Remembering Jake Burton Carpenter
Angie Wang for NPR
The founder of Burton Snowboards, Jake Burton Carpenter, has died. He was 65 years old.
We are grateful that Jake shared his story with us in 2017 and we are republishing it as a tribute to his life and career in which he elevated snowboarding into an international sport.
In 1977, 23-year-old Jake Carpenter set out to design a better version of the Snurfer, a stand-up sled he loved to ride as a teenager.
Working by himself in a barn in Londonderry, Vermont, he sanded and whittled stacks of wood, trying to create the perfect ride.
He eventually helped launch an entirely new sport, while building the largest snowboard brand in the world.