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2004 JAKE BURTON BIOGRAPHY

STATS
Name: Jake Burton
Birth Date: April 29, 1954
Home Base: Stowe, Vermont

GEAR LOCKER
Boards: Custom 58
Boots: Burton Hale
Bindings: Burton P1
Outerwear: Damn near every piece

The founder and owner of the world’s leading snowboarding company, Jake Burton’s name is
synonymous with snowboarding. Jake’s influence on the sport of snowboarding is unrivaled.
Since 1977, his company has supported the best riders in the world and created snowboarding
gear that sets the standards for the rest of the industry. This season, Jake is embarking on a new
adventure. He and his family plan to follow winter around the globe for ten months, snowboarding
on six continents and testing plenty of Burton products along the way.

1. What was your first snowboard set up and how old were you when you started riding?
I first started riding on a Snurfer when I was 14. It was only 6” (15 cm) wide, no bindings and no
edges. But, from the first day I rode that Snurfer on a golf course, I knew there was a sport there.

2. Why do you ride?
Riding is my source of energy. Like everyone else here at Burton I work hard. Without the energy
that I get from riding, I would be lost.

3. How does riding make you feel?
Good question and a difficult one to answer. At the bottom of a great run, it’s hard to pinpoint
exactly what the feeling is. It’s not like you just won something or beat somebody, because
snowboarding isn’t a competitive sport by nature. You’re not super exhausted, as snowboarding
isn’t an endurance sport either. You just feel really good. And if you push yourself to the point of
being a little scared on the way down, that can make it even better. At the end of a good day you
feel surfed-out, which is a very relaxing feeling.

4. What does a ‘perfect day’ of riding consist of?
The perfect day for me happens a lot at my home mountain in Stowe, VT and it consists of many
different elements of the sport. Catching first chair with some friends for some early morning
powder runs is the best way to get the day started. Then hooking up with my family and riding
with them in the woods and in the park is a great way to finish off the morning. Then after a solid
lunch I’ll often spend the afternoon teaching someone who has never ridden before how to ride.
Then it’s always fun to close out the day with a soul run or two by yourself or with one other
person.

5. Why do you still teach people how to snowboard?
I’ve always gotten a lot of pleasure out of teaching people how to ride. The enthusiasm that
comes off of people as they link their first turns is rewarding for them, but is also pretty cool for
whoever is doing the teaching. I continue to teach about 10 to 20 people a year who have never
ridden before, and I think I enjoy it as much as they do.

6. What’s your favorite thing to do after a long day on the mountain?
Take a few snowmobile runs around the house with the kids, eat a big dinner and watch the
Boston Celtics crush some other NBA team.

7. What are your plans for this season?
I’m going around the world with my wife (Donna) and our three boys (George, Taylor and Timmy).
We’re going to take 10 months following winter and snowboarding on six continents. We’re
spending the summer and fall in the southern hemisphere (where it’s winter and spring) riding in
Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. In the early winter we’ll be riding in Japan. During
the winter months we’ll be riding all over Europe, Africa (Morocco), and India (Himalayas). We’ll
get home just in time to catch the very end of the season in Vermont.
We enjoy winter a lot more than summer, so we’re really looking forward to going on a safari
where winter is never going to end. It’s going to be somewhat awkward not coming to the office
in Burlington, but by riding all over the planet, I’m expecting to get some new perspectives and
ideas that will make my contribution to Burton more solid than ever.
8. If you could spend a day riding with anyone, who would it be?
Well, even though it’s only going to happen in a dream, I do fantasize about spending a day riding
with Craig Kelly and Jeffy Anderson. That would be so much fun. Those guys were role models
in very different aspects of the sport, but they shared an incredibly pure passion for riding. Their
loss was a huge blow to snowboarding, but they didn’t leave without teaching us how to love this
sport.

EVERYONE CALLS HIM JAKE
Jake was named after a great uncle John Burton (‘a real character’), who lived in his hometown. Living
not far from the Atlantic Beach, some journalists have inferred that Jake grew up surfing, and that it was
this interest that inspired him to develop a winter substitute. Well, yes and no. “I always wanted a surf
board for Christmas,” he says, “but I never got one. Maybe that’s been part of my drive for board sports.
Maybe if I had gotten that surf board…” For sports, Jake settled for kneeboarding (and became quite
accomplished), baseball, basketball and football. “I would routinely get my ass kicked.”
More than anything, skiing was the sporting basis for Jake’s venture into snowboarding. His first skiing
experience was at tiny Birch Hill ski area in New York at the age of seven. “I was into it.” It has helped
that Jake has gone more than a mile in ski boots; the sharing of acreage, technology and enthusiasts
has gone a long way to maintain the compatibility between skiing and snowboarding.

