Back in the Day - An In-Depth Look At The History of Snowboarding And Burton Snowboard

8/14/2019 Back in the Day - An In-Depth Look At The History of Snowboarding And Burton Snowboard

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BACK IN THE DAY CONTENTS

BURTON HISTORY

The History of Snowboarding in North AmericaThe History of Snowboarding in EuropeThe History of Snowboarding in JapanA Sports Roots: Vermonts Burton Snowboards

Burton Sportartikel: The History of Burton Snowboards European HeadquartersBurton Japan: The History of Burton Snowboards Japanese HeadquartersBurton History TimelineUS Open Historical Highlights

BURTON COMPANY FACTS

Company Fact SheetBeyond Snowboards: Burtons Family of BrandsHow Snowboard Graphics Get CreatedBMC Factory TourFacts on Chill Burtons Non-Profit Learn to Snowboard ProgramBurtons Resort Programs Fact Sheet

ABOUT JAKE

Jake Burtons 2006 BiographyHow Burton Got Started In Jakes Own Words

For more information on Burton Snowboards check out www.burton.comYou can also call Burton Rider Service at: (800) 881-3138

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THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARDING IN NORTH AMERICA

On Christmas morning in 1965, Sherman Poppen walkedoutside his home in Muskegon, Michigan, looked at asnow covered hill, and saw a wave.

It seems like an odd scenario for the birth ofsnowboarding. But the Beach Boys had just sold twelvemillion albums, so its not surprising that a land-lockedinventor with several industrial patents under his belt gotthe surfing bug and translated it to snow.

My wife was pregnant and told me I had to do somethingto get my two daughters out of the house or she wasgoing to go crazy, said Poppen, who was fascinated bysurfing, though he had never tried it. When I looked atthat hill, I thought why not? Remembering his daughterWendys past attempts at standing on her sled, he hastilyscrewed two pairs of childrens skis together with some

doweling and fashioned a surfboard for the snow.

Within a few days, all the neighborhood kids were begging Mr. Poppen for what Mrs. Poppendubbed the "Snurfer" by mixing the word "snow" with "surfer." Six months later, Poppen licensedthe idea to Brunswick Manufacturing. Over the next ten years, more than a million Snurfers wereproduced and sold through chain sporting goods stores and toy stores.

As with all inventions, there's always some speculation about who really pioneered themovement. Before Poppen, there were accounts of World War I soldiers standing sideways on

barrel staves and sliding down snow-swept hills while theywere stationed in Europe. At a local garage sale, Jake founda board dating back to the 1920s. And a recently discoveredfilm shows an elegantly dressed man by the name of Vern

Wicklund riding a snowboard-type sled sideways down asmall Chicago hill in 1939. Wicklund family members havealso uncovered patents for the board. This discovery addshistorical depth to snowboarding, but it was PoppensSnurfer that first brought the idea to the masses.

Jake remembers the Snurfer as his first winter ride. Sodo Winterstick Snowboards founder Demetrije Milovichand Avalanche Snowboards founder Chris Sanders.Burton, Winterstick and Avalanche all started up in thelate 70s and early 80s, as did the West Coast-basedSims. Not long afterward, snowboarding arrived inEurope. Early European pioneers included Frenchman

Regis Rolland, who rode his swallowtail snowboard intohistory as the good guy snowboarder being pursuedby the bad guy skiers in the cult classic movies knownsimply asApocalypse Snow I, IIand III. The Frenchdubbed the sport Le Surf, and surfing on snow becamethe newest winter sport worldwide.


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In the early 80s, ski movies by Warren Miller and Greg Stump occasionally featured clips ofsnowboarders surfing deep powder. Articles on snowboarding gradually began popping up inskateboarding, surfing and skiing publications.

Unlike with the Hawaiian-born water sport of surfing, no single occurrence brought modern-daysnowboarding to the masses. Surfing hit the mainstream in the 60s, after the 1959 release of themovie Gidgetand Bruce Browns 1966 release ofThe Endless Summer. Though the VietnamWar slowed the sports growth until the mid-70s, the romantic notion of chasing waves instead ofpaychecks was already firmly engraved into the worlds youthful minds especially in America.

But if any year could be marked as the beginning of the snowboarding explosion, it was 1985.That was the year the first magazine dedicated exclusively to snowboarding,Absolutely Radical,hit the newsstand, backed by visionary publisher Tom Hseih. By then, dozens of snowboardentrepreneurs were addicted to riding and recognized the huge potential of the sport. Six monthslater, Hsieh changed the name of his magazine to International Snowboard Magazine to tonedown the sport's already "radical" image and to better represent the snowboarders of the world.

In 1987, the launch ofTransWorld Snowboarding Magazine and Snowboarder Magazinecontinued spreading the word. The magazines enjoyed high circulation numbers, targetingskateboarders, surfers and cross-over skiers. By 1990, every European country as well asJapan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand offered exclusive coverage of snowboarding. Local"zines" and independent filmmakers released Snowboarders In Exile and Totally Boardwhilesnowboard manufacturers like Burton fed the fire with Winter Waves and Chill.

Skiers started to wonder, "Where did all these snowboarders come from?" For some staunchtraditionalists, snowboarders came straight out of their worst nightmares. To them, snowboarderswere the bad boys and girls of winter who, according to a 1994 television episode ofAmericanJournal, were "knocking down skiers like bowling pins." But that same year, the May 5th cover ofWall Street Journalproclaimed, Snowboarding scores as the fastest growing sport withparticipation up 50 percent since the previous winter." Appropriately, a day later, RideSnowboards became the first snowboard-specific company to go public. It raised over $5.75million in its first day on the stock exchange.

All this from a sport that was discounted as "a fad" by many ski resorts and mainstream mediajournalists. Parade Magazine quoted Time Magazine in its January 1988 issue, callingsnowboarding the "Worst New Sport...To traditionalists, the breezy fad is a clumsy intrusion onthe sleek precision of downhill skiing, but to some 100,000 enthusiasts, many of them adolescentmales, it is the coolest snow sport of the season... Of course there are holdouts. Complainsveteran Vermont skier, Mary Simons: Snowboarding is not about grace and style but about raginghormones." But that was 1988.

Still, the sport continued to struggle for acceptance at many resorts in the early 90s. Manyadolescent males rode snowboards, and while they had the same attitudes as adolescent maleson skis, resorts and skiers saw a few bad apples riding fast and out of control, cutting lift lines anddisregarding ski area boundaries. And so the stereotypes began. Anyone on a board wasregarded as "one to watch" by the ski patrol and "one to watch out for" by the skiers. Eventually,

riders and manufacturers began policing each other. They also started writing letters to theresorts lobbying for acceptance. Many resorts began to allow snowboarders, but a few resorts stillheld out against riders. Today, only a handful of resorts that ban snowboarders remain: Alta andDeer Valley in Utah, Taos in New Mexico and Mad River Glen in Vermont. Park City in Utahfinally gave in during the 1996 season after bidding for the snowboard events at the 2002 WinterOlympics. More recently, on April 1

st, 2001, Aspen opened its slopes to snowboarders.

Snowboarding debuted as an official Olympic sport at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan,proving that it was no longer a fad. The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics fully launched


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snowboarding into the mainstream, dominating the media and publics attention before, duringand after the Games. Burton Team rider Kelly Clark captured the first snowboarding Olympic goldmedal for the United States at the 2002 Winter Games, winning the Womens HalfpipeCompetition. And Burton Global Team rider Ross Powers won the Olympic gold medal in MensHalfpipe, leading the Americans to the first medal sweep at the Winter Olympics since 1956.Burton Alpine rider Chris Klug also walked away from the Olympics with a bronze medal in theparallel giant slalom event, bringing Burtons medal count to three two gold medals and abronze. After the huge success of snowboarding in the 2002 Olympics, the sport returned to the2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy featuring three different diciplines: halfpipe, boardercross andparallel giant slalom. Snowboarding was definitely the highlight of the games for 2006 selling outevery single event and attracted more media attention than ever. In the end, Burton riders ShaunWhite and Hannah Teter took the gold medals in halfpipe and were both launched into a mediatour whirlwind following their gold medal wins.

The constant evolution of snowboarding can be seen in competitions with new formats that pushriders to progress year after year. Competitions such as the Burton Global Open Series, theAbominable Snow Jam, The Arctic Challenge and the X-Games provide a showcase for top ridersand expose up-and-comers to the snowboard community. Evolution of the sport has also beendocumented by the multitude of snowboard films that are released every year. Riders travel withfilm crews around the globe to capture new tricks and huge, superhero-like feats on film. In 2004,

Romain De Marchi and Travis Rice were the first two snowboarders to conquer the infamousChads Gap in Utah. One year later, Mads Jonsson landed a place in the history books soaring187 feet off one of the biggest kickers ever built. And at the 2007 Arctic Challenge, TerjeHaakonsen set the record for highest air on a quarterpipe boosting an astonishing 37-feet in theair. Riders continue to push themselves and are going bigger and faster than ever.

