sea to sky made (part 2) [pique]
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STO
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44Feature
STO
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44Feature
I
n last weeks
feature, tobias c.
van Veen tracked
down local ski
builders in Whistler and
Pemberton, discussing the
economics of small-scale
production in high-end
sports equipment. Many
builders felt that a
shared industrial space
would allow them to take
their designs to the next
level. In the concluding
installment, tobias talks
to local snowboard and
splitboard makers.
Sea to SkyMade
Part two: our sagacontinues with snowboardmakers & splitters
Story and Photos bytobias c. van Veen
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Feature STORY
People in the Valley are good at making
and doing things. Nowhere is this more
apparent than on the fringes of Whistlers
hub; a quick survey of the Pemberton
phonebook reveals a slew of entrepreneurial
types, from landscapers to photographers.While these artisans and trades support
something of the bigger beast of tourism,
most long-term locals are self-starters, setting
up shop, and selling a service or product.
Many workers in the Valley are multi-skilled,
juggling numerous jobs depending on the
season. Nearly everyone around these parts
has figured out a way to work and play in
the Sea to Sky corridor by fulfilling some sort
of niche.
Over the past couple of years, a motley
though dedicated band of local ski and
snowboard makers, have gained momentum
propelled by declining technology prices,
trickle-down mechanical innovations,
and information sharing through social
media, thanks to maker-websites such asskibuilders.com. Yet the desire to craft skis
and boards, to create local, handmade,
artisanal shapes for riding on snow, though
it follows upon similar developments in the
surfing community, can only be understood
if its economics are contextualized within
a thriving snowsports culture that has
embraced a Do-it-Yourself ethos.
Freesking and ski-touring have once
again upended the ski industry, with
innovations in rocker design those crazily
turned-up shapes sweeping across all
styles of ski. Splitboarding, though it has
been around for close to 20 years, is seeing
a strong resurgence, if not renaissance, as
snowboarders strive to keep apace with their
ski-touring cousins. The Sea to Sky is not
alone in this respect; across North America
a wave of smaller-scale ski and snowboard
makers have begun to make inroads into
the broader snowsports industry, redefining
the whole through the diverse sum of their
many parts.
PRIOR all thathas happenedwill happenagain
If there is a Big Bang moment for modern ski
and snowboard construction in the Sea to
Sky, it is Prior. The history of Prior would fill a
tome unto itself. Ever since Chris Prior began
shaping snowboards down in the city over
15 years ago, Prior snowboards (and later
skis) began to be synonymous with superior-
quality, Coast Range oriented design. Prior
is one of Canadas most respected ski
and snowboard makers, bridging the gap
between the major manufacturers and the
smaller, one-man outfits. Simply put, Prioris known for its designs around the frozen
world.
But little known in this storied history
of the Function Junction lynchpin is the
innovative work of pro-rider, ex-racer and
self-described punk rocker kind of guy
James Oda in cutting Priors first splitboard
with founder Chris Prior.
Back in the raving 90s, splitboarding was
not only in its infancy, it was as underground
as snowboarding had been in the late 80s.
The idea of splitting a snowboard in two
for mucking around in the backcountry was
pioneered by Voil, which also developed
the first widely available commercial plate
bindings, skins, and attachments to strap the
board back together again for the descent.
Around 1996, James Oda went to buy
a Voil splitboard, but supply was thin;
James (left) and Chris(right), wondering how
they survived to seePRIORs modern split.
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so he and Chris Prior
set about making a
thicker, heavier board
for splitting in early
1997. It didnt work,
says James. Wefound out that we
really didnt need to
change the snowboard
as dramatically as
we thought we did
with the split down
the centre.
Once they
got over their
misconception that
a split board would
lose all integrity of
the board and
as they realized that
a split board is, in
essence, a pair of
skis they, quicklypressed a (regular)
board, cut it in two,
and James took it to
Chamonix, France,
the next day. Today,
the prototype board
is mounted on
Priors history wall
as you walk up the
stairs of its Function
factory. Along the
side of the board,
providential words are written: Its been a
long skintrack from here to the first PRIOR
splitboard thanks for making dreams
happen. James Oda, 1997. The sidewalls
of the board arent even finished, and thecut is askew and far from perfect; James
was supposed to take a router with him,
but as he says, it never happened.
Never matter. James blessed the boards
in Chamonixs steeps with the likes of Glen
Plake and it immediately opened his
eyes to the possibility of splitboard touring,
even though he was sporting Raichle ski
touring boots and hardboot snowboard
bindings mounted on a freeheeling plate.
I went from post-holing and walking
around in snowshoes, he says, to being
able to travel, and get distance . . . I was
able to do Fissile in half the amount of
time it used to take me to. Yes before
the era of splitboards, James used to walkto and from Fissile on snowshoes, a solid
30 kilometre round trip, in often knee-to-
tits-deep snow. He did the same for the first
snowboard descent of Mt. Fitzsimmons in
1992, which took him two days with four
hours sleep.
