I mostly use a leash to put dents in the top of my car when I forget to clip the loose end to the binding.

SO TRUE! I still don’t understand what their *real* purpose is.. I think it’s a racket.
–adam

It’s interesting that Southern Ontario is so strict about enforcing the leash rule, but this is also the only place I’ve ever actually seen run-away snowboards.
Back in January, I was at Blue Mountain, and during one evening of snowboarding, we watched 3 snowboards go flying down the hill…. usually with people running after them. (They didn’t catch up. Surprise…)
Earlier this month I was at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville and they enforced it there too – they pulled my friend out of the lift line and made her put on a leash. She improvised with a spare boot lace, and that was good enough.
I guess they’re around because some people simply can’t keep their feet strapped into their board? It still blows my mind though, because you always have one foot strapped in, and if, for some reason (like temporary insanity), you take off your board at the top of the hill, put it upside down or off to the side. It’s not rocket science….

You’re right, not rocket science at all! But your comments got me thinking about a couple of things:
* Kissing Bridge, out near Holiday Valley, was also leash-obsessed.
* Re: your point that you saw three runaway boards in Southern Ontario: I went to Blue Mountain three or four times this year, and every time I was shocked at the number of people that had a really rough time with the “little things” – namely getting on and off ski lifts, riding/skiing in gigantic ‘S’ turns, etc. So I wonder if the “beginner factor” has something to do with it. Based on my experiences, I seemed to encounter waaaay more beginners at places like Blue than Whistler or Jay Peak. Maybe it’s just that because of the small size of hills in Southern Ontario, beginners have to mix with more advanced folks…
–adam

Why don’t skiiers need leashes? there equipment is set up to come off! the only way to get out of a snowboard is to take it off… in which case you took off the leash as well and now your board is at the bottom of the hill.
I’m pretty sure this is a beginner thing, and i think it’s a hold over from a time when skiiers and the ski hills were not so keen on snowboarders, so it’s a bull shit rule made up by people who never understood the equipment, and it has simply never changed. but big resorts, with management that understands boarding and the gear, realize it’s bull shit and don’t bother to enforce it… I can’t remember when the last time I used a leash, in Europe or in the US.

Hahaha that’s true. Skier ‘yard sales’ can be as brutal and dangerhouse.

I made my own leash, and have yet to actually have needed to put it on. Places just do not check (at least the ones I have been to) because the only way a board will just come off the foot is if someone really messes something up with their bindings. And frankly the more foreseeable issue would be the binding becoming dislodged, but a leash does nothing for that, and even still, for that to happen someone would really have to try to make it happen.

to answer your ski question,
skis are equipped with automatic break systems that kick in once your boots com off so your skis won’t go flying,

whereas the snowboard doesn’t have a break system: hence the leash. It makes sure that if your boot is not in your bindings, your board won’t run away

also, resorts in ontario are just trying to minimize lawsuits for injuries resulting from runaway boards

and no, bindings just don’t come loose from your board, the issue is people taking off their bindings and forgetting to flip their board

Leashes are for “run away” boards. Basically it’s to ensure that should you walk up the mountain (mostly in terrain parks) you don’t somehow drop your board causing a run away that could hurt your board or another person. Another common place is on a half pipe. They can have value should you be in a terrain park that doesn’t have lift access and is all walk. If you slipped and dropped your board or accidently knocked it forward while you were getting in, it could result in your board ending up in the rocks and be all battered up. Where I ride once I strap in I hardly ever have both feet out so to me they’re useless but they do have an underlying purpose.

My leash does nothing except satisfy this rule.. it is about two inches long, and buckles my front boot lace to my front binding. It is lower profile than my binding straps, and even if I undid the straps, I couldn’t even remove my foot from the binding without unbuckling the leash, so it resolves /none/ of the issues discussed here, other than the rule that a leash must be worn.

Having said that, not wearing a leash saved the life of a friend of mine. He was caught in a small avalanche, and was able to quickly reach down and unbuckle his bindings, floating to the top of the rolling snow. Had he been leashed to his board, it would have dragged him under.

After being a snowboarder for the last 22 years I still cannot figure out how could both my feet get out of the binding on my snowboard.

Another non-snowboard experience skier trying to enforce a stupid rule like ski hills certification back in the late 80′s! I was certified as an expert snowboard at Jay Peak and then a small hill in northern Quebec was charging me $35 to certify me again. I finally convince the sky patrol that it didn’t made sense!

My conclusion is that a leash is as usefull as a parachute would be for a car driver driver: in case the road would instataneously disappear!

In fact, this what I read on the back of the Burton leash package at the store “in case your binding would disintegrate instantanously” ($6,99 for a shoe lace with a clip on so call a leash)

I give up!

You only have to see a snowboard hurl down a hill at top speed and slam into some poor child sitting on the snow to realise that leashes are a good idea. Even if they reduce the changes of this occuring by a small factor then I think it is worth it. I purchased my leash after seeing this and it only takes a second to put on. Hopefully this reduces that chances of my board ever becoming a missile at someone elses expense

Problem with the leash argument: When you step out of your bindings you also disconnect the leash, so how does it make it safer? Oh and of course you never see random skis flying down the hill at top speed and slam into some poor child!! Those brakes on the skis are SO effective!! Here’s an idea, leashes for both skis!

Before the they put brakes on skis you did have to use two leashes, on my telemark skies i have to use two leashes so your points kinda null. Fact of the matter is i don’t use leashes unless a lifty tells me to put them on and i have been told to do so with both telemarks and snowboards. Its just a way to cover their asses in case some one gets hurt.

Most leashes that are for sale for snowboards are ridiculous. You clip them to you boot and binding and (as said before) you have to unclip both to get out of the board. A proper leash should attach you board to your knee or somewhere in that area with enough slack so that you can step out of the bindings, pick up the board and walk without ever unleashing. If some noob wandering about on the mountain drops a board or something, the leash should stop it. THAT’s supposed to be the point. So why are these companies selling six inch leashes and why are parks ok with them? They’re worthless.

Still comments coming in after all these years!
As far as I’ve experienced, leashes are never used in Europe.
The only time I’ve used them is on the clip on bindings used on shorter snowblades, since these don’t have the ski brake, and there is a small risk of the ski parting company with the boot.
I believe the same type of bindings are used on snowboards when using hard boots. These are more likely to accidentally come dislodged in a big accident – though not likely at all that both feet would come out!

straight up an iv even got in very interesting arguments over it. we have no use for leashes anymore because we dont use step-ins anymore. if my binding broke to the point both bindings came apart, i would wounder were my gold is under the rainbow. the ONLY way a board would run off is because some one taken off their board an when you do, leash has to come off too, most the people who do this are the ones who are usually renting. we do not ride surf boards. the chances of us EVER have board fly off our feet is very slim, hell i would see binding come off deck before a pair of bindings fall off our feet. if i ever go to a hill an they tell me to put on a leash, i will tell them to put it up their a$$ or tell them im not a dog. unless in on a hard boot racing board setup or a snowblade, i will NEVER WEAR A LEASH! send that to resorts who enforce it.

useless. get rid of them.