Jake doesn’t claim to have invented the snowboard. Earlier models as well as many other would-be
inventors preclude him from doing so. At a local garage sale, Jake found a board dating back to the
1920s. The recent discovery of a 1939 video showing a man by the name of Vern Wicklund sliding
sideways on a snowboard type of sled down a Chicago hill also deepens the history of snowboarding.
Wicklund even had patents for the boards, which had foot straps, nose cords, and a turned up nose, not
unlike the early Burton snowboards.

I had always thought of Jake Burton as the patron saint of snowboarding. Once you start
talking to him, you realize he’s just a guy who started to make snowboards and never stopped.
When you get past the mythology and misconceptions about Jake you begin to realize
that Burton Snowboards is not necessarily a result of his success, but more likely a long
succession of mistakes. Born in New York City on April 29, 1954, Jake spent his childhood in
Cedarhurst, New York. One recognized precursor of the snowboard is the
Snurfer: a device that resembles a short, fat ski without the P-tex, steel edges and bindings. A rope
tied to the tip is held in the rider’s hand as a rein.The rider stands on it like a skateboard. Jake’s first
attempt at snurfing was at Brooks, his first attempt at boarding school, when he was 14. “Pretty suicidal.”
(The Snurfer, not the school.) Jake managed to break his finger by snurfing, rope hand extended right into a
tree. He also managed to break a lot of rules at Brooks. “I was an underachiever. I had the reputation
of beating the system.” The coup de grace came in 9th grade when, after pleading with an upperclassman for
weeks, Jake was given the “keys.” Keys to what? “To every lock in the place. The food. The headmaster’s
gun cabinet. Full access.” Unfortunately, Jake didn’t hide them very well. The janitors found them in his bag
the same night he took possession. “I was asked not to come back.”

The death of his mother at the time, and previously the death of his brother George in Vietnam (Jake’s
son is named after him) certainly had profound effects on Jake’s life that go far deeper than words on a
page. Jake inherited a small amount of money from his mother that would play a role in the beginnings
at Burton Snowboards. But that would have to wait until after college.

Jake enrolled at the University of Colorado with aspirations of making their NCAA Champion Ski Team.
Just as classes were starting, Jake managed to break his collarbone three times in two weeks, without
putting on a ski. The first time was in an auto accident, when a Suburban in which he was a passenger
collided with a VW Bug going 80mph. Number two was on campus. “I was walking with a map, not
watching where I was going, and I ran into a guy doing the same thing.” The final blow came while trying
to skateboard on a linoleum basement floor. Colorado lasted one year, and Jake never made the ski
team.

Jake took a year off from school to groom and exercise thoroughbred horses, working in Virginia and at
New York’s Aqueduct Race Track – a foreshadowing of the kind of man that goes off to pursue an
interest as far as it will take him. In this case, dissolution with the thoroughbred racing scene took him
right back to school, this time at New York University studying economics. “Not business,” Jake is
quick to point out, as if someone might think that he actually had formal business training.

Things would change dramatically at the next school: Marvelwood-Cornwall, New York, right at
the bottom of the ski area. “Skiing was big.” Jake excelled in the 10th grade, skipped the 11th and
graduated, skiing throughout. He continued to experiment with the Snurfer. “I didn’t really have
an idea. I was modifying it, but in the context of the time it was marketed as a toy."
Jake’s informal business training came from two sources. First, there was a landscaping business that he and a friend started in
high school. It was a success, but a success that would give him a false sense of security. “Our only investment was an old
station wagon, a couple of rakes and some trash bags.” Second, he spent a year working as an assistant in a Park Avenue firm that sold smaller companies (“like Burton”) to larger ones. With his boss embroiled in a major lawsuit, a lot of responsibility was delegated to Jake. “I was in over my head. I made a lot of mistakes. I just wasn’t happy.”
After college Jake was feeling like a true entrepreneur, like a man who had experience running his own business and who knew the ropes of the business world. He was thumbing a chunk of inheritance money and feeling disdain for working in the city. Jake was primed to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life. “I had this burning desire to make snowboards.”

