Dear Rider：
In late 2019, we lost Jake Burton Carpenter, the king of veneers.
13 is one of Jake's most cherished numbers, symbolizing Burton's initials B, and since March 13, it has become a day for skiers around the world to commemorate Jake.
Jake often tells everyone, Have as much fun as possible. I also want to say to Jake, thank you for snowboarding in our lives, may you continue to ski in heaven, Ride On Jake!
ON THE EVENING OF MARCH 13, MY SKI CULTURE SPACE BOARDROOM AND BURTON HELD A DAY FOR JAKE COMMEMORATION
On this special day, I also prepared a video about the life of Jake Burton Carpenter, the king of snowboarding, and paid tribute to the pioneer of snowboarding.
- "Have you thought about selling the company?" Someone once asked.
- "The next Burton boss has to love snowboarding more than I do, and I haven't met anyone like that yet." Jake said.
On November 20, 2019, in Burlington, Vermont, USA, Jake Burton, the king of veneers, died of testicular cancer at the age of 65.
On the white slopes, Jake saw the future of this new sport, and inspired by his childhood fascination with Snurfer's toy sledboard, he succeeded in creating an important prototype of the modern snowboard. With an unquenchable passion, Jake has driven snowboarding into a lifestyle that has influenced generations, and Burton Snowboards has grown from a workshop in a Vermont barn to the multibillion-dollar ski giant it is today.
Some say Jake is a "rule breaker", some say Jake can convince anyone in the world with his signature smile, some say Jake is possessed by Benjamin Patton, the younger he lives...
So, who exactly is Jake Burton Carpenter?
Little clever ghost jack
On April 29, 1954, Jake Burton Carpenter was born into an ordinary middle-class family on Long Island, New York. Unlike the well-behaved and sensible siblings in the family, Jake perfectly inherits his mother's lively mischievous and humorous sense, and his father's enthusiasm and decisive personality, and the family calls him "the wise ass kid".
At the age of 8, the witty and eccentric Jake already showed great business acumen, such as boosting the sales of lemonade by giving away free potato chips at school events. It was also during a family ski vacation during that period that Jake first encountered skiing at the Bromley Snow Resort in Vermont and was instantly fascinated.
Jake skiing for the first time
Jake soon revealed his skiing talent
Snowy days represent the fondest memories of Jake's childhood, free time to escape school, and the possibility of going tobogganing or even a family ski trip to Vermont. Now, decades later, tens of centimeters of snow mean it's a day off for Burton's office. "Go to XX's work, go, go up the mountain and go skiing!"
Growing up by the sea, Jake's love of boardboarding began with surfing. On Christmas Day 1968, 14-year-old Jake wished for a surfboard, but he used his $10 savings to buy a Snufer toy sledboard, continuing his surfing hobby from the sea to the snow.
At that time, Jake was simply addicted to this "new sport", and the golf course on Long Island and the hillside near the school became his favorite playground, and the joy of standing sideways planted a seed in Jake's heart. As for learning, it has never been his forte, and he went to the same boarding school as his father and brother, but Jake was "honorably" expelled outright.
Accept loneliness and move towards independence
Growing up in the rebellious era of the United States in the 60s, Jake had a difficult and happy life as a teenager. At the age of 13, Jake's eldest brother, whom Jake regarded as a role model, lost his life in the Vietnam War, and at the age of 17, an even bigger blow came when his dearest mother, Katherine, died of leukemia. According to Jake's sister, his mother was his soulmate, and for a while, Jake fell into endless loneliness.
Jake's mother, Katherine "Kitty" Carpenter
During this frustrated time, Jake sought solace in the waves and the ocean, and the days by the sea also shaped his unique soul that could enjoy freedom, and the savage and irregular waves made him addicted, and also created his courageous character to challenge and move towards independence.
Jake's relationship with his father was relatively complicated, and he always felt that he never met his strict father's expectations, but after his mother's death, his father became "the best single dad in the world". His father encouraged Jake and his two older sisters to enjoy life on behalf of his mother and brother, who had died. From his father, Jake learned the qualities of resilience and a philosophy of life that embraces life unconditionally.
