going.

My own snowboard skills are maybe advanced intermediate. I’ve gone off the backside of Mount Bachelor and hiked the summit to go down the bowl.

On the traverse on Tumalo, though, with a loaded fanny pack around my middle and a camera strapped to my chest throwing me off balance, it was a challenge. And to tumble in deep snow on nearly level ground on a snowboard leaves a lot of work to get going again.

At this point it was hard not to admire the symmetry of the setup of the telemark skiers, and the way they could push and pole themselves over the snow on the traverse.

Other backcountry snowboarders have recognized this one basic disadvantage of the split board.

”You really have to plan your line,” said Stephanie Uetrecht of Bend during a phone interview. She’s snowboarded the last six years and has been heading into the backcountry on a split board the last three.

”You could get into a flat section where a skier can move along no problem but on a snowboard you can get stuck,” she said.

On Tumalo Mountain, once we got to a little steeper gradient and I could build up speed, the split snowboard began to feel like fun again as I swooped through the trees on the way back to the parking lot.

From my experience, a split board seems best for going straight up and then straight down with as little crossing of flats as possible.

”Flats suck,” as Holmes puts it.

Split snowboards are such a new piece of equipment that most backcountry snowboarders end up experimenting to find the right setup.

”It took a while to refine the gear,” said Uetrecht, who prefers hard-sided telemark boots. ”I’m not going to say (backcountry snowboarding) is easy. It is a bit more cumbersome, and the skins are much wider then the skins of a tele skier, so it’s difficult to pull the skins apart.

”I have to work to keep up with the telemark skiers just to switch over the gear. But it’s nice having the split board because I don’t have to carry snowshoes.”

Backcountry snowboarders are still a fairly rare sight. Holmes, a telemark skier, estimates he sees 50 telemark skiers and five all-terrain skiers for every split-board rider he encounters in the backcountry.

”The two skis it breaks into are a bit awkward,” said Holmes, ”but it’s a great compromise for wanting to use a board.”

Keith Ridler can be reached at kridler@bendbulletin.com or 383-0393.