Sabato and an epic injury; name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait. Yeah. We all have our ways of getting through the offseason. For me, it was usually running, road biking, and weight lifting. More recently, the Onewheel XR became the Suboxone® to tide me over from my snowboard addiction in the summer. So, this is where you’re thinking it was the Onewheel that broke me off? It would be natural to assume so, everyone else thought I’d eaten it standing sideways. Nope!   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Sabato Caputo (@sabatoa) The Honeymoon Begins Dave and Adam have encour ..read more

There is a group of people who have been snowboarding for 300 years in Petran, Turkey. These boards are rudimentary in every way; some wood waxed with fat, a snurfer style rope, and a stick to steer with. People have learned to snowboard without bindings for hundreds of years. Even the beloved Snurfer didn’t have bindings. And without them, people still learned how to balance, turn, and just generally be in control of their board. What if everyone learned to snowboard this way? 404: Bindings Not Found in Turkey When Jake Burton showed up at Pando in 1979 with straps on his Snurfer, he wasn’t a ..read more

If you ski or snowboard, you’ve been asked which sport is more difficult to learn. The common opinion seems to be that “skiing is easier to learn, but harder to master”. This idea permeates the industry so deeply that it shapes the organizational structure of snowsports schools and products recommended to guests. Often by telling people that they should learn to ski before learning to snowboard. But how are years of skiing going to make you a better snowboarder instead of years of snowboarding? Currently PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) teaches it’s instructors to teach how to sk ..read more

There is a sentiment among OG snowboarders that “it was better when they hated us.” That the life and culture of snowboarding as a whole was better when there were more than three resorts that prohibited our presence. Being a snowboarder meant something, meant being a part of something; it was a signal to the corporate world, and that signal was unanimously “Fuck. You.” The corporate world didn’t want us, and we didn’t need them.  Not only did the prohibition of snowboarding create a level of angst that brought snowboarders together, we knew where our allegiances were. Banned from almost ..read more

What is a day on snow, or a day of snowboarding? It’s a somewhat clear cut and obvious answer on the surface of it. You go snowboarding, it counts as a day on snow. But I sit here, one of those people who counts days per year of typically over 100, and months of turns in a row sitting at 68, I’m probably about to lose 69. That’s it. Something that has had immense amounts of effort poured into it just coming to a non celebratory close. It’s in a moment like this that you start to ponder two questions: What does it mean to have a day of snowboarding? Maybe, just maybe some ice shavings from the ..read more

When we first published our article “Common Mistakes Setting Up Snowboard Bindings”, there was some good conversation. All of you have seen the dimples in the base of your snowboard from over tightening screws. We all know Phillips style screws suck. I’m here to try and fix these problems with one simple solution: hex head screws. Hex Head screws, newly installed on my Rad Air Tanker. The first advantage, and maybe the most important of hex head screws, is no more stripped screw heads. A lot of people don’t even realize there are different sizes or types of cross slotted screws. People just ar ..read more

Most snowboard and ski areas have some sort of terrain parks. Most of the time it seems like it’s little more than acquiescing that it’s what draws in teenagers, and they bring in adults with money. Especially when it’s compared to how much money comes in from the minimal effort of producing a race course for skiers. This draw seemingly because of lower risk and an easy form of competing in beer leagues. (The beer part being what is the money maker.) But even most places who spend millions on terrain parks still build uninspired rails and jumps in a row. Nothing inspirational, or anything that ..read more

It’s been over a decade since Vail Resorts launched the Epic Pass. Ever since then, Vail Resorts has been buying snowboard and ski areas across the globe, expanding their reach to a more and more broad and well heeled client base. It’s been such a driving force in the industry that KSL partnered with Henry Crown and Company, owners of Aspen Skiing Company, in order to start Alterra and launch the Ikon Pass. The Indy Pass was launched in order to help combat these behemoths, afraid they would shutter smaller areas. Largely to make sure that Vail and Ikon doesn’t pull everyone away from business ..read more

Do you know what the worst part is about being a snowboard instructor? It’s not the seasonal work or the many missed powder days. It’s not even all the extravagant affluence around you as you struggle to get by. All of these things certainly wear on you, but you chose this for the love of snowboarding and sharing that passion with other. You justify it with the hope that you can bring joy to their lives, a respite from the daily grind. No, the worst part of it is the suicide. You stay in this industry long enough, and even the most reclusive will have at least known someone who has intentional ..read more

Sitting here under the light pollution of the XGames one mountain ridge over (I don’t mind), it’s hard not to talk about Zeb Powell and the direction of freestyle snowboarding. If you haven’t seen the knuckle huck, go check the highlights now. Zeb, once again, did some shit. This time however, he didn’t even make podium. Regardless of which rider inspired you from this event, it’s time we have a talk about it. What Zeb Powell did under the lights Friday night, was nothing short of incredible. That was some gourmet shit. His ability to control the edges of his board, his body separation, and a ..read more