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Burton Hucks Into Cyberspace

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BackcountryStore.com launches Burton boards, boots & bindings

by Alex Sepulveda
Burton and snowboarding—the two words are pretty much synonymous. In 1977, this then-small Vermont company starting making what would become the most renowned snowboards in the world, while creating a completely new sport. Burton’s unexpected dominance revolutionized snowsports in ways no one foresaw, forcing ski companies to scramble to recover an entire generation of snow enthusiasts. Two decades later, and the ski industry is still reeling.

Snowboarders comprised nearly 30% of all resort visits last year, and their numbers are growing quickly. It’s obvious that the sport is as firmly rooted in the mountains as ancient bristlecone pines.





Photo: Burton.com

In our quest to carry the very best, we sought out Burton not just for their stellar craftsmanship, but for the leadership, attitude, and philosophy that has driven the company from its inception. Longtime admirers of their dedication to the backcountry, we at BackcountryStore.com were stoked to be the first online retailer ever to sell Burton’s split snowboard. Now, we’re one of Burton’s first full-fledged online retailers, carrying a huge selection of boards, boots, bindings, clothing and accessories.

Burton History

Jake Burton Carpenter first started tooling around on a shoddy and now-antiquated toy called a ‘snurfer’ as a teenager. Breaking his finger after smashing into a tree didn’t dampen a burning desire to master riding a board down a snowy hill. He skied throughout high school, continuing to mess around on a snurfer, tweaking it here and there to his liking. But it wasn’t until he graduated college in the late ’70s that he began his quest in earnest to build a more functional board that could be marketed as more than a glorified sled.

Photo: Burton.com

Jake started by promoting snowboarding itself, more concerned about growing a burgeoning sport than profiting off a newfangled toy. He cultivated great relationships with ski areas, convincing them to host competitive snowboard events, exposing more and more people to the sport, while also putting Burton boards to the test on steep, icy terrain. Jake put blood, sweat, and tears into his operation, fueled by the enthusiasm of young, ever-improving riders. If sales were slow, he hit the pavement hawking his goods out of his van. By introducing the U.S. to a new sport, he cleverly created a demand for products he simultaneously worked to supply.

In 1982, Suicide Six Resort in Vermont was the first ski resort to open their hills to riders. Stratton soon followed suit, then Jay Peak, Stowe, Sugarbush and more. With lift served riding came massive opportunity for research and development. Now boards could be tested and improved faster than before, and snowboard technology and construction snowballed.

Photo: Burton.com

In 1983, Jake and his team riders actually expressed dismay that halfpipe be included in snowboard competition as they felt it was a fringe element, and not really what snowboarding was all about. However, as people gravitated toward freestyle riding, Burton embraced the movement and pioneered gear specific to pipes and later terrain parks, a prime example of Burton’s adaptability and open-mindedness.

Photo: Burton.com

At some of the first organized snowboarding events in the ’80s, snowboarders—including Burton team riders—wore fluorescent outerwear, bandanas, and anything that quickly distinguished them from traditional, mundane skier style. The neon lights of outerwear faded, but the effort to stand out continued. Enter the urban and hip-hop borrowings that infused sorely needed comfort and style into snowsport outerwear. If you willingly parted with a pair of stretch ski pants in the late ’80s, Burton aesthetics deserve much credit.

Burton continues to serve up the most cutting-edge innovations in snowboard construction and style today. This season they introduce the T6, a high-end freestyle board with a new honeycomb aluminum core that’s 90% air so it’s super lightweight but super strong, previously reserved for military aircraft. It delivers incredible response and snap, destroying the hardpack and superpipe (just watch Terje on this thing).

Photo: Burton.com

For the last eight years, it seems as though the limits of what was possible on a snowboard have been reached—gravity defied, speed records shattered, cliff jumps of impossible peril stomped. But then, at the next movie premiere, jaws are on the floor, heads shake in disbelief, and we’re left utterly dumbfounded at what we’ve just witnessed on the big screen. It’s in the face of such incredulity that Jake Burton first started making snowboards. The more people scoffed, the harder he worked. This ethic molded a culture of newschool snow fanatics, and planted a seed for nothing short of a revolution in the snowsports industry. And we’re psyched to be part of it.