Packing the gear bag for a trip. Need advice.

[dcalc]

just booked my first out-west trip. how do you experienced traveling snowboarders pack you gear?
do you guys use hard bags or can I get by with one of those $50-100 soft (padded) bags?
Do you remove your bindings?
I would appreciate any advise,
Dan

[John]

Dan,

I've taken two long-distance trips with my board, with a different bag each time. Neither bag was a hard shell.

This spring I took a more elaborate bag, meaning that it had wheels and several compartments.

I put all my stuff inside the bag: board, bindings, boots, gloves, butt pad, wrist guards, goggles, pants, thermals, socks.

It made for a heavy bag. Not so heavy that I had to pay an excess baggage fee, but even with the wheels, I was barely able to pull it around.

I made sure that there were various pieces of clothing underneath and on top of the board.

Did I remove my bindings? Yes and no. I use Flows, which are different from the conventional strap bindings. They have a giant cap that goes over the feet, and I took that cap off and stuck it on the outside of my boots. Then I pushed the highback down.

I have a hard shell for my skis, and for peace of mind, you might wish to get one of those for your board. On the other hand, I'm not sure that it makes much of a difference as long as you pack your bag with a lot of padding.

Two years ago I went on a trip with both skis and a board. I carried the board and shipped the skis, in a hard shell, via FedEx. That was wonderful, and using ground transport, cheap (about $35). I wouldn't do that with a soft-sided bag, though again, it might be just fine.

[SteveS]

Note also that there are soft bags and padded soft bags. I trust the padded bags more, but you can pad a thinner bag with clothing. I too have Flow bindings and I undo the strap, lay the highback down and put the strap back over top of that. I also put boots, etc in the bag. We went to Utah last year with soft bags and had no problems.

[John]

Yeah, I should have been more clear. The bag I have has SOME padding. Not a lot, but some. I did take it to Vail, as checked luggage. It came out fine, though it got to be rather heavy wheeling the thing around the Denver airport. I ditched it in the luggage storage shop--smelly boots and all--for a 3-day side trip to Colorado Springs--so I did more work transporting it around than I normally would.

In the previous message I was thinking along the lines of shipping it from home to the mountain. I don't think that a padded bag is a good instrument for that. I think the FedEx brochure I picked up at the store yesterday calls for a box (or alternately, some hard shell).

[dcalc]

thanks, I've got flow bindings too - so I'll do the same. my son has strap binding, I think they should be completely removed and packed separately ? I guess it depends on the bag as I've seen a few that are designed to handle the bindings on the board.
Dan

[SoonerShredder43]

In January, I spent way too much on ebay to get a nice bright orange bag... bag was cheap but to get in time to pack and fly was expensive. Anyway the bag holds 2 boards, I left by bindings (with lifts) on with boots, jacket, pants, gloves, other accessories. The bag did well from Wash DC to Denver - I dont reccomend the color - but it was very easy to pick out.

I did lock my bag and all equipment was good. The bag also is great to store my stuff during the off season.

I will be flying to cali in 2 weeks with a different board; I expect good results. I think when my boards cost in the $450+ range I may invest in a hardshell carrier.

[John]

thanks, I've got flow bindings too - so I'll do the same. my son has strap binding, I think they should be completely removed and packed separately ? I guess it depends on the bag as I've seen a few that are designed to handle the bindings on the board.
Dan

Your son should be fine if he puts the highback down onto the board; no need to remove strap bindings from the board, from what I can tell. Flows, I would remove the large cap that goes over the foot.