Sponsorships from large international corporations are also fueling growth of the sport by allowingriders to be fully dedicated to snowboarding and by contributing to the contest scene for biggerevents and larger prize purses. These sponsorships also expose new brands to snowboardingscore consumers and broaden the reach of the Burton brand to new markets.

Even with all the changes snowboarding has been through, the soul of the sport has remainedthe same. Industry leaders including manufacturers, magazines and riders themselves all strive

to keep the sport true to its roots, while inviting new audiences to share in the snowboardinglifestyle.


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THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARDING IN EUROPE

Its hard to say who really brought snowboarding to Europe. Many legends abound, butresponsibility for the genesis of snowboarding in Europe cannot be traced back to anyone inparticular. The first time one of those snowboarding contraptions was seen in Europe was at theend of the seventies. Snowboarding came first to France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, and

finally, a few years later, to Italy.

At the end of the seventies, as snowboarding companies like Burton and Winterstick were gettingtheir start in the United States, a few Europeans became interested in the fledgling sport. HenriAuthier and Jos Fernands were among those early European pioneers. Returning to Europefrom the States, they brought a strange board called the Winterstick back with them.

In 1980, snowboarding began its gradual ascent in popularity in Europe. That year, Paul Loxton,an Australian living in the United States, visited Les Arcs, France with a few Winterstick boards intow. The following year, Les Arcs publicity coordinator, Alain Gaymard, invited the US WinterstickTeam to the opening of a newly-founded resort called Les Arcs 2000. The Winterstick team tookto the virgin slopes, accompanied by some local guides. Among the locals was 22-year-old RgisRolland, who continued experimenting with the board after the Americans departure. Afterattempting to ride the board for three months, he finished a perfect run down a powder face andwas hooked. That same season, Gaymard offered Rgis an opportunity to appear in thepromotional film for Les Arcs. Directed by famous filmmaker Didier Lafont, the film, Ski Espaces,was one of the first to feature a snowboarder.

In 1983, the film crew responsible forSki Espaces shotApocalypse Snow, a farcical film about asnowboarder being chased by malicious monoskiers. Carried by its imaginative scenario, the filmenjoyed popularity across the globe and spread the message of snowboarding far and wide.From 1984 to 1986,Apocalypse Snow 2 and 3 followed with increasing success, and RgisRolland emerged as a European emblem of this fledgling sport.

Meanwhile, in addition to the individuals who had begun manufacturing their own snowboardprototypes, some small companies were moving into mass production. In Switzerland, JosFernands and Antoine Massy started designing boards (including the Hooger Booger) using

design concepts similar to those still in use today. In 1984, the French company DEA launchedthe first mass-produced swallowtail board. The powder board Swell Panik also appeared thatyear. The first surf shop emerged as well, as Eric Gros, owner of the Parisian shop Hawaii Surf,sold his first branded boards and imported Burton products directly from the States.

In 1985, boards with metal edges, like Burton Snowboards Performer, made their debut, andTerry Kidwells board became the first freestyle pro model on the scene. As a result of theincreasing diversity of snowboard shapes and designs, the French Ski Magazine beganconducting its first snowboard tests. And Hot Snowboards, another pioneering Frenchmanufacturer (now very rare but still available on the market), came out with the One Sixty. Builtwith edges and a parabolic sidecut, the One Sixty marked a turning point in the snowboardsshape and influenced the entire alpine industry, including skiing. With the One Sixty, SergeDupraz had designed a revolutionary board one that could carve curves into the snow with its 6-

meter sidecut radius. Other manufacturers were quick to jump on Serges brilliant innovation.

1986 was a big year for snowboarding in Europe as riders tackled some of the continents biggestmountains and launched huge international competitions. On May 16, 1986, a group ofsnowboarders rode down Mont Blanc to stage a media blow-out for the new magazine Vertical.On May 17, 1986, Denis Bertrand rode down the northeast face of les Courtes in the Mont Blancmountain range, then followed it up with a descent of Mont Blanc on the same day. That sameyear, as snowboarding was becoming more widely accepted and more organized, the firstEuropean Championships were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The first World Championshipswere also held that year, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Jos Fernands was the only European


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rider to take part in that competition, and he destroyed the Americans on their home turf, claimingvictory. Jos rode the first asymmetrical board, the Hooger Booger, with hiking boots mounted onplate bindings. It was a more effective setup than what the Americans were using at the time.While he was in Colorado, Jos met freestyler Terry Kidwell and returned to Europe throwingdown backside airs and rocket airs, two of the coolest tricks at that time.

As the European Championships and the World Championships made their debut, La Plagne wasorganizing another of the first large European events: the Euro Cup, held in France. The TignesFirst Symposium was also held that year. While the ratio of monoskiers to snowboarders wasapproximately 9 to 1, the ratio would quickly reverse itself after the First Symposium.

By 1987, snowboardings popularity was continuing to grow in Europe, and it was becoming moreaccepted by the mainstream. Admittedly, most resorts still looked down on those snowboardingpunks wearing fluorescent clothes, and many ski lifts were still off-limits to snowboarders.Nevertheless, the first national contests were established, and snowboarder associations,sometimes affiliated with ski federations, were created. The halfpipe was also introduced for thefirst time in a competition in Europe, and three Americans gave a great show. Not only did TerryKidwell, Craig Kelly and Bert Lamar clear the halfpipe walls they also threw down some crazyairs while stunned European faces gazed skywards.

The beginning of the 90s marked the advent of the pro teams. Each manufacturer had one, thecash was happening, the riders were stuffing their pockets and everyone was happy. JeanNerva, Peter Bauer, Pietro Colturi, Ashild Loftus and Nicole Angelrath made up Burtons pro teamat the time. They competed with the best in the world. It was also in 1990 that a young rider firstappeared in France during the Kbra Classique and won the pipe competition. His name wasTerje Haakonsen. Future snowboarding legend Terje immediately joined the Euro Burton ProTeam, where he taught Jean Nerva the backside air.

By 1992, snowboarding had become so popular in Europe that the first snowboard monthlymagazine, SnowSurf, hit the shelves in France. Other European countries soon followed withtheir own snowboarding publications. And by the mid-90s, while some skiers still looked atsnowboarders like they were hooded, baggy-clothed punks, the resorts had begun to understandthe financial stake the snowboarding industry represented. They started creating spaces reserved

for snowboarders the terrain parks. Switzerland had resorts entirely devoted to snowboarding,including Laax, Les Diablerets and Saas Fee.

The sport of snowboarding was legitimized further in Europe in 1998 as a result of its inclusion inthe Nagano Winter Olympics. To some, that seemed like a dubious accomplishment. Terje, oneof the worlds best riders, boycotted the Olympics. To him, the Olympic Games and thesnowboarding philosophy would never mix. Nevertheless, despite many complications, poorcourses and halfpipe competitions in the rain, there were some good moments for snowboardersat Nagano. A German, Nicola Thost (halfpipe), a Frenchwoman, Karine Ruby (giant slalom), aSwiss, Gian Simmen (halfpipe) and a Canadian, Ross Rebagliati (giant slalom), became the firstgold medal winners of Olympic snowboard history.

Snowboarding dominated the spotlight at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002. Many

people had heard of snowboarding before the 2002 Olympics, but never had so many peopleavidly watched and followed a snowboarding competition. The 2002 Olympic Games gavesnowboarding an unprecedented amount of exposure, showing the world that it was legit andhere to stay. With the huge success of snowboarding in the 2002 Olympics, the sport returnedfor the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy and featured halfpipe, boardercross and parallel giant slalomevents. The events saw the rise of the sports first superstar: Like compatriot Hannah Teter,Shaun White took home victory in the halfpipe and rose to global fame not known before insnowboarding.


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2002 also saw the launch of the Ticket to Ride (TTR) Society, based in Zurich, Switzerland. TheTTR Society is a non-profit organization aimed at developing and managing a professionalfreestyle snowboarding tour. TTR provides a means for young, up-and-coming riders toshowcase their skills for a chance to ride with the pros. The TTR System is made up of a series ofamateur and professional level contests all over the world in which riders can collect points for theTTR World Ranking. While Terje Haakonsens unique Arctic Challenge used to be theculmination and final event of the TTR series, nowadays the male TTR world champions iscrowned each year at the Burton US Open, the female champion at the Roxy Chicken Jam.

From early product innovation to top-notch competitions and a swarm of riders emerging from theregion, Europe has been a huge part of the evolution of snowboarding. In terms of numbers,snowboarders are now well on their way to overtaking skiers on the slopes in Europe. The sporthas matured, and its here to stay.


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THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARDING IN JAPAN

It was 1971 when Shinzo Tanuma, the grandfather of Japanese surfing, took his surfboard,

looked up at the snow-covered mountains and kick-started a new era of Japanese recreation.With his introduction of Japans earliest snowboard, the Japanese got their first glimpse of what isnow one of the fastest growing sports in the world.

But Japans new appetite for snow sliding fun didnt begin to be fulfilled until eight years later,when Pioneer Moss Ltd., Japans first domestic snowboard company, launched the Snowstick.A surfboard for snow, the Snowstick was instantly embraced by the Japanese surfing community.Although the Snowstick took off, its production couldnt keep up with the new sports popularity.Throughout the early 1980s, the demand for good gear was overwhelming.