Jake has loved animals since childhood, having worked part-time at a racecourse, and since founding the company, pets have been ingrained in Burton's culture since the beginning, often soothing the pleasant barking of dogs in tense meetings. Today, in Burton's Shanghai office, employees continue that culture, adopting a stray cat named 77.
At the age of 18, he began his career at the University of Colorado. With long frizzy hair and no friends or family, he found that he had a bad temper with the school, not to mention that car accidents and accidents in two months had broken his collarbone three times.
Jake had a good athletic talent in college, and he tried to apply to join the ski varsity team, but lost out to his European classmates. Here, he met his self-proclaimed "lifelong enemy" Bill Marolt, a former Olympian and varsity coach who not only turned him out, but the two went to court more than two decades later over an unfair dispute over snowboarding in an Olympic qualifying tournament. In both battles, Jake lost first and then won, and his doubleboard career ended at the same time as he began.
After that unhappy winter, feeling lonely, Jake dropped out of school and returned to the east, close to family and friends, to find a job as a horse racing trainer in New York. Over the next four years, he began taking evening classes at New York University.
"Loneliness" and "independence" were the main themes of Jake's teenage years. Years later, Jake attributes much of his success to a time when he was lonely and free to explore the possibilities of life on his own.
MINE77
After graduating from New York University, Jake got a job at an investment bank with a sister friend. Working 12-14 hours a day, suits, and the financial world of the jungle made Jake feel lost, bored, and unhappy.
From the perspective of traditional values, this financial path is bright and successful, and Jake unsurprisingly refuses, remembering his father's encouragement and the Snurfer that fascinated him, and the idea of building his own skis began to make him excited.
In 1977, Jake resigned from the company and began the entrepreneurial path of Burton Snowboards, risking losing everything, he decided to break with tradition, embrace the cultural change of the new era, open a new way of life, and skate his own "surf" trajectory on the snow.
Jake left Manhattan and moved to a barn in the Vermont town of Londonberry, which became the first Burton "store" ever, but it's not an exaggeration to say it's a simple craft workshop.
A veneer prototype made by Jake in his early days
After borrowing the structure and materials of skis, surfboards, skateboards and other products, Jake did a variety of different tests for this, and even went to the surfboard factory in Santa Cruz, California to consult, the owner of the factory, John Mel, saw the strength of this young man, and specially opened the factory door for him at night to learn the manufacturing process.
After making more than 100 prototypes of different processes, Jake decided to borrow the lightweight and flexible skateboard material structure and use laminated maple wood to create Burton's first production snowboard, Burton Backhill, which at that time only had simple rubber straps and sleeves as a fixer, and used front drawstrings and handles to assist in maneuvering.
To distinguish it from the rest of the Backhill collection, in the snowboard collecting circle, we call this ski BB1: Burton Londonderry BBI Backhill. From the early snowboard names such as Backhill, Backyard can be seen that snowboarding at that time was more of a backyard entertainment.
Burton Londonderry BBI Backhill, Billy White Personal Collection
Design drawings and patent applications for Burton's early prototype boards
In the early days of the business, Jake's barn was the factory, the living room was the store, the basement was the warehouse, and Burton's early 7*24 online consultation center was located in Jake's bedroom. At midnight, Jake receives orders from skaters from all over the country in his bedroom.
At that time, Burton Snowboards did not have a mature production process, and all the veneers were made by Jake himself. On two occasions, the wood used to make the skis was slipped out of the retention groove, almost killing Jake.
Jake didn't stop exploring, in fact, when he decided to start making snowboards, there was nothing stopping him from continuing.
1977 was the year Burton Snowboards were officially born. Yes, the 77 of MINE77 also came from this, The Mine is Ours, the era of veneers.
A difficult startup without a trace
Unlike surfing and skateboarding, Jake is pushing for a whole new sport, and he wants to usher in an unprecedented era. At that time, the snowboard trajectory had not yet appeared in any big mountain, and there were no footprints of predecessors on the snow to imitate and pursue.
