The dream of the step in is alive at Burton. Not to let that old idea die, Burton is now taking pre-orders for their latest version of the easy-in easy-out binding the “Step On.” Here’s what Jake has to say about it:
“Over five years ago, I challenged our hardgoods team to evolve the way snowboarders get in and out of bindings,” said Jake Burton, Founder & Chairman of Burton Snowboards. “Personally, I was sick of sitting down to strap in and knew we needed more convenience, which is one area where skiing has been ahead of us. I had very high expectations and didn’t want to compromise at all on performance or the ride feel. After hundreds of prototypes and thousands of hours of testing, Step On™ has exceeded everything I thought it would be. The convenience, comfort and feel is next level. Step On™ is the only thing I rode last season, and you won’t see me sitting down to strap in again.”
But will we see Jake sitting in the snow on a cold powder day using a borrowed ski pole to scrape all the snow and ice off the bottom of his boot before he steps on the new binding? That is the question. We haven’t ridden step-ins for a decade so we have no idea how they’re going to work. Hopefully, they’ve improved since the last time this technology was going to revolutionize snowboarding. For the official word from the Burton Corp, please follow the jump.
Burton has partnered up with some of the best names in camping (Big Agnes, Yeti, Stanley) and created a one-stop shop for cool camp gear including tests, chairs, tables, sleeping bag, backpacks, and more. Click the link if you’re interested in getting ready for summer camping smooth and easy like.
Burton Snowboards has reportedly decided to outsource their creative direction to their former creative director Greg Dacyshyn. Confused? Don’t be. It’s what corporations, city governments, and nations have been doing for awhile now. Here’s how Jake Burton explains it:
“Greg has been with me and Burton for over 20 years. In that time, he worked his way up from an entry-level position to Chief Creative Officer. He ultimately assumed responsibility for the look and feel of every product and marketing piece in our line,” Burton says. “He has always delivered a creative look that I have been comfortable with and (more importantly) that has been well received in the market. Under this new structure, Greg will continue to have the impact that he has had in the past while giving our VP of Product, Chris Cunningham and our Chief Marketing Officer, Anne-Marie Dacyshyn, the opportunity to execute and assume direct and complete responsibility for our product and marketing.”
Sounds like a perfect gig. Do all the fun stuff, while letting your wife take responsibility. Yessssss. For the official word from Burton, please follow the jump.
It’s still going. Large crowds still show up at the bottom of the halfpipe and Chloe Kim and Shaun White are still winning the US Open of Snowboarding. In other words, not much has changed at Burton’s long running snowboard activation at Vail, Colorado.
Shaun White came ready with an arsenal of tricks to defend his title against a packed field of contenders. White says, “I wanted to come out of the gate swinging. I knew everyone was going to be going for their hardest runs. I had to step it up.” And step it up he did, White put down his most progressive run ever posting a score of 92.74, winning with a nearly 10-point lead. His run started off with a lofty backside air, into a frontside double cork 1080 stalefish, upping the ante with a Cab double cork 1440 mute, into a frontside 540 stalefish, a backside double McTwist, and ending with a frontside 900 tail. This is the first time in competition that White has landed his Cab double cork 1440 followed by a double McTwist 1260 in what was a history-making halfpipe run at the final event of the 35th annual Burton U.S. Open.
Yeah, dog. For the official word from Burton Snowboards, please follow the jump.
Donna Carpenter, the CEO of Burton Snowboards, has decided to help out employees who are making their way to Washington DC for the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017, according to a story in Cosmopolitan Magazine. Donna is giving employees who want to go two nights lodging and $250 cash towards travel. How’s that for support?
I knew there would be a lot of Burton women who were making the effort to get down to Washington,” Donna said. “They’re that type of people. We’re in Vermont, in Bernie-land. I had a lot of employees who were volunteering for Bernie [Sanders]. But it’s a long way from Burlington to Washington, D.C. For me, it’s all about numbers. What they need are numbers to make a point.
Not only does Burton live in Bernie-land, Bernie is like family to the company (literal family) so it makes sense. It will also be nice for everyone to get out in the streets of DC the day after Friday’s events. For more thoughts from Donna, click the link.
