About a month ago my boss and I got an invite to attend the Burton Fall Bash and super clinic. It is an annual event put on and hosted by Jake and Donna Carpenter in Stowe, VT. I have never been that far east in this great country of ours, and getting to tour Burton’s headquarters to get my learn on, plus an all paid trip to hang with other shop kids and shop owners was a no brainer. The Round Hearth, dubbed “The Fart Box” was home base for a few days and nights. It was a cozy little spot and it had great host’s and accommodations. The rooms had 6 bunks each, so you can imagine why it was nick named appropriately so by some of the patrons on this trip.
Area 13 is a giant show room for all things Burton. This is where we all met up on day one, got separated into groups and got to see and meet the people who create outer wear, boots, boards, bindings, graphics and even merchandising.
Burton X Pink Floyd for 2013.
Where the magic happens. Craig’s definitely was one of the highlights and most memorable experiences of this trip.
This machine in Craig’s is showing us how Burton does their core profiling.
At Craig’s the tour took you through all of it’s departments. From core profiling to board building and shaping to showing you how “Infinite Ride” works. “Thunder” is the board builder here at Craig’s and is a master of his craft. He also rips the mini ramp like no other. A talented individual indeed.
During the trip out to Vermont, we got to pick out an activity to do on the second day. The choices were skating, mellow hike with a Ben and Jerry’s happy ending, kayaking or a more difficult hike. I decided to chose skating as my activity. The weather was over cast and had drizzled just enough to keep a lot of us from enjoying the ramps at Burton HQ, so we got to shred some private indoor mini ramps. One was at Fuse Marketing(not pictured) and the other was in Thunder’s garage. Alex Andrews and Jeremy Jones showed up to both ramps and sessioned with the homies. Needless to say, they’re just as good at skating as they are snowboarding.
The Vermont Ski & Snowboard museum. Jake and Donna were inducted the night before these photos were taken. If you ever can make it out to see this, it will be more than worth while.
Jake donated most, if not all of the snowboard memorabilia from his personal collection.
A look over and down onto Jake and Donna’s house. Look closely, that chandelier is made up of pitch forks.
This is the hallway that leads from the game room under Jake’s house to the barn where the bands were playing. It is built on a slope and there were skate boards lined up at the top for anyone willing to surf the wooden tube. This was a lot of fun! Here we have Michelle Wilson from D&E snowboard shop in Aspen, showing us how it’s done with out spilling a drop of beer.
Jake and Justin Stout from Totally Board in Tahoe. This is the game room and if you look towards the back, an indoor soccer area that later turned into a dodge ball zone. I’ve never seen a man take a giant tennis ball to the face like that till that night….
Party people starting to get BUCK! Smiles were showin and the booze was flowin!
Jake and DNAZ having a good time, as always.
Joe Rizzo of Four Horsemen Sales SLC and Myself having the times of our lives.
Music from Easy Star All Stars and Lance Herb Strong kept bodies movin and people groovin!
I have to admit, this trip had to be one of the best times I’ve experienced in life. It reminded me why we all grow up and not grow old. The love and passion we have for snowboarding keeps us young and is a reminder that you only live once, so you may as well have a damn good time with it. An extra big shout out goes to the entire Burton family for opening their doors to everyone who attended this years Fall Bash, Josh Fisher and Joe Rizzo of Four Horsemen Sales SLC and Salty Peaks for giving me the opportunity to gain new friendships and new experiences. Vermont, I will be back!
