“I’d been riding my Spark Arc bindings for the last 3 seasons, using them for all my guiding work and days off when touring with my mates. It was only after this season, filming for the Splitboard Hub, that I made the switch to a pair of Surge bindings. That’s me fully converted. The Surges are the only split bindings I ever want or need to ride again.

Obviously, they’re a little heavier than the Arcs, but the guys at Spark R&D are so good at shaving every unnecessary gram from their gear that they’re still incredibly lightweight.

“HHorses for courses and all that but, in my opinion, the Surge bindings strike a perfect balance between workhorses and racehorses”

The pay-off is in how responsive and solid they feel to ride. The heel straps are great, really comfortable and conforming, pretty rugged when you’re trying to kick your way into your bindings at the top of a couloir, and significantly more powerful than the Arc’s heel straps.

I’d say for bigger, stronger and heavier riders, the Surge bindings are the only ones you need to consider. But even for the lighter, smaller or less aggressive riders out there, don’t rule these out in favour of the Arcs too soon. Horses for courses and all that but, in my opinion, the Surge bindings strike a perfect balance between workhorses and racehorses.”

“I spend as much time as possible each winter out in the backcountry on my splitboard so the Spark Surge had a good going over.

I previously had issues with Spark setups. Mainly the bolts that hold the baseplate and the heel cup together have always worked themselves loose and I mean each time I use them!

Each time I switched over from walk to ride mode I had to get out my tool and tighten everything. If I forgot to do this ritual I could almost guarantee to lose a screw.

“The Surge is a stiffer and more responsive binding to the Arc, lending itself to more aggressive riders and steeper terrain. I really liked the feel of the high back and the straps. I found the whole binding responded well when called upon.”

In the past, I ended up using glue to remedy this problem, although that’s not ideal if you ever need to take the binding apart for some reason.

So, I was pleasantly surprised that in the time I used the new Surge this didn’t happen, stoked.

The Surge is a stiffer and more responsive binding to the Arc, lending itself to more aggressive riders and steeper terrain. I really liked the feel of the high back and the straps. I found the whole binding responded well when called upon.

Obviously, the usual luxuries of dampening and comfort as sacrificed for weight saving on a split binding but I still found the Surge to be comfortable enough for all-day touring.

My one major gripe with this binding is the ‘easy to use’ climbing wire. The promo video for the Surge shows you just how easy it is to adjust as the gradient changes on your climb. In reality, it’s about as easy as the UK leaving the EU.

I don’t know if it was only because they were brand new and hadn’t been used yet, but it just wasn’t easy to work. Instead of being able to use my pole to easily flip between different angles I found myself dropping to one knee and having to force it into place using my hands.

On a flat section, this is frustrating but manageable; try and do it on an icy traverse though, testing!

I can imagine this could be something that would aggravate someone trying splitboarding for the first time and potentially put them off it altogether.

Saying all that, the touring mode adjuster for the high back is super simple to use and really effective.

Ultimately, the descent was super rewarding on the Surge bindings, but the climbing wire was enough to make me cautious about using these again”

“For an inexperienced splitboarder who has previously only used regular bindings, the Surge was an eye-opener. They’re so damn light, so damn easy to switch between split- and ride modes, and so damn comfortable to boot.

The large, moulded ankle strap gave zero pressure points either going up or down, and the bindings felt responsive enough for anything.

“So damn light, so damn easy to switch between modes, and so damn comfortable”

The avalanche risk restricted us to mellower lines, but I have no doubt they have the stiffness you need to see you down steep faces. The only thing I struggled with was flipping down the riser for ascending steeper terrain with a pole (inexperience combined with exhaustion, no doubt).

At a price north of 400 shekels you might consider making do with your regular two strappers, but if you splitboard with any regularity these are an investment well worth making.”