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Venture Snowboards & Skis

@venturesnow

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Built by snowboarders from scratch since 1999. #VentureSnowboards #SplitboardingIsTheAnswer

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Rider: @thewillygoat by @venturesnow

168

13

a year ago

Eventually we had enough of living in the city and set our sights on southwestern Colorado, so we could be closer to Wolf Creek. We looked at Pagosa Springs, Bayfield, Durango, Mancos, and even Silverton. Silverton Mountain was just getting started back then and it sounded awesome, but at the time there was no way Lisa would be able to find a job in Silverton that would keep food on the table while we got Venture off the ground. We eventually found a house on a dirt road in Bayfield with no covenants and neighbors far enough away that we could run machines without bothering anyone.

Before we left Denver in 2002, we both got the first and only tattoos we have: matching Venture snowflakes. Lisa quit her day job. We moved in the fall and both got jobs at Purgatory for the winter. Lisa worked in the ski school office and I worked in the ski demo shop. I learned how to adjust DIN settings on ski bindings and none of the customers ever realized that I didn’t ski. During that first winter, we worked on setting up shop in the basement and garage of our new house. Some people thought we were nuts and some thought it was the coolest thing ever. They were both right. By spring, we had most of the equipment we needed except for the things you can’t buy off the shelf. I started building the smaller stuff while I was working on the CAD drawings for the press I had been designing in my head and on scraps of paper.

Most of my time the following summer was spent building the press that we still use today. I had learned how to weld, but I knew I wasn’t good enough at it to make something that was as precise as I needed. And it also needed to be strong enough. Instead, I decided to use bolts which meant I needed to drill a lot of very precise holes in steel. It took forever, but I had Frank Zappa keeping me company and I eventually got it done.

Continued in comments…

Photos 1-5 by @imagesmithphoto
Photos 6-8 by me with our first digital camera...

#Venture25 #SnowboardingHistory by @venturesnow

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16

2 years ago

Since I was a kid, I have always figured out a way to make whatever I was into. When I was around 12, I read about how to make your own skateboard in a book I got from the library. At that point I had never seen a skateboard before, and I don't know what attracted me to it. The directions were to cut a rollerskate in half and attach the halves to the ends of a piece of wood with screws. So I did. You couldn't really turn it, but at the time just going straight but sideways was enough.

A few years later, inspired by the snowboard scene in the James Bond movie “A View To A Kill,” I made my first snowboard. First, I drew the shape on a piece of graph paper. Then I traced the shape onto a piece of plywood and cut it out with a jigsaw. This was a trick I learned from my dad - he used the same method to turn cardboard boxes into costumes for us.

I poured boiling water onto the plywood “snowboard” to try bending the nose, and used rubber straps attached with screws for the bindings. It rode about as well as my first DIY skateboard - I couldn’t turn it, but standing sideways was enough to get me stoked.

Eventually I got my first production snowboard - a Burton Elite 150 - and have lived to ride ever since.

Stay tuned for more stories from the Venture Vault.

-Klem

#Venture25 #SnowboardingHistory #DIYSnowboard by @venturesnow

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16

2 years ago

A little sooner than we would like, but it sure gets us stoked for the coming season!

#WinterIsComing #Snow #SilvertonColorado taken in Venture Snowboards by @venturesnow

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5

3 days ago

Never stop learning. Thank you, @friendsofthesanjuans, for bringing back 4SAW. And thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen. The stoke for the coming season was high. The presentations were as engaging as they were educational. Words of wisdom of the day from @thesplitboardinghermit: "Slow down. Why are you in such a hurry to go back inside?" by @venturesnow

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0

5 days ago

Our first brochure (catalog would be an exaggeration) featured a single riding photo of Dave Watson dropping a huge cliff. This is not it. I can picture it in my mind, but I can't find it. Watson started riding our boards because he had been breaking everything else and since then he has been a walking testament to their durability. He's been to just about every Season Kickoff Party and Silverton Splitfest ever and is permanently stoked. At Splitfest he usually makes it to the top way before people half his age and always picks the spiciest line down. If anyone deserves the title of OG Venture Ambassador, it's definitely Watson.

-Klem

Rider: @sudsysnowboard
Photo: @jcuret

#VentureChronicles by @venturesnow

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8

16 days ago

taken in Venture Snowboards by @venturesnow

130

3

18 days ago

Happy first snow on the peaks day!
#WinterIsComing taken in Silverton, Colorado by @venturesnow

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24 days ago

Fall is here! We don't care what the official calendar says. The first yellow aspen leaf on the ground on a dog walk is what counts. Let's go El Nino!

#WinterIsComing by @venturesnow

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7

2 months ago

This is a day I'll never forget. Epic powder day at Wolf Creek in February of 2005. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I rode with Scott Smith and the first time I met Jay Lum. Scott drove and scared the hell out of me going up and down the pass. This was our first winter in our new house in Bayfield. The previous summer I built our press and all of the other equipment we needed to make snowboards in our garage and basement. We were still pressing boards in the middle of winter. I think it was also the first time I had ever ridden for the camera with a professional photographer, and I was definitely a little nervous. I think Scott managed to get one decent photo of me actually riding and probably ten of me going ass over a tea kettle. At the time I had been snowboarding for close to 20 years. All I had to do was make one turn in the right spot and I couldn't do it. Jay, on the other hand, was not nervous. And he crushed it like he does to this day. That's how we ended up with this photo. It's still one of my favorites. Can't you just picture yourself right behind him? At the end of the day Jay went home and Scott came back to our house to shoot more photos for a local newspaper. I went straight from riding gear to my Tyvek suit so I could cut out a board. If memory serves, Scott stuck around for dinner and a few Ska beers. It's hard to believe that was over 20 years ago.

-Klem

Rider: @lazyjaylum
Photo: @imagesmithphoto
Location: @wolfcreekski

#VentureChronicles by @venturesnow

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6

2 months ago

The new @venturesnow Storm! Probably the classiest Storm graphic that I have worked on. A clean-cut take on a classic surfboard graphic for a surfy board. As usual, this is my go to board in solid and split. taken in Silverton, Colorado by @venturesnow

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10

4 months ago

Happy Solstice! As of tomorrow the days start getting shorter and the countdown to winter is on. taken in Silverton, Colorado by @venturesnow

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3

4 months ago