At the same time, Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of Burton Snowboards, the largest snowboardbrand in the world, was looking to expand his snowboard distribution beyond the US. In 1982,through the newly founded Japanese Snowboarding Association (JSBA), the Japan SnowsurfingAssociation and the Japan Surf Association, Burton Snowboards and other snowboardcompanies began to distribute equipment and gear to Japanese riders.

As sophisticated equipment became increasingly available to riders in Japan, snowboardingsuncontrollable momentum picked up, and the Japan Surf Association and the JSBA recognizedthat this silly fad was not going away. In 1982 they proudly held the first Japanese nationalsnowboarding contests, the All Japan Snowboard Championship and the All Japan SnowsurfingChampionship. It was through these competitions, held in collaboration with the North AmericanSnowboard Association (NASBA), that modern advances in the sport were introduced in Japan.Suddenly, products like the Burton Cruzer, featuring fixed bindings, began appearing in Japan,becoming the first modern snowboards sold there. Also new on the scene was the BurtonExpress. A full-scale alpine race board without a center fin, the Express was another example ofhigh-tech US equipment that made quite an impression in Japan.

While snowboarding was popular, it remained far from mainstream as it struggled to reach allmountains in Japan. Not until the late 1980s did articles focusing on snowboarding begin toappear in surfing and windsurfing magazines, along with several snowboard dealer-issued freepapers. Then in 1989, the first snowboard-specific magazine, Snowstyle, hit the newsstands.Snowstyle featured over 30 snowboarding brands, such as Burton, Sims and Kemper, along withdealer location lists and resort information.

In 1990, snowboarding was established as a profession, with 36 professional snowboardersworldwide recognized by the ISA (International Snowboard Association, predecessor to ISF) andJSBA. Soon, the first international competition, the ISA World Cup, was held at Rusutsu inHokkaido, with a pro tour circuit following the next year. Shortly after, JSBA merged with theJapan Snowsurfing Association and joined the newly established International SnowboardFederation (ISF), forming an establishment that strongly supported the popularization of

snowboarding. That same year, the International Snowboard Federation helped Japans ridersparticipate in international competitions held all over the world.

As Japanese kids became hooked on snowboarding, the number of snowboarders and brandsavailable doubled each year. In 1994, there were 280 snowboarding brands available for 500,000Japanese snowboarders. The snowboarding bug was spreading like a virus, and Japan was notthe only country to encounter the epidemic the phenomenon was traveling throughout theworld. However, not everyone was excited about the stir the sport was creating. Resorts beganto dislike new school snowboarders with their baggy clothes and extravagant board graphics.Skiers sharing the slopes with riders considered them hooligans who scraped the snow off the


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mountain. Many resorts took steps to regulate the slopes, or prohibit snowboarders altogether.

A big push for snowboarding in Japan was introducing the Nippon Open to the scene back in1993. Part of the Burton Global Open Series, a global series of events put on by Burton, theNippon Open has grown from a grassroots event to a global spectacle attracting riders fromaround the world. Like the US Open, the original Open Snowboarding competition, the NipponOpen welcomes all riders to compete, giving locals, amateurs and pros an equal shot at a world-class title. 2007 marked the 15 th year running for the Nippon Open, which continues to be one ofthe most progressive snowboard competitions in Japan.

By the mid-90s, the snowboarding industry in Japan was in complete disarray. Riders,manufacturers and the media wavered between the different snowboarding governingorganizations. Snowboarders themselves struggled with the abundance of equipment targeted atthem by the plethora of manufacturers. As a result, the countrys first snowboard tradeorganization, the Snowboard Industrial Federation of Japan (SBJ), was founded, and it becameapparent that the snowboard industry was maturing by creating a sales network and holdingtradeshows exclusively for retail shops.

Eventually the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized the permanency ofsnowboarding and established it as an Olympic sport. Fdration Internationale de Ski(FIS)and

the Ski Association Japan (SAJ) both announced that competitions for the Olympics were beingheld, and the IOC formally debuted snowboarding at the Nagano Olympic Games in 1998. Withmedia from all over the world tuning into the games, snowboarding became a household sportthat the Japanese public began to recognize and respect.

Even though snowboarding has come a long way from the Japanese Snowstick, the sport is stillevolving in Japan. Unique contests like the Toyota Big Air and the Nissan X-Trail Jam draw aworld-class field of professional riders and thousands of spectators. These events continue tostimulate riders and progress the sport in the region. Japanese pro snowboarders such asTadashi Fuse, Kazu Kokubo, and Junko Asazuma are also pushing the sport forward in Japan asthey win competitions around the world.

Snowboarding technology and culture continues to evolve in Japan, and Burton is there to take

the sport to the next level.


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A SPORTS ROOTS: VERMONTS BURTON SNOWBOARDS

On the outskirts of Burlington, Vermont sits abuilding with an old chair lift spanning theparking lot and a skate ramp out back. This is

the current location of a company whose rootsrun deep into the history of snowboarding.This is Burton Snowboards - the worlds firstsnowboard factory, the home of th irty years ofinnovation and commitment to the sport. Andthis is how it all started.

In the mid-60s, Jake Burton was one of thethousands of kids to start surfing on snow withSherman Poppens Snurfer. It might havebeen only a department store toy, but it wasalso the earliest commercia l form of themodern snowboard. Jake was hooked, andover the years he modi fied Poppens Snurfer.

Jake was convinced that surfing snow had potent ial to grow into something more. He bid theManhattan business world goodbye and moved to Londonderry, Vermont to start shapingsnowboards. The year was 1977, and Jake was about to launch the worlds first snowboard factory,making and r iding h is first boards.

Burton Snowboards early years were a trueexperiment in grassroots business. In its secondyear, Jake moved into a farm house in Manchester,Vermont - the facil ity that went on to produce suchclassic boards as the Backhill and Performer.Working out of the living room, dining room,basement and barn, a crew of four to five peopleproduced, sold and repaired all the early Burtonmodels. Jakes toll-free customer service line rang

in the bedroom at all hours. In the middle of thenight, Jake took down orders from snowboarders allover the country. If orders for boards were low,Jake loaded up his station wagon and visited up toten shops a day offering his latest designs. Fromthe living room/showroom, employees led Safaris- snowboard tours of loc al powder stashes. Turnswere earned by hiking.

In the first few years, snowboarding was an underground sport struggl ing on sledding hi lls and snow-covered go lf courses. As long as riders had to hike, it could on ly progress so far. To move theindustry and riding to the next level, Jake lobbied hard for local ski areas to open their lifts tosnowboarders. in 1982 , Suicide Six Resort in Pomfret, Vermont became the first resort to al lowsnowboarding. Soon after, Jake succeeded in convinc ing Vermonts Stratton Mountain to give it a

shot, thereby establishing a jo int commitment to snowboarding that continues to this day. Othersfol lowed -Jay Peak, Stowe, Sugarbush, Kill ington - some sooner, others much later. The open ingof Eastern resorts led to great growth for the sport. It also became a major factor in Burtonscontinuing product innovation. Edgeless wooden boards that were fine in powder no longer cut iton the hardpack and sometimes icy cond iti ons at Vermont mounta in resorts. To handle thehardpacked snow, Burton developed the Performer Elite, a board with a P-tex base, metal edgesand binding w ith hi-backs.

Burton Snowboards' Current Headquarters


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The early success of the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships further helped legitimize thesport and increase mounta in resort acc eptance. An event for snowboarders, by snowboarders, theOpen started in 1982 with a tight group of Snurfers and snowboarders. Today, i t draws the bestriders in the world year after year and is known in the snowboard community as the biggest

compet ition of the season. It has long been home to legendary riding: Doug Bouton hitting 63m.p.h. on a Backhill snowboard, Craig Ke lly domina ting the pipe wi th his signature smooth riding,Jeff Brushie going head-to-head with huge McTwists, and Kelly Clark becoming the only femalesnowboarder to win the halfpipe three times.

in 1992, Burton Snowboards moved from its Manchester location to its current location inBurlington, Vermont. The move was driven by the same motivation that took Jake from New York toLondonderry to Manchester: a commitment to making the worlds best snowboarding equipmentand apparel and growing the sport. Burlington is Vermont's largest city, and It made sense to moveto a town with more available resources and an international airport.

The same heart that beat years ago in a garage in Londonderry, Vermont still beats strong withinthe ever-expanding walls of Burtons offices around the globe. Two things matter more thananything else: riders and riding.


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BURTON SPORTARTIKEL: THE HISTORY OF

BURTON SNOWBOARDS EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS

In 1985, Hermann Kapferer, who has been the Managing Director of Burton Snowboards EuropeanHeadquarters in Innsbruck, Austria for more than 17 years, made his first turns on a snowboard.Jake Burton was his mentor at the time. Since then, their mutual efforts to progress the sport ofsnowboarding have further united them in friendship.

