Original Burton

I’ve been working in Asia for the past 3 weeks, in visiting a factory I came across the original Burton snowboard boot, it had been produced there. This is significant for me, because when I started snowboarding in Tahoe in 1986 there was no board specific gear. The first season we ever snowboarded there was only two places in Tahoe that you could ride Donner Ski Ranch and Boreal. At Boreal you actually had to go through a certification test to go any higher then the bunny slopes. My best friend skated for Sessions so Joel loaned us a couple of Sims boards and told us to wear wet suits under our clothes to stay dry and duct tape our Sorrel’s. The first day we rode at Donner it was dumping with 2 feet of powder but fun as hell. We rode all season like that. About a year later Pete came over my house excited with a box in his hand containing the first snowboard boots we had ever seen, Burton. It changed our teenaged lives.