That was a big move in those days,
for a snowboarder, recounts James. I was
pretty overwhelmed with the whole thing,
let alone stepping out onto the face, on
a snowboard, of Mt. Fitzsimmons at
that point it was the
biggest, gnarliest face
I had ever seen in my
life, let alone having
the climbing skills to
get there. Here I am
packing a borrowed
ice axe, borrowed
crampons, borrowed
everything. I didnt
own anything for that
trip pretty much.
Once he got the
splitboard, he did
Fitzsimmons in a
day. James would get
yelled at by skiers
in the skintrack,
because everyone
still had skinny
little pinner skis. So
hed have one foot
in the skin track, andone foot outside. I
got called a kook,
he says, but I was
pretty used to that.
Today, all of that has
changed with modern
fat skis and a
growing abundance
of splitboarders.
I went from being
the only splitboarder
in Whistler, to a
couple of friends getting kits, to the point
where we did a traverse of the Spearhead
in one day on a snowboard, says James,
who figures he was probably the first
person to pull it off. Whenever you meta splitboarder, here youve met another
alien, he says. We embraced each other,
like when we first started snowboarding.
In 1997, James built a board that was
split off the bat. This board went up Mt.
Currie and down its north face, as well as
down Mont Blancs infamous chutes of
theAiguille du Midi in Chamonix. Around
1999, Prior made the first production
splitboard. Maybe only 10 boards, says
James, noting that some people are still
riding them today. The graphics were
designed by venerable t-shirt maker
Toad Hall.
Today, Prior is one of the worlds
foremost makers of dedicated, wood-core
splitboards with two layers of Kevlar and
carbon fibre. Yet splitboarding is still a
fringe sport, to some extent, says James.
Snowboarders arent conditioned to the
same level of cost that skiers are. That said,
their numbers are growing, and with cheaper
options like Brad Bethunes services available
see below more snowboarders will find
themselves ski touring on the up to surf on
the way down.
Slicing it up,SupernaturalStyle
Brad Bethune shares his garage space in
Pemberton with ski maker Greg Funk,where the two swap ideas and tools across
their plastic-divided double carport.
Hailing from Kingston, Ontario, Brad has
been doing his thing in Whistler since
1998. Today he splits snowboards into
two, making splitboards; as far as he
knows, he might be the only commercial
board-splitter in Canada.
The procedure is simple enough, at
least for the customer. You send him your
board; hell slice it lengthwise, seal the
cut edges with spar-urethane, drill-press
the thirty-four holes for the uphill and
downhill stances, epoxy the inserts and
plug the bases, attach the binding plate
and the latch kit, and provide pre-cut
skins, all for 470 buckswhich is muchcheaper than the full retail version, which
costs $1,800 (though including a new
splitboard). Snowboard touring bindings
(such as the Sparks) and upgrades (such
as Karakoram clips) are also available at
additional cost.
Splitting old boards has proven to be
a smart business model. While working
at Evolution, on my lunch, I went on
to GoDaddy and bought splitboardz.com
for like 15 bucks, says Brad, who says
The Super Natural man,drilling for pow.
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Feature STORY
that Jeanine, Evolutions owner, has been
extremely supportive and super helpful
in understanding the retail side of the
business. But as a shop worker, Brad saw,
in classic Hegelian style, the writing on the
wall before the master capitalists.Two to three years ago the splitboard
thing began showing up on a retail level,
says Brad, which made me notice it.
Without the retail experience I had, I
would never have identified the need for
splitboarding. So he figured out how
to split old boards, set-up accounts with
suppliers, and got his gear together. The
need for it now is insane, he says, with
emails and calls incoming daily for his
splitboard services.
Right from the very first year, it was
popular. I had calls even though I didnt
advertise, I didnt have a webpage, I had no
social media, but through Evolution and
the shopkids community, everybody just
found out, Brad says, gesturing at a halfa dozen completed boards. Everybody
wanted a splitboard, but nobody wanted
to pay off-the-shelf (prices). So Ive been
cutting boards for three years now.
Whil e the income remains
supplemental Brad runs Super Natural
Landscapes as his main business the
demand is growing like B.C. weeds. Hes
looking at upgrading his services to install
metal edges on cut boards, making it
closer to off-the-shelf, he says. With the
website and the Facebook page, hes now
seeing widespread interest from across
Canada and the U.S. And his prices are,
perhaps, even too reasonable; if you come
to Brad with your own kit, hell split your
board for $150.If Im working for an hourly wage,
says Brad, then Im not doing that well.
It probably takes me about 10 hours start
to finish, but it has to be over a three-day
period, because epoxies and urethanes all
need to dry and have several coats.
Like other makers in the Sea to Sky,
Brad is now looking at expanding his
business, weighing the options of a shared
space for smaller makers to stimulate their
sales and share associated costs.
Noboard, NoProblemWhitegolds Gotthe Goods
When I arrive at Kevin Sansalones place in
White Gold that infamous neighbourhood
tucked away between Lost Lake Park and the
99 his face betrays some concern. His
Dutch snowboarder friend who happens
to run Bateleon boards is upstairs with a
concussion, and a clinic visit is imminent.
