The lovely folks over at Shred Union sent me my swag back that I won a few weeks ago on the site. It came with a Capita tee shirt, a Burton beanie, a Holden banner thing, a backpack thing, shred union stickers, some other stickers, and eese or whatever socks.
"In 1965, Sherman Poppen, a chemical gases engineer in Muskegon, invented "The Snurfer" (his wife came up with the name) as a toy for his daughter. He made the Snurfer by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose, so the rider could hold it and keep it more stable. Many of his daughters friends wanted one of those new Snurfers, and soon Poppen lincensed his new idea to a manufacturer. The Snurfer was sold over half a million times in 1966, but was only seen as a toy for kids, even though Poppen organized competitions with this new board.
Jake Burton took part in those competitions and became really interested in the snurfer. For him it was a cool thing to do, not having the oppurtunity to go surfing (his parents would not buy him a board). But Burton was really seriuos about skiing. After breaking his collarbone in a car accident, he was not able to take part in skiing competitions anymore.
While Burton was into riding the Snurfer, Dimitrije Milovich started making snowboards in 1969. After sliding down some hills on a cafeteria plate in College, he came up with the idea. His boards were based on surfboards combined with the way skiis work. In 1972 Milovich started a new company called "Winterstick". He produced several boards, and even got articles in the "Newsweek", "Playboy" and "Powder" which helped to make snowboarding better known. Even though Milovich left the snowboarding business in 1980, he is still recognized as a very important pioneer of the sport.
In 1977 Jake Burton, who now finished NYU, moved to Londonderry, Vermont to make some money by building different versions of the Snurfer, which he still remembered. His first boards were made of laminated hardwood. Burton shocked all the Snurfer riders by winning a Snurfer competition with his own board, which had the first binding. This first binding made a big difference fro handling the board, and thus made it easier for him to beat the other riders. After that, in 1979, Poppen stopped producing the Snurfer and went back to his old profession. He was out of the business, and never came back.
Parallel to Burton, Tom Sims produced his first snowboards in 1977. Being obsessed with skateboarding, Sims tried to go out in the snow and slide down the hill with a "snowboard" he built in a junior high shop-class. He just glued some carpet to the top of a piece of wood, and put an aluminum sheeting on the bottom. After he focused on producing skateboards in his garage, with the help of his friend and employee Chuck Barfoot, he started making snowboards in 1977. Barfoot, who actually made the snowboards, came up with the "Flying Yellow Banana". It was just a skateboard deck on top of a plastic shell with skegs.
Officially the first real ski technology for snowboards was introduced by Burton 1980 (it is said Winterstick already used a P-Tex base in 1974). The new prototype had a P-tex base and combined more of the ski technology into snowboards with that. In the same year Sims signed a skate- and snowboarding deal with a big mainstream company (Vision Sports), which helped him solving his financial problems. Barfoot was left out, and tried to built his own firm. He did not succeed against the big competitors Sims and Burton."
Favorite shot of the day. Taken on my iphone in colorcross mode.
Woke up to this sight. Fresh powder right outside my uncle's cabin in Kirkwood.
Took the lift up to Kirkwood's famous Wall Ride with Tim. He told me it was basically a blue and the Experts Only warning signs were just a trick. See the big rock in the middle of the photo? It's directly on the right of the rock. Google "Kirkwood Wall" to see a better shot. It was so windy at the top that I had to crouch down and push myself with my hands to get onto the actual run.
Me at the top of the Wall. They had one of those signs at the bottom of the lift as well so no one got on it by mistake. The skull and cross bones may be a little extreme. I mean, its not a run for the groms, but still... Whatever. I wanted to back out so badly but I'm glad I didn't. It was one of the sickest runs I've ever done and a major adrenaline kicker.
My little cousin Luke at lunch. He's on skis for now but he'll start boarding when he's a bit older. I guess three year olds don't snowboard? He's hilarious. All he wanted to do was jump and go straight down the hill. No slowing this little guy down. With the middle name Burton, this kid will be unstoppable.
Tim Rice, my uncle's friend that I was shredding with, shot this after lunch. Just a nice view of the barely tracked powder.
My board stowed away at the end of the day. Tim's kids Vance and Shannon are on the other side of the truck. Vance rides and Shannons about ready to do the ski>snowboard transfer as well.
The mountain as we left.
Or let me rephrase; The best thing in life is getting free stuff sent to your house. Ohhh yeah. I never entered contests when I was younger because I figured I wouldn't win anyways so why bother, right? My mom was always like "You never knowwww" and she'd win things every once in a while. I just recently started entering every contest I fin
d and it's paying off. Greatly. Every time there was a give away or contest at Windells I hit it up and ended up with a bunch of shirts and beanies. I happened talked to the right person and ended up with this sick Bonfire jacket as well (retail price; $280). Back at home I started lurking around snowboard company websites and discovered a whole new world of contests. I sadly did not win any thing on 686 Day, but I pla
yed Rome's Steal That Banner game and won that. My new Rome jacket just came in the mail yesterday (original price; $229.95). It's prettty sick. And then a week ago I played a game on the Volcom website and this morning I woke up to this email;"Hello
You are a winner in our recent Volcom Girls Holiday competition.
Please send me your size and your full address and telephone number (by
tomorrow if possible!) and I will post your prize.
Thanks for entering and Merry Christmas!
Josie"
Not this type. Sorry, I'm talking about the trashy people that leave crap all over the snow. This topic just came up on Shredunion.com and it's one that I think needs some more light shed upon it. Let's face it, no one likes riding down a hill and seeing crap all over the place.
