The Nitro - Tour - Board is a versatile board for powdersnow as well as for icy conditions with excellent performance as snowboard and reasonable properties as skis. The two halves are held together by the removable Nitro Tourloc system which can be unlocked and snapped into a parallel position for hiking (like cross country skis) and for downhill skiing. To increase the adhesion on steep slopes the face of the skis is covered with a self adhesive skin (in earlier days this was a seal or goat skin but now it is made artificially) and the biding is switched so that the heels can be lifted to allow an easy walking movement. Ski poles are used to increase stability during this phase. Upon arrival at the top of the mountain, the telescopic poles and the skins are stored in the rucksack and the board is reassembled with the Fritschi bindings across on the board and the two fixations at the front and the back of the board. Then the real fun starts:
With soft and harmonic movements the boards float in the deep powder or with increadible speed and acceleration the boards turn within clouds of snow. Even falling is fun since the snow dampens the impact and helps cooling the excitment.
The board requires hard snowboard boots, most skiboots and especially skitouring boots are suitable, however. For the tour you need a ski - or snowboard dress, a rucksack with additional warm clothes, suncream, sunglasses (hopefully), some food, water and good gloves. The touring equipment (Nitro Tour Board, skins, and poles) can be rented or bought from Ueli Bettenmann Dorfstrasse 21, CH-8136 Thalwil, Switzerland Tel 0041 1 722 14 22.