In 1977, Jake went to Vermont and began Burton Boards in Londonderry. “I hired two relatives and a
friend – big mistake.” There were other mistakes, too, for within two years he was $100,000 in debt.
“I had to go down to New York in the summer and make money the hard way.” Bartending at night and
teaching tennis by day kept him afloat. Seeing his doubting friends in the city kept him driven.
Without the cash to support a payroll, Jake was on his own. No longer was he the entrepreneur. “I was
the grunt. If the board says Jake Burton Carpenter on it, I jigsawed it. I urethaned it. The quality was
good.” Was it fun? “Step up to the pin router with a little piece of wood, it’s not fun. I was a total loser
in shop class. But I always enjoyed making boards.” Jake’s experiments with materials and designs
were never-ending. “I was going to the hardware store to get ideas.” Driving to Las Vegas for the annual
trade shows and taking the boards on the road, things began to turn around. A lot of backhill R&D kept
things evolving, like a Snurfer-sponsored open division contest in Michigan, which in 1979 Jake entered
and won.

When Jake’s wife-to-be, Donna (who unintentionally became an important part of the business), came to
live with him in Vermont, the garage business was beginning to fill the house. “The barn was
production, upstairs a warehouse, the dining room was an office, the living room was the factory
showroom.” When people called the toll-free number, it rang in the bedroom. “I would get calls from
kids on the West Coast at 2 a.m., waking me up. I’d be there, taking down their name and address…“
One of the keys to the success of Burton was Jake’s push to make snowboarding a sport, even though
initially ski area access was not on Jake’s agenda. “I kept saying, ‘this sport has got to happen”. It
worked almost too well. “Sport first,” he says, pointing to his introduction in an early catalog which
promotes the sport of snowboarding without mentioning Burton the company. “Purely sport, not Burton.
We worked with ski areas. We set up competitions. But left ourselves open.” Although he had created
a market, overnight a competitive industry was born as well. Jake realized the focus that had to be on
Burton products and dug in.

On a ski trip to Europe with Donna’s family, Jake slipped away at night to visit ski manufacturers and
learn everything he could about the latest technology. “I showed up at this one factory at 11pm. They
had to bring the owner’s daughter in from another town to translate.” As a result of his European
experience, steel edges and P-tex bases became the standard, and also, Jake became aware of the
potential of the European market. He and Donna went to Middlebury College to learn German. The
accelerated program required a pledge: to speak only German for the duration of the six-week class.
“What was I going to do? I had a company to run. I had my fingers crossed.” Ultimately, Jake and
Donna set up Burton USA’s Austrian counterpart, Burton Sportartikel in Innsbruck, which is now the
nerve center of the European market.

In 1995, the Japanese snowboard market was expanding dramatically. To keep up with demand, Jake
continued to expand the business by opening an office in Japan. With this new direct link to the Asian
market, Burton Snowboards was now truly a global company. In 1998, snowboarding would make its
Olympic debut bringing the sport into the world’s spotlight. And at the 2002 Olympics, three Burton pro
riders won medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Games – including Ross Powers and Kelly Clark who
won the gold and Chris Klug who won the bronze. From the small in-house factory in southern Vermont
to a Global company with distribution points throughout the world, Jake has truly brought snowboarding
to a world class level.

JAKE BURTON CHASES WINTER ACROSS SIX CONTINENTS

Most of us can only dream of setting off on a world tour. This year, Jake Burton and his family
will be living the dream, embarking on a 10-month trip to snowboard all over the globe, covering
six continents and following winter the whole way.

Jake, Donna, George (13), Taylor (9), and Timmy (6) set off in July for a year of adventure travel.
They will be snowboarding at resorts and in the backcountry of Argentina, Chile, New Zealand,
Australia, Morocco, throughout Europe, and in the Himalayas (India). To round out the trip, they
will be surfing in the Galapagos Islands, Peru, Tonga, and Hawaii, sea kayaking in Thailand, and
touring through China, Tibet, and Vietnam.

This trip is a far cry from National Lampoon’s summer vacation. Jake will be using the trip to get
in touch with the sport on a global basis: visiting shops and riding mountains all over the world.
The ultimate goal – to maintain the company’s global outlook and leadership and reinforce
Burton’s drive for innovation and commitment to the growth of the sport worldwide.
As part of the trip, Jake will be spending several months in Europe and Japan, both key
international markets for Burton. He’ll spend time in Burton’s headquarters in Innsbruck and
Tokyo, connecting with staff. He also plans to meet with suppliers at factories all over the world.
Throughout the trip, Jake and his family will be conducting extensive product testing, staying in
touch with the development of Burton’s ‘05 product line, while testing it under some interesting
conditions around the world. At each stop, Jake will be sent a few pieces of new gear, straight
from the proto shop back in Burlington, VT. He and his family will log days on snow before the
product is swapped out for newer gear, exchanging it in a constantly revolving cycle.
“My family and I enjoy winter much more than summer, so we’re looking forward to going on a
safari where winter is never going to end,” says Jake. “By riding all over the planet, I’ll be
developing a very good understanding of what it takes to be a more effective global company. It
will be huge to immerse ourselves in the European, Japanese, and Southern Hemi snowboarding
cultures among other areas we’re visiting, and remind ourselves that there’s a lot more to the
world than North America.”