Someone at Burton loves dead people. We’ve said before that it was because they were much easier to do deals with. But we’re not sure that’s the only reason. Over the past few decades the company has done collaborations with Andy Warhol (who is dead), Bob Marley (who is dead), and now they’re getting in the ring with Muhamad Ali (who is also dead) with the Ali x Burton The Greatest Snowboard.
When pioneers see eye-to-eye, it’s only fitting to step into the ring and celebrate with a knockout. Thus the Ali x Burton collaboration brings two legacies together with a limited release board in honor of the People’s Champion, the Greatest, Muhammad Ali.
Wonder if this boards floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee? Truthfully, we’ll never know. But we do begin to wonder how much longer it will be before they do a Hugh Hefner model. He’ll qualify as a dead artist soon enough, won’t he?
In what could be called the “Day before St. Paddy’s Day Massacre” the Burton Corporation reportedly cut 4 percent of their 900 member global workforce on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 according to a story on Yobeat.com.
Burton President John Lacy framed it this way in a memo to the company’s remaining employees:
What that really means is that we had to let some good people go. Friends and colleagues were affected in every area of our business, and in multiple regions, and it isn’t easy to say goodbye. We’ve now talked directly with everyone affected by these changes, and our HR team is working with each of them to provide full service support during this transition. These decisions are not easy nor are they taken lightly. Please know we will be doing everything we can to help ensure these individuals have the tools and backing they need to take on this next chapter.
According to the post cuts include “multiple key sales roles, such as sales director for Anon/Analog, the women’s brand manager and some product developers.” We also hear the Burton LA store will be closing soon and the NYC store will move to a more economical location. For the entire letter from the president, please click the link to Yobeat.
Jake and Donna Burton Carpenter’s sons George and Timothy, are apparently responsible for accidentally torching Mount Mansfield’s historic Stone Hut just before Christmas, after getting the place warmed up for a friend who they thought was spending the night, according to a story in the Vermont Digger.
The brothers and a few friends “built the fire up really big” in the wood stove, and brought in some wet wood from outside, which they leaned up against the stove to dry out, the report said. . . A few of the pieces were placed at an angle where the tip of the wood was against the stove and made a ‘hissing’ sound as the snow began to melt against it,” the police report reads. . . The group left the hut and headed down the mountain at 2:40 p.m. About five hours later, they realized the friend they expected to spend the night at the hut didn’t show up.
Sometime later, the Hut caught on fire, however, the fire was not reported until 7 AM the next morning by a lift mechanic. The Carpenters have reportedly pledged $100,000 for the restoration of the hut. Pretty expensive way to learn that whole Smokey The Bear “never leave a fire unattended” thing.
The newly patented system, which looks similar to the Burton SI bindings of yesteryear with the addition of an elaborate heel latching mechanism, was apparently “invented” by Raymond Robert Kavarsky, Jr., Christopher M. Doyle, and Scott T. Keller.
Click the image to look at it more closely or to check out the pages and pages of official references, schematics, descriptions, click this link.
We especially enjoyed the references list which includes patents held by a host of familiar names including: Fournier, Karol, Morrow, Sanders, Raines, Meiselman, Alden, Warburton, Pelchat, and even Spademan.
Burton Snowboards will be releasing a series of extremely high production value advertisements this fall featuring their sponsored riders.
Watch Zak Hale dissect features with Ethan Deiss, and Mikkel Bang alongside Mikey Rencz, as well as individual parts starring Ben Ferguson, Danny Davis, and Mark McMorris.
The riders will all be wearing the latest Burton Snowboarding clothing and riding products that Burton hopes you will buy this fall. It is quite compelling, is it not? In fact, the ads will be so good that websites around the world will post them for Burton free of charge (Kind of like what we’re doing right now). Damn, they are crafty.
In what could be called the “Day before St. Paddy’s Day Massacre” the Burton Corporation reportedly cut 4 percent of their 900 member global workforce on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 according to a story on 
Jake and Donna Burton Carpenter’s sons George and Timothy, are apparently responsible for accidentally torching Mount Mansfield’s historic Stone Hut just before Christmas, after getting the place warmed up for a friend who they thought was spending the night, according to a story in the 