In this way, Jake stayed up late every day, making, innovating, tearing down and reinventing... How do you "change the world" and create a whole new way of life? He didn't know it himself, but what he did know was that he had to do it. No matter how old he is, Jake has a natural naïve and romantic quality, and if there were too many practical ideas in his head, he would probably have given up this grand idea.
In the late 70s and early 80s, snowboarding gradually took shape. In addition to Sherman Poppen's Snufer and Jake's Burton Snowboards, many people began to try to make veneers, Utah's Dimitrije Milovich had Winterstick, Chuck Barfoot made Barfoot in California, and most importantly, Tom Sims, the East-West veneer dispute between Burton and Sims in the 80s is an afterthought.
Jake didn't invent snowboarding, he didn't invent the sport of snowboarding, and in my opinion, no one really invented the sport. Jake saw a bright future in the early days of snowboarding, and after being told by Sherman Poppen that he couldn't use Snurfing's name for free, Jake adopted the name Snowboarding, which eventually became the official name for snowboarding.
To promote Burton veneers, Jake took BB1 to the national Snurfing competition held in 1979 and won the championship. Not only did he get a $300 bonus, but he also believed that the product he designed was excellent.
However, there are no simple things on the road to success, and the sales of snowboards are not optimistic. "I remember one time when I visited a dealer in New York with 38 skis. On the way back, the number of skis was 40, and I don't want your junk stuff, one dealer said, returning the original goods. ”
In desperation, Jake laid off his staff and returned to New York, where he worked as a tennis coach and bartender to keep the company afloat. This return ignited the fire in Jake's heart, and he knew that this was not the business he had taken for granted to make quick money in the first place, it was a sport he loved and loved, and Burton had to find a new way out and never allow himself to give up halfway.
Open the snow resort gates
Jake knows that for snowboarding to truly enter the public eye, the mass base is everything.
In the early 80s, there were almost no snow resorts in the United States that allowed snowboarding to enter. In the spring of 1981, with the support of the resort's owners, Ski Cooper Ski Resort in Colorado hosted its first-ever snowboard competition: the King of the Mountain. Despite losing to Tom Sims and Winterstick's skaters, Jake knew that such competitions were a powerful boost for snowboarding to the masses.
The following year, the National Snow Surfing Championship was held, and Doug Bouton, who stepped on Burton's latest product, won the championship, and he became Burton's first Team Rider after Jake himself. The tournament is also the predecessor of the famous Burton US Open, becoming the oldest snowboarding event.
The competition is the most grounded, the most primitive and the wildest, it allows snowboarding, skaters to collide with art, music, culture, and also lays the foundation of Burton's cultural core - By Riders, For Riders, born for skaters, for skaters.
In 1982, with Jake's efforts, Vermont's Suicide Six ski resort became one of the first snowboarding resorts in the United States, although it only had a 200-meter drop, but for snowboarding at that time, it was a small step for snowboarding, a big step for snowboarding.
Jake and his colleagues kept visiting new ski resorts, and Stratton Mountain, Jay peak, Stowe, Sugarbush, and Killington opened their doors to snowboarders. Another problem arises, wooden skis without edges perform well in powder snow, but are difficult to control on complex rotten snow on snow resorts, ice surfaces and hard shells, and even machine grooming runs.
This gave Jake new inspiration, and one major invention after another in the history of snowboarding came - retainers, snowboard shoes, snowboard clothing, metal edge blades, new board shapes...
Snowboarding big time
Great things are often "invented" twice, the first time conceptually and technically possible; The second is to change the world and go to thousands of households. Jake didn't invent snowboarding or the sport, but that didn't stop him from becoming one of the most important promoters of snowboarding, or rather, none of them.
There are many people who dream of snowsurfing, and Jake brings it to life. He understands the deeper essence of the sport and knows what it will become.
On the West Coast of the United States, Tom Sims has long been considered Jake's old rival. East Burton, West Sims, it's no exaggeration to say that they were the evil of the veneers of the 80s. Now that they're gone, I don't want to dig into that history that no one can be sure of, and it doesn't matter if Tom borrowed Backhill's snowboard technology from Jake.
