In 1991, Brett "Kowboy" Kobernik brought a crude prototype of the first splitboard to Mark "Wally" Wariakois, the founder of Voile. At the time Wally was intensely focused on innovating new backcountry ski and telemark binding designs, but he saw the future of backcountry snowboarding in Kowboy's crude design. Over the next few years, Kowboy and Wally refined this idea and in 1994 released the first DIY Voile Split Kit. This was the beginning of the splitboard revolution. For the first time riders had a truly innovative and easier way to access backcountry powder. Surveys from SIA showed an increase in the number of skiers and snowboarders using non-resort backcountry terrain from 1.8 million to 2.2 million in a four-year time period. That number significally increased as well from 4.3 million to 6.3 million when resort backcountry terrain was included. The popularity of splitboarding in the last decade has prompted many outfitters to offer half day, full day or even multi-day excursions across the globe.