Jake and Hermann met for the first time at the SIA tradeshow in Las Vegas in 1985. Back then, theBurton booth was not actually a real tradeshow booth. It was more like a single table set up in asmall corner. Working as an agent for a freight forwarding contractor, Hermann was there to delivera sample snowboard to a man named Jake Burton. The board had been manufactured in Europeaccording to Jakes specifications. You instantly know if you connect with another person, saysHermann of his first encounter with Jake. Four weeks later, back in Innsbruck, Hermann received aletter from Jake asking him if he wanted to build up the European distribution of Burton Snowboardswith Jake and his wife Donna.

Hermann agreed and suggested Innsbruck as the site of Burtons European headquarters.Innsbruck had a good infrastructure, an airport and most importantly, mountains. Jake had been toInnsbruck once with Austrian Emo Henrich, owner of the Birkenhaus Hotel at Stratton Mountain.

Jake had once worked at the Birkenhaus, and Emo had been a mentor to Jake for many years.Emo was always encouraging Jake to continue with snowboarding, and he eventually helpedestablish contact between Jake and an Austrian snowboard manufacturer.

In 1985, the first Burton snowboards were shipped to Austria, Germany, France, Norway andSwitzerland. One year later, Jake, Donna and Hermann founded Burton Sportartikel. 150 boardshad already been sold, and the only employee was a pro snowboarder.

While Donna took care of invoicing and exporting, Jake was responsible for sales and marketing.Hermann became managing director and took over all the accounting. The goal of BurtonSportartikel was to grow the sport of snowboarding in Europe a goal that Burton still pursuestoday. Within two years, Burton was already supplying 30 European countries, and the Burtonbrand was established throughout Europe.

Since 1995, Burton Sportartikel has made enormous leaps forward. The companys distributionnetwork has been rearranged. Sales are no longer handled by the importers; instead, everything isshipped directly to specialty shops. This change created the structure needed to keep up with thedemands of a united Europe. The restructuring has also resulted in increased sales, due to thecompanys close proximity to and better presence in Europes individual regional markets.

Many important figures in the European snowboard scene got their equipment and support fromBurton Snowboards Innsbruck in the early 90s. Peter Bauer, Jean Nerva and Pietro Colturi are justa few of the first generation of European pro snowboarders. Aside from the European team, someAustrian riders like Christine Rauter, Dieter Happ, Martin Freinademetz, Tommi Pittracher and MaxPltzender became quite well-known. Hermann dubbed the group the wild bunch, and they werecoached by Andrew Hourmont, todays Air & Style organizer.

The year 2000 brought Europes first and only Burton flagship store, which has been integrated intothe European office.

A large number of Burton events and contest series help promote snowboarding on the continenteven further and push snowboarding on both amateur and professional levels. The work Herrmannonce did alone is done today by several different departments. As of 2007, there are approximately90 employees from 10 different countries at Burton Sportartikel. The Burton European Teamconsists of around 45 riders.

Like Burtons second international headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Burton Sportartikel is a whollyowned subsidiary of Burton Snowboards. While Burton always pays attention to standardizing a


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representation of the brand, it also tailors its efforts to meet the needs of local markets. Today,Burton Sportartikel is one of the leading enterprises in Austria.

Hermann Kapferer describes the motivation to continue developing Burton Sportartikel in his ownwords: It is very exciting to participate in the changes throughout Europe; in the technicaldevelopment, the possibilities the new media provides, and working together with young, openminded people from different cultures. Despite the age difference we can still reduce things to acommon denominator. Snowboarding helps me stay young and acts as a stimulus for me tocontinue working for Burton.


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BURTON JAPAN: THE HISTORY OF BURTON SNOWBOARDS

JAPANESE HEADQUARTERS

In the spring of 2002, Burton Snowboardsmoved from its suburban Urawa location toTokyo. The new office is centrally located inthe district of Shibuya, one of Tokyos hubsof youth culture and shopping. Burton had

the opportunity to design their new buildingfrom the ground up. There are five floors:Gravis is located on the first floor and theProgram and the Financial group are on thesecond. On the third floor is the Operationalteam and on the fourth floor are Sales,Marketing and Analog Clothing. The fifthfloor is devoted to the Burton showroom.The environment on each floor is unique, but there is a definite vein of continuity running throughthe building. Team riders, customers and editorial staff drop by the new office and hang out in alounge area. With its prime location, the new office is now a hub of activity.In 2003, Japan was the first market where snowboarders made up more than 50% of resort

attendees. Its not uncommon to see a lineup of more than 100 people waiting for a store to openso they can get their hands on a limited quantity of a unique product. Burtons place in theJapanese market allowed them to cater specifically to the snowboarders of Japan. Burtonreleases special product models specifically for the Japanese market and issued a pro modelboard to Burton rider Tadashi Fuse. Brand image is critical in Japan, as it is in Europe and NorthAmerica.

In 2007, Burton now has one flagship store in the Harajuku district of Tokyo and will open a newstore in Osaka in the fall of 2007.

In 1995, the Japanese branch of Burton Snowboards wasborn in Urawa, Japan. Burton has always been a rider-

driven company, taking its feedback from riders seriously.By forming Burton Japan, the company had better accessthan ever to Japanese riders needs and opinions. Burtonwas then able to produce better product for thesnowboarders of Japan. The office in Japan also allowedBurton to support their Japanese riders more fully and helpstrengthen snowboardings image overall.

In order to achieve improved distribution and sales inJapan, Burton has taken steps to change its distributionprocess. In 2001, the company introduced a rep system,subdividing sales territories and giving each region to aspecific rep. The new system is what Burton calls the JSN(Japanese Sales Network), and it has modernized theprocess of getting the product into Japans stores in atimely manner. The new strategy was designed with theaim of improving the service and support Burton providesto its dealers and consumers.


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BURTON HISTORY TIMELINE

1977 Jake starts Burton Snowboards in Londonderry, Vermont out of his barn.Burtons first board, the Backhill , is introduced.

1981 Jake moves the factory from Londonderry to his home in Manc hester,Vermont.

1982 The National Snowboarding Championships are organized at Suic ide Six,VT by Paul Graves. Jake and his crew show up and compete on the latestBurton equipment. This is the start of what is to bec ome known as the U.S.Open Snowboarding Championships, now held at Stratton Mounta in, VTevery March.

1983 Both Breckenridge, CO and Stratton Mountain, VT acc ept snowboarding attheir resorts. Stratton Mounta in requires snowboarders to be certified toprove they can make it down the hill before being allowed on the mounta in.

1984 Jake begins development of a Burton outerwear line and moves the businessfrom his home to a larger office in Manchester Center, Vermont.

1985 The European division of Burton Snowboards opens in Innsbruck, Austria.

The Nationa l Snowboarding Championships move to Stratton Mountain,Vermont and become the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships,organized and owned by Burton Snowboards.

Less than 5% of all U.S. mounta in resorts allow snowboarding.

1986 Independent Burton product distribution starts up in New Zealand andAustralia. Over 1,000 retai l shops in the U.S. carry Burton Snowboardsproducts.

1990 Burton sponsored pro riders Peter Bauer, Jean Nerva and Craig Kellyintroduce Burtons first signature boards: The PJ and Craig Ke llys MysteryAir.

1992 The Burton factory relocates to Burlington, Vermont (104 employees).

1994 The Japanese division of Burton Snowboards opens in Urawa-shi.

1995 The Chill foundation is created, giving less fortunate chil dren in urban areasthe opportunity to learn and succeed at snowboarding.

1996 Burton founded R.E.D. Impact Protection, a company dedic ated to theevolution of impact protection by creating he lmets that unite forward-thinking style with the latest technology.

95% of al l U.S. mounta in resorts allow snowboarding.

1998 Burton launches Gravis Footwear, an independent company owned byBurton that creates footwear, bags and accessories rooted in the snowboardand surf l ifestyles.


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Snowboarding premieres as an Olympic Sport in Nagano, Japan. BurtonsRoss Powers and Shannon Dunn capture bronze medals in hal fpipe.Nicola Thost wins the gold medal in the halfpipe compet ition.

Burton introduces LTR (Learn To Ride). Resorts worldwide adopt the newprogram.

2001 Burton launches Anon Optics, a premier optics brand that offers uniquegoggles and sunglasses driven by fashion and the acti on sports lifestyle.

2002 The Olymp ics take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. Burtons Ross Powers andKelly Clark score the gold in the ha lfpipe compet ition. Chris Klug receivesthe bronze in the Parallel Giant Slalom competition.

2003 Burton launches Analog Streetwear, a new apparel line.Burtons Japanese offi ce re loc ates to Tokyo.

2004 Burton opens an office in Southern Cali fornia that houses AnalogStreetwear and staff from Burton and Gravis.

2005 Burton opens a retai l store in New York City in the fall of 2005.

2006 This is a big year for Burton. Burton Global Team riders Hannah Teter andShaun White win Olympic gold medals at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy.Shaun White has a record-breaking season, winning twelve consecutivecompetitions in the 2006 season. In June, Burton purchased the worlds mostprestigious surfboard company, Channel Islands. Founded by Al Merrick in1969, Channel Islands is based in Santa Barbara, California where thecompany shapes boards for many of the worlds best surfers. In Oc tober o f2006, Burton opens its first flagship store in Tokyo Japan.