But whenever you look at the booming snowboard culture on the east and west coasts of the United States in the 80s, Tom Sims and Sims snowboard's West Coast Freestyle freestyle style, the kind of street culture attributes and technical actions that integrate surfing and skateboarding, really greatly promoted the progress of snowboarding.
At the same time, Burton on the East Coast is more focused on the tradition of racing from the boarding, and the styles of the two sides are very different, both in terms of equipment characteristics and cultural output.
In practice, Sims successfully created a round-tailed snowboard with the help of professional skater Terry Kidwell, making snowboarding no longer only one-way skiing, but also possible with backfoot, which greatly promoted the development of freestyle movements and techniques, and for a while Sims' skaters also dominated the podiums of major competitions.
And the appearance of Craig Kelly brought this East-West hegemony to its climax. This talented teenager who almost became a chemical engineer won Sims Grand Slams in various snowboard competitions, he is good at analyzing the relationship between movement and body muscles, and he knows how to tune snowboarding for performance.
Craig Kelly is also one of my favorite skaters, and I have a huge collection of snowboards and original photos of him
Although he won numerous honors for a while, Tom Sims did not want to offer a better treatment for Craig, especially after Sims brought in the capital of skateboard company Vision, Craig decided to leave Sims and join Burton.
Craig's chemistry expertise and his elf-like freestyle skiing skills instantly shone through, not only winning races, but also helping Burton build new snowboards. Sims took Craig to court, demanding that Burton not be able to make products named after Craig Kelly. Jake and Craig's solution was to name the skis after Mystery Air, creating mystery and avoiding lawsuits.
My collection of 1989 Mystery Air
After winning numerous championship titles, Craig Kelly finally chose to return to the mountains to help Burton develop AK series products more suitable for wild snow skiing, and also traveled to wild snow resorts around the world, working towards the goal of Canada's first snowboard snow guide, he became a world champion because he liked a sport, and he was tired to find freedom from scratch, he was not occupied by anything, kidnapped.
Jake and Tom's lawsuit over Craig ended in an avalanche in 2003. Craig Kelly, a four-time snowboard world champion, the spiritual leader of snowboarding into the mountains, and the spiritual leader of countless snowboarders is buried in the snowy mountains of Canada at the age of 36.
In my opinion, the "arms race" in the 80s actually greatly improved the development of veneer culture and equipment technology, which seemed to be a dispute between East and West, but in fact jointly promoted the progress of the industry. The complex relationship between Jake Burton, Tom Sims, and Craig Kelly drove the start of the snowboarding era.
The love of your life
On New Year's Day 1981, Jake met his future wife, Donna. Donna, then 18, a new college student in New York, came to Londonberry to book a ski trip with friends. When the two first met, Jake threw out what today seems like a classic self-introduction: "Hi, my name is Jake and I make snowboards."
Donna was instantly attracted to the big sunny boy in front of him with a big smile on his face and a flash of passion in his eyes. 10 years older than Donna and working 18 hours a day, Jake was exhausted and confused about his plan. But Donna admired Jake's obsession and vision for snowboarding, and the two quickly fell in love and started a family.
In 1984, Jake and Donna decided to bring Burton to the European market. At that time, Europe did not know what snowboarding was, and Jake's family looked for factories one after another to negotiate cooperation, and after countless rejections, finally an Austrian company called KEIL-SKI took the order.
Acutely aware of Burton's potential, Donna, 22, stopped what she was doing, devoted 100% of her energy to Burton, and began learning to participate in building production lines and office processes in Europe.
Burton's headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, made the town even more attractive, Burton was like an anchor that introduced snowboarding to Europe and took root, this cool sport immediately attracted the attention of young people, and the birth of the boiling snow air & style competition also greatly promoted the development of snowboarding in Europe.
In February 2019, I had the pleasure of visiting Burton's headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, and I was struck by the snowy mountains behind the company
From a small team in the early 80s, to 120 employees from 17 countries. Burton's European office grew stronger. Innsbruck has gradually become the Mecca of European snowboarding, attracting countless people to work, study, pilgrimage and share their love of outdoor sports.