So I throw Kevin onto his
skateboard for a photo
shoot on his indoor
garage ramp, figuring the
noise will help keep his
friend awake (he turned
out fine).
Unlike the other
makers here, Kevin
doesnt handmake hisown boards, though he
has plenty of experience
in designing them. As
a sponsored rider for
Vanco uver s Option
snowboards since 1998,
he designed various
iterations of his own ride,
the Sansalone, for almost
a decade. After he quit
Option in 2006 (the
board maker folded in
09). he kept toying with
prototypes, working with
Options ex-engineer,
Johnny Q, while
producing and filminghis Sandbox snowboard
flicks. Basically, he
wanted to ride his own
styles, and not somebody elses. I always
had this passion for boards, says Kevin.
Im really picky, Ive always wanted really
good stuff.
This drive led him to design his shapes in
AutoCAD software, coming up with the nose
and tail shape, and the specs for the sidecut,
waist, and radius. He now works with George
Cant, another ex-Option engineer, on the
materials and pressing at the Elan factory in
Austria. I just wanted boards that I liked .
. . so I thought, hey, Ill make a few extras,
and sell them to friends, or people who were
interested in my Option line, says Kevin,
who notes that his signature Option boards,
available for 10 years, sold everywhere from
Australia to Europe. In short, he had an
existing market for small, limited runs of
signature boards available solely online,
without the need for mass advertising
or exposure.
At the same time, his Sandbox Helmet
business has gone crazy the last couple of
years, and the movies were getting really
busy as well, says Kevin. So the boards
were this kind of fun hobby that I just built
slowly. His boards are a different business
model than the Sandbox rasta-graphics
helmets and the fast-paced snowboard
porn of his movies; the graphics are subtle
and minimalist, and materials are top-of-
the-line, featuring race-room quality Ptex
8000 bases.
Kevin has crafted a few different shapes,
though not all are available. He hauls them
out of their cloth board bags, and polishes
the topsheets with care. For the most part,
White Gold offers but one model, available
in three different sizes, and designed as
an all-mountain, all-around freestyle
board, what Kevin calls top-to-bottom
Whistler style.
What is particular to Kevins designs
is what he calls the slamback mount
position, which makes pow riding so much
easier. Riders can move their bindings up
to three inches back from the usual selection
of stances; this turns a regular board into
a fish-style board, and makes a shorter
board a more versatile deep snow tool,
Tongueactionon theSansaloneollie.
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allowing a single ride from park to powder.
This innovation should be emphasized for
enhancing the versatility of a single board
into a Swiss Army knife of snow slaying;
other brands, such as his friends Bataleon,
have already copied it.
For snowboards,
his prices are top
shelf. Future 12/13
prices will range from
$600 to $800, with50 made of each size.
The 152cm will be a
park, freestyle cut, also
suitable for smaller
women; the 157cm
will be tapered for all
mountain freestyle;
and the 162cm
will be a stiffer, big
mountain board.
Beautifully unique
in Kevins line is the
prototype Woodie
noboard, which
may see a future
release. With its huge
bulletnose, the boardis 100 per cent wood
(treated with tea
tree oil) save for the
inserts; with no bases
and edges, it can be mounted with bindings
or with a leash for noboard-style powder
pleasure. Future models might feature a
removable edge. Last but not least on the
wall is the singularGlide 60, a unidirectional,
reverse sidecut, rockered pontoon board.
With only a few models in existence, this
dedicated deep snow machine is suitable
only for heli or catboarding, and at least
for now not for sale.
The Economics ofStorm-Chasing
Dont let me turn you off here, but there is a
contemporary economist, Paulo Virno, who
makes some interesting observations about
the virtuosityof contemporary labour. While
Virno wants to talk about a performance
without an end product such as in the case
of pianists or dancers, or, as is his point, the
political process there is also the idea that
certain objects are endowed with virtuosity.
Like a violin or piano or a mountain
bike or snowboard artisanal objects, such
as skis, are built for the pursuit of human
pleasure through virtuosic movement.Let me translate this another way. Your
skis or splitboard are tools for a performance
a transient, fleeting act of grace and
show on snow (whether under the chair
or far out in the CBC badlands). When
local artisans build such tools, they are also
building an economy that focuses around
virtuousity around chasing activities that
never cease. This is precisely why skiers
and snowboarders will suffer through the
long learning curve of bumps and bruises,
at whatever age, to spin in the pipe, whip
downhill at speed, dodge trees, fly off drops
and rocket through powder. Its an addiction.
An economy focused around feeding thisaddiction, around creating the very tools that
are the apparatus of the powder addict, spreads
this desire, making it grow and infecting
other regions. Local manufacturers are the
powder pushers, from Funk to Sluff, Gary
Wayne to Foon skis, from Prior and White
Gold boards to Supernaturals split services.
They feed the need and provide the tools for
the stage, and unlike the pure definition of
economic virtuosity, they realize that such
intangible experiences can be packaged into
an end product precisely by making the
tools to live and act out that play of chasing
the next storm, the next perfect pipe, into
the horizon.
Feature STORY
end
Sansalone keeping
a tight leashon his prototypenoboard.