Jake will maintain close communications with the headquarters in Burlington. On the first leg of
the trip, he will attend the Burton Summer Sales Meeting in Bariloche, Argentina with the global
sales force to kick off the ‘04 season. After that, he’ll join Burton’s Global Team in New Zealand
for a photo shoot before heading off to Australia and Japan to conduct meetings with Burton’s
senior managers and board of directors. Laurent Potdevin, President and COO, will man the
helm in Burlington, Vermont in Jake’s absence.
Snowboard the world through Jake’s eyes. Jake will be posting regular updates on his
adventures and experiences at www.burton.com. Stay tuned for stories from the road, complete
with photos and videos of his adventures.

JAKE’S THOUGHTS ON THE 2002 WINTER OLYMPICS

Clearly, the question I’m most asked these days is “How were the Olympics?”
While I was only there for the Halfpipe, they were pretty damn cool. Sure, there were some
things that would get under the skin of just about any snowboarder (such as a 40-foot high print of
a skier on the main entrance to the snowboarding venue/not a jam format/uniforms/questionable
judging-Shannon got shafted), but it was clear they made a sincere effort to design the venue and
the event with snowboarders in mind.

The format that they used featured running the qualifiers in the morning (35 men and 20 women)
and the finals in the afternoon (12 men and 12 women). Between the qualifiers and the finals
they had live music (Lit for the women's and Save Ferris during the men's) and the sound system
was good. They also had two large Jumbotrons and the riders got to select their own music for
their runs, which everyone definitely enjoyed. During down times they had Chris Jamieson
interview people who were there and showed it on the Jumbos. There was no food or vending on
the premises, and this made for somewhat of a long day, but no one seemed to care because the
riding was so incredible.

If I had to single out the most memorable aspect of the event it would simply be the overall level
of the riding. Watching Kelly and Ross win Burton’s first gold medals was definitely an emotional
experience, but simply watching the level of progression in the sport was equally dramatic. The
level of the women’s event was equal to a guy’s event from just a few years ago. When the guys
took over the next day the amplitude was a joke. Ross and Heikki went so far out of the pipe it
was hard to keep perspective since they were so high.

The overall vibe in Park City was much cooler than any of us expected. While security was
everywhere, they were courteous and tolerant. The weather was great, which can make or break
an event, but the people there were equally cool.

As far as my position on the FIS and their future involvement in snowboarding, I am still superconcerned.
While the nationalistic approach works for the Olympics, it definitely wouldn’t work for
our sport on a week -in/week-out basis. Uniforms, national coaches, a limited range of events,
and monopolistic control over riders’ careers are not what’s going to take snowboarding ahead.
Snowboarding needs its athletes to train where they want, compete in what events they want,
pick their own coach, and not wear a uniform.

Now the question about the Olympics that needs to be asked is “What will this do for the growth
of our sport?” I don’t really think any of us know the answer to this question. Presumably there
are a lot of people out there who’ve thought about trying snowboarding and now they might be
more committed to making the effort to pick the sport up. There are also a lot of kids who identify
with the sport (and the riders) and will clearly pursue snowboarding. Will this grow the sport? Let’s
hope so.
-Jake
April, 2002


The above information is from the Burton Website!
The History of Snowboarding in North America!
The History of Snowboarding in Europe!
The History of Snowboaring in Japan!
Burton Goes Global!
The History of Burton Snowboards' European Headquarters!
Burton Japan: The History of Burton Snowboards' Japanese Headquarters!
US Open Snowboarding Championships History Highlights!
Snowboarding and the Olympics!
Burton Snowboards Fact Sheet!
Burton Snowboards' Company Profile!
How Burton Snowboard Graphics Get Created!
Burton Manufacturing Center Factory Tour!
Frequently Asked Questions about Burton!
2004 Jake Burton Biography!
Snowboarding 101- Just the basics!

The above information is from the Burton Website!