And Burton's success in Europe naturally also has to be credited to Donna, who is not only the love of Jake's life, but also an important figure in Burton's development.
Why Veneer? Why Burton?
In 1986, the snowboard industry began to explode. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 1,000 offline stores selling Burton equipment. At the same time, agents in New Zealand, Australia and Japan are also eager to prepare for the snowboard business.
With the gradual popularity of snowboarding, the battle between snowboards and snowboards has gradually become popular. Skiers began to wonder, "Where did all these snowboarders come from?" ”。 In addition to the poor face of "alien species" on the slopes, Time magazine in 1988 even described snowboarding as the worst emerging sport.
But for that group of snowboard fanatics, it's arguably the coolest sport in the world, and there's no one.
Jake said of skiing: "I watched skiing slip away from young people's interests, and I would never allow myself to make such a mistake. When I was little, the two-board was cool, but today's two-board industry has thrown those away. “
However, why veneer? From a niche sport that almost no one knows about, can't even pronounce its name accurately, and is banned by major ski resorts, to a cool lifestyle that makes the world's young people chase wildly? I guess that's the future Jake saw back then.
Since the mid-90s, snowboarding has ceased to be a fringe activity. With Burton retail stores in more than 35 countries, and with the help of ski movies and advertising, Burton's sponsored skaters dance around the snowy mountains around the world and serve as ambassadors to promote the sport.
However, why Burton? Or in Jake's own words: "Burton Never Sleeps." Always inventing and innovating and being at the forefront of science and technology is Burton's credo. It's an attitude of "always making the best product for every skater".
Fxxk Burton's voice has lasted for decades, but when we look back at the history of snowboarding and the technological revolution, Burton can't get around every time.
Compared with the craft workshop of the year, Burton has an industry-leading patent and R&D budget. Jake's attention to detail never stops, and his habitual product ideas and design ideas on manuscript paper still subtly drive Burton's innovation.
In addition to technology and finance, people and families have played an important role in Burton's development. Jake wants to promote a "rider-driven" skater-oriented culture, for skaters, for skaters.
In the golden age of snowboarding in the late 80s and early 90s, countless top skaters generally emerged from fairy fights, and although reluctantly, Jake gradually retreated into the background, gathering snowboarders of different styles, personalities and preferences through his strong personal charm. Whether on or off the snow, Jake believes in their insights and unique insights to elevate technological innovation and provide a new direction for the future of snowboarding.
Craig Kelly与Jake
When Jake's lifelong friend, Craig Kelly, joined Burton, he left a message: "I'm starting to be your skatter now, but you have to listen to me." “
Jake said, "When I started following Craig's advice, the company became successful and took off quickly, and when everyone else in the industry followed Craig, the sport really started to thrive." In honor of Craig Kelly, Burton's prototype board factory at its Vermont headquarters was also named Craig's.
Ideas, feedback, inspiration, innovation, openness, diversity... The skate-oriented culture defined Burton's core and underpinned Burton's success.
Don't forget your original intention
The vigorous development of veneer and the exponential growth of the market have also made many old double-board brands covet this piece of fragrant food and launch their own veneer products. Looking back, maybe snowboarding made the sport of "skiing" cooler. Freestyle is booming, parks, jumps, props, skiing are becoming more and more diverse.
It's all a cycle, after all, in 1984, Jake also borrowed Edgeblade and P-Tex from the double board. Burton not only made improvements and innovations in equipment, but also provided a transformative impetus for the entire industry. Jake uses his actions to tell the world how the sport brings technology, aesthetics, emotion and soul together.
It's not just skateboard manufacturers who want a piece of the action, other sports brands like Vans, Nike, and Adidas are also threatening Burton and companies operating with skaters-oriented mindsets in the industry. In the eyes of the veneer circle, the motivation of these giants to join is not real love, but more pure profit driven.
The snowboard industry has received worldwide attention, but the flow of money has also become unfathomable, with mainstream sponsors, television events, X-Games, the Winter Olympics, IPOs... Yes, the veneer did it, and it really became the focus of the world.
