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Vintage Winter Collection of Antique and Vintage Snowboards.
We have a display available for rent, and some antique and vintage wooden snowboards available for sale. We hope you have a good time looking back and thinking about any boards you’ve had…if you have any photos of your oldies…send us an email.
The story of snowboarding evolution and the morphing of snowboarding equipment can be viewed on a Darwinian scale. Once there was snow, there was a sled to slide on, then to stand on, adding stability rope handles, rubber foot mats, then bindings, edges, sidecut and camber.
Do you remember when you figured out how to stand up on your sled to slide down a hill? The wobbly knees? The unstable, slippery sled accelerating down a frozen hillside? The bailout – wipeout? Sledding and Snowboarding are genetic variations of Winter Fun.
History of Snowboarding – Antique and Vintage Snowboards and Snowboarders
We’d like to recognize some innovators and innovations that have been milestone in the evolution of snowboarding; Antique to vintage, and now “tech”.
*1920s “Skeeboggan” – a pre-cursor to the vintage Snowboard, this very unique metal stand-up sled has a wooden T-bar handle and rubber footpad.
*"Sno-Surfer" and a “Snookie” by White Bear, White Bear Lake, MN 1960s vintage snowboards. (see photo)
*"Snurfers" by Brunswick – invented by Sherman Poppen in the 1960s. Credited as one of the earliest “snowboards”. (see photos)
Sherman Poppen, a chemical engineer (who now lives in Steamboat), invented “The Snurfer” as a toy for his daughter – it was named by his wife. It was rudimentarily made by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose. His daughter could hold it to keep more stable. So many of his daughters friends wanted one of that soon Poppen licensed his Snurfer to a Brunswick Manufacturing and sold over half a million boards in 1966. Poppen organized downhill course competitions with his snurfer and Jake Burton took part in some. Burton innovated a board with bindings (The Backhill) and began to win Snurfer competitions.
Dimitrije Milovich comes up with the idea for making snowboards in 1969, after sliding down hill on a cafeteria tray in school. He based his design on surfboards combined with skis – “Winterstick” was born and seen in “Newsweek”, “Playboy” and “Powder” in 1972-74.
*The Burton “Performer” and Burton Backhill – classic snowboards created by Jake Burton in Burlington, Vermont in the 1970s. Burton continuesto innovate and develop snowboarding and lifestyle products developing “Learn to Ride”, “Learn to Ride – Powder” and brands such as Anon, Gravis and Red.
