Let It Ride

This video is the beginning section of the film Let It Ride, a tribute to the great Craig Kelly. The film is, of course, about Craig's life and why he snowboarded. I saw this video on the internet when I was researching for my project, and I bought it not just for my research but because watching snowboarding is one my favorite things to do if I can't be snowboarding, it's inspirational. And the person featured in this film, Craig Kelly, is one of the most influential snowboarders I've ever seen. If you ever get a chance to watch the whole film I'd recommend it highly.

"Jake Burton: King of the Hill"

Bailey, Reade. "Jake Burton: King of the Hill." Ski Feb. 1998: 60. ProQuest Central. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. .

“Jake Burton: King of the Hill” is, obviously, about Jake Burton. The author Reade Bailey has the opportunity to spend a few days with the famous inventor and snowboarder. Bailey mainly just tells about the experiences he had with Burton and what he observed while doing so. He observed that Burton was just a normal guy, who had a great idea and a passion that turned into something monumental. Bailey had the chance to actually go snowboarding with Burton, meet his family, and see his factory. But the article provides more than just those things. Woven in with all the firsthand experiences the author has he elaborates on Burton’s life and his past that have made him and his company what they are today, the leaders of the snowboading industry. He also talks about the history of snowboarding a little bit because Jake Burton was such a huge contributor to the sport seeing as he invented the snowboard itself and was able to get it recognized as a legitimate sport.

I believe this is totally relevant to my research project because it gives some history behind Jake Burton and his company. Not only that but it also has information about why he started doing it and why he continued, because he loves doing it. It talks not only about how he affected the sport of snowboarding, but also why he he was compelled to do those things that did affect the sport.

This article was especially interesting because it didn’t just state facts. Like I said before, it gave reasons for what Jake Burton did that caused him to create the sport of snowboarding.

Jake Burton

There are many people that contributed to snowboarding, but Jake Burton Carpenter was the first person to develop the modern snowboard. Today, his company dominates the snowboard industry in almost everything from boards, to outerwear, to boots and bindings. He started his company in 1977 with just two relatives and a friend in a barn according to the article “Snowboard Pioneer” at snowboard.mountainzone.com. Everything was done there, he even lived there. His idea stemmed from the Snurfer, an early form of a snowboard. They made about 50 boards per day, but only sold about 300 years in the first year. And it might have ended there if it hadn’t been for his persistence. After just two years, he was over $100,000 in debt and more than a little discouraged. But then he realized he couldn’t just market his company, he had to market the sport itself, so he traveled to resorts to get local riders interested in riding. After snowboarding began to become more popular, he began to develop his company into what it is today. Also, according the article “Jake Burton” at snowboard.about.com, in 1983 Burton held the first National Snowboarding Championships in Snow Valley, Vermont. Today it's known as the U.S. Open and is one of the biggest snowboard competitions in the world. Jake Burton almost single-handedly began a movement. He was able to get snowboarding into the spotlight, and I think it’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for Jake Burton, snowboarding wouldn’t be a sport today, or it would be much less developed.

Craig Kelly

One of the first major influences in snowboarding was Craig Kelly. He was one of those people that is always one step ahead of everyone else; he didn’t follow snowboarding, snowboarding followed him. Jake Burton said in the article “Craig Kelly, 36; Helped Refine Snowboarding as Sport and Art” in the New York Times that “ ‘He took the sport from competition into freestyle only, and the whole industry basically followed him […] then he took it to freeriding, which isn’t competition, and the industry followed him there.” Kelly went professional when he was only 18 and first rode for Sims, one of the first snowboard companies, owned by Tom Sims, another influential figure in the sport. Then, in 1987, according to the “20 years” issue Transworld Snowboarding Kelly left Sims after the World’s at Breckinridge because Burton offered him “a bigger number than had ever been seen before in the sport.” So, not only was Craig Kelly an influence on the style of snowboarding, he was practically the start of professional riding, which in itself has its pros and cons. Sadly, Craig Kelly is not alive to continue exerting his influence the sport today, even though he had stopped competing before his death. He was killed on January 20, 2003 in an avalanche at Revelstoke, BC. There is no denying that Craig Kelly revolutionized the sport of snowboarding, and he will always be one of the best snowboarders of all time. If it were not for Craig Kelly, who knows where we would be today?