2007 The US Open Snowboarding Champ ionships celebrates its 25th

Anniversary

at Stratton Mounta in in Vermont. Shaun White and Ke lly Clark win thehalfpipe event. Shaun White and Torah Bright also take home the firstBurton Global Open Series Championship tit le - $100,000 each thelargest single payout in compet itive snowboarding today.


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US OPEN SNOWBOARDING CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

1982 The year it all began. Paul Graves and a tight group of Snurfers and snowboarderscreated the National Snowboarding Championships at a small mountain called Suicide Six in

central Vermont. Jake Burton was there. Doug Bouton ripped the course and won it.

1983 The National Snowboarding Championships was held at Snow Valley, near Manchester,VT. No lifts you hiked to ride. The boards and the riders were getting better and faster.

1984 Snow Valley hosted the event for the second and last time. Andy Coghlan took both themens slalom and downhill events. It was his first of several Open titles he was now the man tobeat.

1985 The event officially became the US Open Snowboarding Championships and moved toStratton Mountain where it still reigns today. Riders rode in speed suits to increase their times.Tom Sims won the mens slalom event while Andy Coghlan defended his downhill title.

1986 The event was gaining popularity faster than anyone expected. Over 200 competitorsshowed up for pre-qualifiers. Andy Coghlan won both the slalom and downhill events, adding tohis growing list of Open titles. The new Burton Cruiser killed it on the slopes.

1987 Craig Kelly was on the scene and won the mens slalom event.

1988 The halfpipe made its debut at the US Open and was immediately deemed the standardfor all other competitive halfpipes to follow. Craig Kelly captured the Overall title. An ice stormturned the hill into concrete the night before the event began.

1989 The press started to show up not just the locals and the snowboard magazines, butmedia from all over. Craig Kelly won his first US Open halfpipe title and the last US Open downhill

competition.

1990 Terje Haakonsen made his debut in the US Open Halfpipe on a Micro Air. He was upagainst tough competition, including Craig Kelly, Shaun Palmer and Jeff Brushie. Craig Kelly wonthe halfpipe title again for the second year in a row.

1991 The rider and crowd size doubled. Janna Meyen beat out reigning champ Tina Basich inthe womens halfpipe. With bigger pipe walls, lots of riders threw down inverts for the first time ina competition.

1992 It just kept getting bigger and better. Terje exploded onto the scene and took the MensHalfpipe with control and amplitude, beating out Brushie, who was on his new Burton pro model.Tricia Byrnes won the womens halfpipe, edging out reigning champ Janna Meyen.

1993 Fresh snow and bluebird skies what could be better? Shannon Dunn emerged on thescene. Terje rode his first Burton pro model to a second consecutive halfpipe victory. And whatdid Jake have to say? The best thing about the US Open is that anyone from Terje Haakonsento a 10-year-old kid from New Jersey gets to ride and hang out with their friends in a rider-controlled environment. Tell it like it is, Jake.

1994 The crowds and riding were huge. Shannon Dunn and Todd Richards dominated thehalfpipe contests. Terje sat this year out with an ankle injury.


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1995 The Big Air contest made its debut at the Open. Terje triumphantly returned and won theMens Halfpipe for a third time. Victoria Jealouse appeared on the scene and won the WomensSuper G.

1996 This was the year the face of competitive snowboarding changed forever. It was

announced that snowboarding would be featured in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.Snowboarding was here to stay, and the US Open was bigger and better than ever. Peter Lineand Cara-Beth Burnside took home the Big Air crowns. And Jimi Scott and Satu Jarvela won thehalfpipe competitions.

1997 The halfpipe event drew a massive crowd of more than 10,000 spectators. Todd Richardsnarrowly edged out current Halfpipe World Champion Terje Haakonsen, while Barret Christy ruledthe womens pipe contest. The Big Air Finals saw huge inverted airs. It just kept getting bigger.

1998 The Year of the Mist. It was so damn foggy, you couldnt see from the top to the bottom ofthe pipe. Mike Michalchuk threw down an unthinkable double backflip and Terje pulled out amammoth final run. But nobody could top Rob Kingwell, whose smooth and consistent ridingearned him the halfpipe title. Nicola Thost had just won the first Olympic halfpipe contest and

went on to win the US Open halfpipe title. The Boardercross competition made its debut at theOpen as well.

1999 Hometown hero Ross Powers stole the show and won the Halfpipe contest with hugeMcTwists and 900s. Nicola Thost won the womens halfpipe title for the second year running.

2000 The new millennium brought the first Superpipe to the US Open a 300-foot long monsterwith 15-foot walls. This was the year of Canadian domination in the halfpipe Guillaume Morissetand Natasza Zurek made Canada proud with their winning pipe runs.

2001 Danny Kass took the coveted halfpipe title this year, edging out Vermonts Abe Teter bytwo-tenths of a point. And for the second straight year, Natasza Zurek dominated the womenspipe contest, bringing home another title.

2002 Just one month after snowboarding dominated the Olympics, the US Open went downwith more media and spectator attention than ever before. Over 30,000 people descended onStratton. It was the first time most of the Olympians had competed against each other since theexplosive event in Salt Lake City. Danny Kass may have gotten silver at the Olympics, but hewasnt about to settle for second at the Open. He defended his title and won the Halfpipe eventfor the second year running. Kelly Clark kept her gold streak alive, winning both the Quarterpipeand Halfpipe events at the Open.

2003 It was a year of firsts. The Open held its first Rail Jam ever, won by Travis Rice. TheOpen was broadcast live on television for the first time. And Philips was the first title sponsor ofthe US Open. Ross Powers joined the elite group of two-time US Open halfpipe champions,winning the event in a tight final competition. Gretchen Bleiler dominated the womens halfpipecompetition. Shaun White won the Slopestyle event, and Hannah Teter won the best overall rideraward at the Open, driving away in a pimped out Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

2004 The 22nd

annual US Open was filled with landmark moments. Women competed in the railjam for the first time with Leanne Pelosi claiming the top spot. Kelly Clark won the halfpipe eventand joined the elite group of two-time US Open halfpipe champions, increasing her winning streakto six major contest titles in the 2003/2004 season alone. Terje Haakonsen made a surpriseappearance at the Open, treating the tens of thousands fans at the halfpipe contest to onepoached run after another. Up-and-comers Priscilla Levac and Jake Blauvelt won the slopestyle


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contest, both claiming the first major contest titles of their careers. And snowboarding history wasmade when Danny Kass threw down one of the best runs of his career, becoming one of only tworiders in the events 22-year history to win three US Open halfpipe titles. Danny also went homewith the Overall Champion title, winning a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

2005 The 2005 US Open definitely left its mark on the snowboarding history books. Danny

Kass became the first rider ever to win four US Open halfpipe titles. It was Tricia Byrnes 16

th

consecutive year competing at the Open. Janna Meyen won her first US Open title since she wonthe womens halfpipe contest in 1991. And for the first time ever, three siblings - Abe, Elijah andHannah Teter - all made it to the halfpipe finals. Eddie Wall, Leanne Pelosi, Danny Kass,Gretchen Bleiler, Risto Mattila and Janna Meyen all earned championship titles in the rail jam,halfpipe and slopestyle respectively. Risto Mattila won the mens Volvo Best Performance Awardfor his sixth place standing in the mens halfpipe finals and his victory in the slopestyle contest.And Leanne Pelosi won the Volvo for the ladies after her first place win in the rail jam, competingin the halfpipe semifinals and placing second in the slopestyle contest. Both riders won the keysto a new Volvo V50 Sport Wagon.

2006 The 24th Annual US Open wrapped up with Hana Beaman and Shaun White winning theslopestyle finals and a bag of loot that included $20,000 cash and a plane ticket to the next Openevent in the contest series - the Burton New Zealand Open. Shaun White officially broke allknown snowboarding records when he won the slopestyle event, which was his twelfthconsecutive victory in the 2006 season alone. Shaun's unbeatable skills and Hana's two wins atthe event earned them the Volvo Most Valuable Rider award and the keys to a Volvo C70convertible. Up-and-coming riders Chas Guldemond and Ellery Hollingsworth claimed the Ski-Doo Outstanding Rookie Award and each won a Ski-Doo Freestyle Snowmobile. And MathieuCrepel was crowned the Global Ticket To Ride (TTR) Tour Men's Champion.

2007 A very special year for the U.S. Open, 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of the event.Shauns third place finish in slopestyle and first place finish in halfpipe scored him the Volvo. AndTorahs second place finish in slopestyle, third place finish and Best Trick award in halfpipeclinched the Volvo keys for her. Shaun and Torah had impressive pay days at this years USOpen. Both riders earned $100,000 each when they won the first ever Burton Global Open Series(BGOS) championship title. In addition to the Volvo and the $100,000 BGOS title, Torah toke

home $10,000 from slopestyle, $5,000 for her halfpipe third place finish and an additional $5,000and a Nintendo Wii system for scoring the Best Trick in the halfpipe finals. Shaun also made apretty penny over the weekend, earning $5,000 in slopestyle, $20,000 in halfpipe plus the$100,000 BGOS title and the Volvo.. Not bad for a couple days of work.