Snowboarding was introduced as a sport for the first time at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, but it was entirely up to the judges and committee members to set the rules for the event, and even the screens on the scene were spelled with snowboring. Burton skater Terje Håkonsen dropped the race, a move backed by Jake.
When you're the boss of the industry, you have to stand firm and fight to the end, maintain your position and keep inventing. Jake and Donna listened to their hearts, Burton always existed as a private company, and while making money was important, Jake remembered the days when one man in the barn built BB1 and what it was all for today.
Not only is it a commercial challenge, under the influence of the aggressive forces of the mainstream, it is the original intention to maintain the soul of the snowboard and maintain the best for the skaters. In 1995, Jake and Donna founded The Chill Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to help kids aged 10 to 18 who don't have the opportunity to ski.
Burton was undoubtedly a huge success in commercialization, in addition to winning half of the global snowboard market at its peak, and benefiting from sponsoring ski stars such as Shaun White, Kelly Clark, Mark McMorris, but Jake and Donna never forgot where they came from when they broke into the ground.
“When you focus on snowboarding，everything else will fall into place.”
Fearless illness, no regrets
Jake solemnly vowed to ski 100 days a year to the snow god, he rarely slides alone, and always has friends on the way to explore the world's snowy mountains, sharing the pure joy of snowboarding.
Jake was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2011 but was lucky enough to be told it was the curable type. In addition to this, he also experienced a series of health crises, severe knee injuries, and pulmonary embolism. After replacing his knee prosthetic, Jake returned to the slopes with the doctor who helped him with the surgery.
In 2015, after actively treating life and the mountains, Jake suffered another joke from God, suffering from a very rare and serious neurological disorder: Miller Fisher Syndrome.
The disease gradually took over the patient's physical abilities, and during the two months in the ICU, Jake was unable to move, talk, eat, swallow or even breathe on his own. You can only rely on writing notes to communicate with family and friends. Tenacious, Jake even wrote the words "I tried to kill myself" during that period.
Although almost paralyzed, Jake used the cards to write down all his words to relatives and friends, saying that he was grateful to God for this opportunity, and his youngest son, Timi, also said that through this card exchange, he knew his father like never before.
Along with everyone's prayers and wishes, as well as Jake's natural cynical, fate-defying attitude, they even had a party dance party in a hospital bed during Jake's illness. Eventually, Jake survived, and he began traveling again, developing new product lines, and implementing a 100-day ski ski program.
Jake always thinks about China, in addition to fancy this great market, he has also come to China many times, communicate with ski enthusiasts, and also see the great rivers and mountains of Shenzhou by the way, and even attended the opening ceremony of the flagship store in Beijing a long time before his death.
However, the final ending of the story is not forever inspirational. After all, God was still too anxious and brought this "king of veneers" to himself.
There will be a lot to lose in life that we are powerless to change. The recurrent cancer sent Jake Burton Carpenter to heaven like the avalanche that took the life of Jake's lifelong best friend, Craig Kelly. Donna cried and said he was so tired.
"Work Hard Play Hard" may be a slogan to others, but it's far from out of reach for Jake, Burton Snowboards, and all those who love snowboarding.
What does snowboarding mean when we skateboard? Shannon Dunn-Downing, the first U.S. Olympic medallist, summed it up as follows:
What does snowboarding mean?
It's freedom
create
Be a pioneer
friendship
culture
A way of life
It's laughter
Cry
fail
There was success
scar
There is happiness
life
Respect each other
Happy
and gratitude
Jake用自己的一生的故事告诉我们：Smiling bigger，Laughing louder，Giving less of a fuck about anything that don’t make you happy. Live your life the fullest，Don’t take anything for granted and being unapologetically YOU.
Laugh, ignore the noise, indulge, love what you love, and live a life worthy of it.
Jake often tells everyone, Have as much fun as possible.
Thank you for making our lives with snowboarding
May you keep gliding in heaven, Ride On Jake!
Co-author of this article: Zhang Jing
The biography of Jake in this article refers to HBO Max's Dear Rider and Burton X Shinola Coffe Table Book, and unauthorized reproduction is prohibited
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