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BURTON COMPANY FACTS

Contents: Page:

Top 13 Things You Need To Know About Burton

Beyond Snowboards: Burtons Family of Brands

How Snowboard Graphics Get Created

BMC Factory Tour

Facts on Chill Burtons Non-Profit Learn to Snowboard Program

Burtons Resort Programs Fact Sheet

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TOP 13 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BURTON

1. JAKE

Jake Burton Carpenter has dedicated over 30 years of his life to snowboarding. He foundedBurton in 1977 and has played a vital role in transitioning snowboarding from a backyardhobby to a world-class sport. In the early years, the business was based out of Jakes Vermontbarn and he delivered boards out of his station wagon. Jake is Burtons most avid producttester and rides over 100 days per year.

2. THE INDUSTRY LEADER

Burton has fueled the growth of snowboarding worldwide through its groundbreaking productlines, its grassroots efforts to get the sport accepted at resorts and its team of topsnowboarders. Burton dominates the snowboard industry worldwide with globa l headquartersin Burlington, Vermont and international offices in Innsbruck, Austria and Tokyo, Japan.

3. PRIVATELY HELDBurton is a privately held company owned by Jake. Because it is privately owned, Burtondoes not release financial information.

4. WORLDS TOP PRO RIDERS

Burton supports a team of many of the worlds best snowboarders. From ha lfp ipecompet itions and slopestyle contests to snowboard video parts and backcountry descents inAlaska, Burtons team dominates all aspects of snowboarding. Burton sponsors riders who arein the earliest days of their careers to the best pros in the world like Shaun White, Ni colasMller, Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark.

5. RIDER-DRIVEN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Riders are involved in each step of the produc t development process at Burton. Pro ridersgive product managers feedback on everything from the ride and flex of a board to thecolor of bootlaces and the texture of jacket linings.

6. FAMILY OF BRANDS

Since 1996, Burton has both started and acquired i ndependent companies that have theirown indiv idual ident ities and product of ferings. As Burton grows, so does its fami ly ofbrands. Founded in 1996, R.E.D. is dedicated to the evolution of impact protection bycreating helmets that unite forward-thinking style with the latest technology. Gravis startedin 1998 and creates footwear, bags and accessories rooted in the snowboard and surflifestyles. Anon is a premier optics brand that began in 2001 and offers unique goggles andsunglasses driven by fashion and the action sports lifestyle. Analog launc hed its first apparelline in the fall of 2003 and is currently based in Irvine, California. In 2004, Burton acquiredCaliforn ia-based snowboard brands Forum Snowboards, Spec ia l B lend, Foursquare and

Jeenyus and collectively named these brands The Program. In 2006, Burton purchasedthe worlds most prestigious surfboard company, Channel Islands. Founded by Al Merrick in1969, Channel Islands is based in Santa Barbara, California where the company shapesboards for many of the worlds best surfers. Like their parent company Burton, al l Burton-owned companies support teams of professional athletes who drive the productdevelopment process.

7. MORE THAN SNOWBOARDSBurton makes everything for snowboarders to enjoy the ride and look good on and off thehil l. From snowboards, boots and b ind ings to travel bags, belts and apparel, Burton knows


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what riders need. Burtons special collections include the high-end Mark XIII outerwear line,Idiom outerwear line, Burton Apparel and B by Burton collection for women.8. EVENTS

Burtons world class annual snowboard competitions include the Burton Global Open Seriesand the Abominable Snow Jam. The Burton Global Open Series is an international seriesof snowboard competit ions organized and owned by Burton Snowboards that al lows riders of

all skill levels to compete for a chanc e to win an overall c hampionship title. TheAbominable Snow Jam grew out of the same rider-driven mentality that makes the Opensthe cen ter of snowboarding events worldwide. A summer competition held at Timberl ineResort in Mount Hood, Oregon, the Abominable Snow Jam brings riders together for a laid-back summer contest on the glacier. In addition to snowboard competitions, Burton alsoruns one of the largest product demo tours in the industry.

9. BURTON RETAIL STORES

Burton has a select group of flagship stores around the world. Burton stores are currently locatedat the companys global headquarters in Burlington, Vermont and at the Burton Europeanheadquarters in Innsbruck, Austria. Burton opened its first urban location in New York CitysSoHo district in 2005. In 2006, Burton opened its first store in Japan in the Harajuku district ofTokyo. In the fall of 2007, Burton opened three new stores: one in the Gold Coast shoppingdistrict of Chicago; the companys first store dedicated to surfing, skateboarding andsnowboarding in Los Angeles on Melrose Avenue near Crescent Heights Boulevard and a newstore in Osaka, Japan. Burton also has an outlet store in Wrentham, MA. Burton-owned GravisFootwear has a freestanding store in Tokyo just three blocks away from the Burton Tokyo store.

10. GIVING BACK

In 1995, Burton started Chil l, a non-profit foundation that works to improve the self-esteem,confidence and resilience of at-risk youth by teaching them how to snowboard. For sixweeks, Chill takes kids out of cit ies and into mountain resorts where they learn to snowboard,get a break from everyday life and meet new friends and mentors. The program providesChill participants with everything they need for the experience: lift tickets, instruction, bustransportation and head-to-toe gear. Through Chi ll , thousands of inner-city and at-risk kidsexperience the outdoors, develop valuable life skills and have the opportunity to succeed ata sport. Since its inception, Chill has touched the lives of over 12,500 kids in NorthAmerica.

11. LEARN TO RIDE

In 1998, Burton created the Learn To Ride (LTR) program by teaming up with the Americanand Canadian Associat ion of Snowboard Instructors and resorts around North America,Europe and Japan. At the time, Burton was the only snowboard company in the industry tofocus on instruction methods and beginner-specific equipment. The goa l of LTR is to givebeginner snowboarders the best learning experienc e possible by using a proven instruct ionmethod and equipment created specifi cal ly for beginners. There are now several Learn ToRide programs including Adult, Womens, Kids and Freestyle Centers aimed at helpingpeople learn or progress their riding skills.

12. POWDER DAYS AND DOGSBringing your dog to the offi ce and skipping work when it snows more than two feet are two

of the best benefits of working at Burton. The dogs are some of Burtons most valuedemployees, and a free seasons pass at Vermont-area resorts keeps Burton employees onsnow all winter long.

13. DONNA

Besides her husband, Jake Burton Carpenter, Donna Carpenter has been invo lved wi thBurton longer than anyone. In 1984, Donna offic ial ly became Burtons first European Salesand Operations Manager and successfully expanded the companys market to the Europeancontinent. After five years of managing the European market, Donna returned to the Statesand became CFO of Burton for three years until she started her own gourmet food business


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in Stowe, Vermont. Recently, Donna has focused her energy and experience on takingBurtons long-standing commitment to womens product, team and staff to the next level.Through Donnas leadership, Burton established new womens marketing, product andcreative departments to drive the womens business this is criti ca l to making product thatwomen are stoked about. For women who work at Burton, Donna has led the charge tocreate committees and programs that make sure womens voices are heard at a ll levels ofthe company. Burton also has progressive maternity and chi ldcare benefits so that women

and parents can continue to grow at Burton while theyre growing their families. Donnaspersonal m ission is to teach any woman at Burton who doesnt ride how to snowboard. Ontop of al l this, she has three sons, a pack of dogs and Jake to look after.


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BEYOND SNOWBOARDS: BURTONS FAMILY OF BRANDS

Over the years, Burton Snowboards has started independent companies that have their ownindividua l i dentities and product offerings. In addit ion, Burton has also acquired severalboardsports companies. Heres a brief overview of the companies that are a part of the Burton

family of brands

R.E.D. - Rider Engineered DevicesFounded in 1996, R.E.D. is dedicated to the evolution of impact protection byoffering products that revolutionize the balance of style, fit and techno logy.Driven by the creative influenc es of those pushing the ir personal l im its, R.E.D. istransforming tradi tion by inspiring riders with forward thinking style and the latesttechnology.

For more information, visit www.redprotection.com.

Gravis FootwearSince 1998, Gravis has been creating alternative footwear and bags that bridgethe gap between act ion sports function and streetwear style. Gravis deserves itscreative inspiration from sport, classic design, contemporary music and urbanart and combines these elements into every product it makes. Working closelywith a team of professional snowboarders, surfers, musicians and artists, Gravisdevelops shoes and bags that are the perfect accessories for todays activelifestyle.

For more in formation on Gravis, please visit www.gravisfootwear.com

Anon OpticsFounded in 2001, ANON's goal is to become the premiere optics brand byoffering unique optics solutions driven by fashion, lifestyle and the creativeinfluence of couture tastemakers.

Visit anonopti cs.com for more information.

Analog ClothingCreated In 1999 as an outerwear style lab within Burton, Analog is now a clothingcompany based in Irvine, California whose only goal is to create outside the lines andpush creativity and individuality in skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding. Analogoffers a simple concept: to be open to more than one idea, consistently deliver theinconsistent and forge unlikely offerings to the status quo.

Check out the new line at www.analogclothing.c om.

The Program*In 2004, Burton acquired California-based snowboard brands ForumSnowboards, Special Blend, Foursquare and Jeenyus and collectively namedthese brands The Program. The Program has established itself as one of theleading manufacturers for all things snowboarding with each brand carefull y owning toa unique identity in the marketplace.

Channel IslandsIn 2006, Burton purchased the worlds most prestigious surfboard company,Channel Islands. Founded by Al Merrick in 1969, Channel Islands is based inSanta Barbara, California where the company shapes boards for many of theworlds best surfers.


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HOW SNOWBOARD GRAPHICS GET CREATED

For the most part, graphics are the first featuresthat catch a persons eye when they check outboards at a shop. But its important to rememberthat theres a lot more to a snowboard than itsgraphics kind of like the old saying you cantjudge a book by its cover. Building a snowboardwith the best raw materials, shapes andtechnological advancements is Burtons top priority.But we also spend a lot of time and energy on

designing progressive graphics that add elementsof style, variety and individuality to the ever-expanding line of snowboards Burton produces.

PART ONE: IDEAS TO PICTURES

The graphics process starts with Burton teamriders, who brainstorm what look and feel theywould like to see on a board or board series.Riders with signature boards, such as JussiOksanen, Jeremy Jones, Shaun White and the

un..inc crew, have complete control of the graphicsthat will be displayed on their board. For other fullmodel board series, such as the Custom, T6,Feelgood and Troop, riders work with designersand the board design team on graphic conceptdevelopment. Many times, riders add in uniquepersonal touches.

Ideas are sketched out as riders and designersdiscuss concepts and possible artists to createimagery. In some cases, riders themselves cometo the table with an entire graphic concept in mind subject matter, placement, colors, type and detail

and they just need a designer or artist to execute it.

While the riders and designers are coming up withconcepts, the Burton boards crew, factories andprotoshop are developing a menu of technicalgraphic applications for the designers to use andintegrate into their designs as they see fit (i.e.,holograms, metal inlays, new inks, etc.).

If youve wondered how new graphics are created each year for more than 140 of the best snowboardsin the world, this is how the magic happens from start to finish. Team riders, designers and the Burton

board crew all spend months conceptualizing, revising and finally executing the graphics that grace thetopsheets and bases of the Burton snowboard line.


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SERIES 13: CUSTOMIZED BOARD GRAPHICS

Snowboarding is all about individual style and expressionfrom the way you ride to your stickerjob on your snowboard. New to the Burton line in 2005, the Series 13 program allows riders totake control of the graphics that appear on their snowboard. Instead of just slapping stickers orstencils on a board, riders can customize artwork, finish, sidewall colors and base design.Upload your own image to the Series 13 website and incorporate it into the topsheet graphic,design a one-of-a-kind laser-etched leather board, or customize your board with graphics fromretro Burton designs. Eleven high-end Burton models are available for customization, as areseveral limited-edition models offered only in Series 13. Each board also comes with a metalnameplate inlay that riders can have engraved as they wish. You dont even have to leave thecomfort of your own home to design your board the Series 13 program is all done over the web.

The Series 13 boards are built by hand at Burton Manufacturing Center, located a few short milesfrom Burtons global headquarters in Burlington, VT. After the boards are complete, they areshipped to a participating Burton Authorized Dealer of your choice for pickup. A leatherboardbag, certificate of authenticity and a personally signed certificate from Jake Burton are alsopart of the package. With Series 13 board graphic possibilities are endless.

PART TWO: PICTURES TO SNOWBOARDS

When the comps are ready, the riders get together with the boardcrew and choose the final designs. The process gets prettytechnical, but basically it goes like this: the designer makes animage of the graphic that is exactly the same size and shape asthe board it needs to fit on. Then come the films, which separatethe picture into layers of color. Finally, the films get made intosilk-screens, which, in most cases, is how the graphics areapplied to the boards.

The actual screening process varies, but all the graphics areapplied in a climate controlled, dust-free room, using special inksand epoxies that are custom built for maximum visual effect,bonding strength and durability. Each color is allowed to drycompletely before the next coat is applied, which is why theyhave to do a lot of screen prints separately, with new screens andinks. The layering of the graphics and application process is whatmakes the end result so dynamic.

Its a time-consuming process, but thats how you get so manyfresh graphics to choose from when its time to get out and ride.

Once an overall concept is dialed, the designers head into the studio where they bring theconcepts to life and put imagery together in snowboard shapes. This means puttingtogether all the right subjects, sizes, colors, typefaces, textures, drawings and more. Italso means keeping in constant contact with the riders along the way. Several times ayear, the riders fly all over the world to sit face to face with the board design team and

designers. Together, they look at whats been developed and set the direction for laterrounds of a graphic. It takes a while, but eventually everything gels. By the end of theprocess, the designers have a whole pile of snowboard graphics on paper, in full color.These are called com rehensives or com s.


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BURTON MANUFACTURING CENTER FACTORY TOUR

So you want to know how we make our snowboards? Well, welcome to the Burton

Manufacturing Center(BMC). This is one of many manufacturing centers that produce Burtonsnowboards worldwide, and the center closest to the main hub of Burton business. At BMC, weproduce several of the most innovative and high-tech boards, such as the Vapor, T6, Custom Xand Feelgood ES series, as well as our customized board program, Series 13. Were alwaysworking to make better boards and to improve the production process. More than 40 peoplehandle each board as it moves from the start of production to finish. At every stage of themanufacturing process, each station performs a number of quality control checks. Its a lot ofwork, but it pays off on the mountain.

INSERTSInserts are the metal screw holes used to secure bindingsto the board. The inserts need to be attached to the coreso they have the strength to stay in place while on snow.A thin foil layer covers the screw holes to prevent them

from being filled with lacquer in later steps.

Burton released a new mounting system in 2008 calledthe Infinite Channel System (ICS) which consists of twonarrow slots on the board. The ICS is an evolution of our3D mounting technology. Two simple slots on the boardin place of the previous screw mounts allow for infinitestance width and angle adjustability.

CORESBack in the day, Jake Burton started making hissnowboards from wood. Today, a lot has changed interms of board composition, but our boards still have firm

roots in the past. Many snowboards we make have aspecially designed Engineered Grain Direction (EGD)wood core that determines its riding characteristics. EGDmeans that wood grain is placed at different angles anddirections within the core to provide the right combinationof edge grip and support, without compromising anydeep-snow feel. These wood cores come to the factoryin huge stacks of rectangular sheets. The first step intransforming the sheets into a board core is done in theassembly section of BMC, where holes are drilled for theinserts.

Another type of core used in board construction is the

Alumafly core which uses high-grade, lightweightaluminum instead of wood. Exclusive to the Vapor andT6, Alumafly cores are profiled tip-to-tail aluminumhoneycomb cores that are very lightweight andresponsive on snow.A wood snowboard core.

Inserts


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ASSEMBLED WOOD CORE AND SIDESAfter the insert holes are drilled, the sheet of wood is then sanded down to the appropriatethickness and trimmed into a snowboard shape. Once it takes on the shape of a snowboard core,we staple poly tip and tail protectors and ABS sidewalls to the wood core. These are pieces ofplastic, attached to the side edges of the core, designed to provide a waterproof barrier betweenthe wood and the snow. We also add a sheet of fiberglass around the inserts to prepare theboard for the assembly department.

SCREEN PRINTOur boards dont just ride well they also look great.To make the topsheet graphics, we screen the designonto a thin plastic sheet. Each color in the graphichas an individual screen, so complex graphics take a

lot of time and resources to create. The more intricateand colorful a board graphic is, the more screens, inkcolors and time are required to prepare thesetopsheets for assembly.

In addition to screen printing, we also use a die-cutprocess for base graphics. This means that we usetwo or more P-Tex colors and cut out differentdesigns in each sheet. Then the different sections ofthe die-cut are pieced together like a puzzle. The2008 Supermodel is a great example of a die-cutbase. The die-cut process results in bold colors andcrisp lines that will stand up to wear and tear. For

bases with intricate designs and shading, we use ascreening process similar to the one we use fortopsheets.

ASSEMBLY CARTOnce the bases are prepared and the graphics are finished, all of these items are placed on acart to be assembled. These carts contain the topsheets, the bottom P-Tex sheets, metal edges,gummies (thin strips of paper-like material that help seal the board components together) andwood cores.

ASSEMBLING BOARDSThe people in the lay-up section of the assembly department then begin building the boards fromthe components on the cart. Simply put, assembling a board is like making a big sandwich. The

first step is to place the base sheet onto the bottom of the press, which is a flat, metal sheet.

Next, metal edges are placed snugly around the base. Then, gummies are placed along the metaledge and are coated with resin to form a permanent seal between the metal edge and the rest ofthe snowboard. A sheet of fiberglass is then laid over the bottom assembly. This sheet issmothered with resin/hardener, making it very sticky. The wood core assembly is then placed ontop and a bit more resin/hardener is added to wet down the gummies and fiberglass around theinserts.

A screen used in the screen printing process.


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The gummies are placed on the horizontal edges of the board to help keep the ABS edges andwood parts of the core together. On top of this, another sheet of fiberglass is added, which lookslike a shiny, thick cloth, and smother it with resin/hardener. The last component of the board isthe topsheet, which is laid on top before securing the top of the press in place.

PRESSBuilding a perfect board is not as simple asletting these board sandwiches dry. Forone thing, the tip and tail would be straightinstead of curved,and they would be full ofbubbles because the materials wouldnt beproperly pressed together. The boardsneed to be put into our presses to givethem the right shape. Since Burton wasone of the first mass snowboard producers,we spent a lot of time paving the way anddeveloping our own production equipment.There are twelve presses at BMC, each

with precise specifications for makingdifferent board models and sizes.

TRIM AND SHAPEAfter the boards come out of the press, they still have a lot of excess material, since rectangularsheets of fiberglass and plastic are used, as well as overlap material in the sidewall attached to

the core. The trim and shape section of theassembly department removes this excessmaterial.

In trim and shape, the boards are put on a long,narrow table with suction cups. The suctioncups hold the board securely so workers can

use jig and band saws to get rid of the extramaterial by hand. One wrong cut and a boardmust be scrapped. Before leaving assembly, weclosely examine the boards to make sure therequired edge width remains and the board isfree of defects.

WET GRINDAfter being trimmed and shaped, the boards go to the wet grind station. There, the base and topsheets are run through grinding machines. In total, the boards are run through seven machinesto smooth out their tops and prepare them for lacquering. This process also begins to prepare the

bottom of the board for riding.

INFINITE RIDEThanks to Infinite Ride Technology, we manufacture snowboards that maintain a consistentfeel, season after season, with enhanced durability. During this process, we put each boardthrough conditions similar to those you would experience during a season on snow. Think of itthis way: just as some car manufacturers run the engines on their cars for 1,000 miles before youeven drive it off the floor, we overbuild a board and put it through a performance-enhancingprocess that allows it to retain its shape and ride characteristics over the course of its lifetime.Straight from the shop to snow, every season, your board will perform on another level.

A board inside the press.

A board being trimmed with a jig saw.


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LACQUERThe lacquer process begins with the boards going through a cleaning machine that removes anydebris that could prevent a smooth lacquer finish. Next, the board is put through a lacqueringmachine that first sprays its top with lacquer, then transports it through different hardeningprocesses. Burton is one of the few snowboard companies that does lacquering, so this part ofBMC is very unique among snowboard manufacturers.

DRYERAfter the lacquering machine, the board is put into the big dryer room where warm wind helpscomplete the drying process over the course of another eight to ten hours.

FINAL QCAfter lacquering, the board is ready for its lastcheck in the final QC (quality control) part ofthe BMC. This is where the finishing touchestake place, like trimming the sidewalls so thatthey are slanted inwards towards the top.

CHECKING INSERTSThe next important step in the process istapping the remaining 14 insert holes. Weplace guides over the insert holes and amachine taps them accurately. After theholes are tapped, we check the holes tomake sure they are as deep and strong asthey are supposed to be.

SANDING EDGESAfter the inserts are checked, the boards go to the wet-grind section of final QC. Here, to get ridof any burrs left from the initial cutting in trim/shape, we sand the board edges.

WET GRINDNext, we run the board through more wet-grind machines to perfect the base surface so it holdswax and rides well. After this is done, we inspect the boards to ensure that they are ready to betuned and packaged. We check inserts, sidewalls and lacquer again for quality and defects. We

also check the edge width to make sure it is wide enough to giveyou seasons of riding.

TUNEROnce the boards are checked, they are sent to the factory tuner,fondly known as Moto Man. This enormous robot makes itpossible to give a uniform, dependable tune, so every boardleaves with a precise factory tune. A board like the Custom X

needs a different tune than a womens board like the Feelgood ES.So Moto Man can be programmed to tune each board modeldifferently, depending on its specs. Workers simply slide the boardin on the front rollers next to the robot and Moto Mans bigmechanical arm grabs it and runs it through machinery, giving itperfect riding edge while detuning the tip and tail. An impressivepiece of equipment, Moto Man required a lot of brainpower tocreate and program.

Checking inserts.

Moto Man tuning a board.


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WAXAfter the board is tuned, we send it to the waxing station. Here, we have special machines thatapply just the right amount of wax to each board, ensuring the perfect ride right out of the box.

EDGE AND PACKAGEThe final step involved in getting boardsready to sell are removing excess waxthat may have splattered on their top orsides during the production process. Wethen bag each board.

ADDITIONAL QUALITY CONTROLEach week, before any shipment ofsnowboards leaves the factory, boardsare selected at random and checked by

an independent Quality ControlInspector, who double-checks to ensurethat each board meets the highstandards Burton expects of its product.

WORK HARD, RIDE HARDMaking Burton Snowboards requires a lot of hard work and physical labor. Luckily for the BMCworkers, Burton gives them a season pass at Stowe and access to equipment they can demo forfree. A good powder day makes all the hard work worth it.

.

Boards in the final quality control check.


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Chill Learn-to-Ride ProgramFact Sheet

Who We AreChill is an international non-profit foundation dedicatedto improving the self-esteem, confidence and

resilience of at-risk and inner-city youth by teachingthrough boardsports: snowboarding, skateboardingand surfing. By learning a boardsport successfullythrough Chill, kids accomplish goals they neverthought were attainable. They also learn some of themost important lessons in life patience, persistence,responsibility, courage, integrity and pride - all throughpositive adult role models who treat the kids withrespect and encouragement. Every year, Chill takesover 100 kids from each city to the slopes, beachesand skate parks and provides them with everythingthey need to learn to ride: lift tickets, lessons,transportation, and head-to-toe gear.

Our HistoryChill was founded by Burton Snowboards in 1995 in Burlington, Vermont to bring snowboarding to kids whootherwise wouldnt have the opportunity. The program had such an immediate and profound impact that theprogram was brought to new cities each year to spread Chill to as many kids as possible. Chill currentlyoperates snow programs in over 14 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Australia that will reach well over 2000 kidsin 2007-2008 alone. Chill is currently expanding skate and surf programs to Los Angeles, North Carolina,Florida, New Hampshire and Chicago.

Who We ServeChill serves youth who are challenged by a multitude of issues: youth in group homes and foster care; withaddictions; from the juvenile justice system; from alternative schools and community centers; those strugglingwith drugs, violence, excessive anger or depression. Many of the kids have never left their cities, even theirneighborhoods, and most have never been to the mountains. Chill gives all of these kids the chance to shedtheir labels ofaddict, delinquent, troublemakerorunderachiever, and, through boardsports find their ownsuccess in life.

What Our Partner Agencies SayChill works with about 20 agencies serving at-risk and underprivileged youth in each city. These agenciesreport that Chill helps their kids achieve more in school, reach out to others, improve their attitudes and interestin life, stick to drug and alcohol treatment programs, overcome severe depression and achieve goals where theyhave struggled before. One social worker says, Chill is a great example of something that is working and thatdoes help in our community. It combines therapy with real life experiences that put what they are learning intopractice. An agency chaperone said, It is exciting and extremely rewarding to be able to see changes in [thekids]. We really can recognize the benefits of this program.

What the Kids Say

Many kids that have participated in Chill say they now feel they can do anything. Eduardo from the Los AngelesChill program says, These six weeks were the best! I learned how to do things I thought were not possible.And Stephania from Toronto said, [Chill] has made me more confident and helped me to be a better person, inthe sense that I can do anything I put my mind to.

Who Funds UsAbout half of funding and all equipment comes from Chills founder, Burton Snowboards. Corporations,foundations and individuals generously donate the rest. With administrative costs making up just 13% of theoverall budget, donors know their funds go directly towards changing the lives of underprivileged kids throughthe vehicles of snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing.

Balt imore

BostonBurl ington

ChicagoDenverLos AngelesNew York C i tyPort landPrince GeorgeSalt Lake CitySeatt le

TorontoVancouverWashington D.C.


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2008 BURTON RESORT PROGRAMSJake Burton Carpenter takes snowboarding very seriously. It is his life and passion. Over 10years ago he set out to develop a program that would make snowboarding easier to learn forbeginners. Working with key resorts and instructors, Burton developed specially designedequipment and programs tested with real students in actual lessons. The programs andequipment have been refined since 1998 and keep getting better year after year.

Burton has always recognized how important it is to get new people into the sport and make suretheir experience is a good one. Without the support of resorts, the sport of snowboarding couldnever have grown. And without snowboarding, resorts would have lost out on a significantamount of business. To ensure the future growth of the sport, Burton has created severalprograms to help resorts attract and retain snowboarders.

LEARN TO RIDEIn 1998, Burton Snowboards created the Learn To Ride (LTR) products and programs andbecame the only snowboard company in the industry to focus on beginner-specific equipmentand instruction methods. The LTR program was developed in conjunction with resorts andinstruction organizations around the world, including the American Association of SnowboardInstructors (AAS

Back in the Day - An In-Depth Look At The History of Snowboarding And Burton Snowboard

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