Sherman Poppen, The Snurfer, and the History of Snowboarding

let me introduce you to the Grandfather (or maybe Godfather) of Snowboarding Mr. Sherman Poppen.

In 1965 Sherman invented the Snurfer for his daughters to go out in the backwoods of their Muskegon Michigan home. As we all know from there on out the rest is snow sliding history with the likes of Tom Sims, Jake Burton Carpenter, Dimitjrtie Milovich, Chuck Barfoot, Mike Olson, the list goes on as the founding fathers of snowboarding.

I had the distinct pleasure to meet Sherman in the early / mid 90's in Banff Canada during a Transworld Snowboarding Industry "Conference". (Which was basically a big excuse for key snowboard industry "execs' to get together and get our shred-on.)

Since then I have ridden with Sherman a few times in Whistler BC and his home mountain of Steamboat. Believe it or not, Sherman did not start "Officially" snowboarding until his late 60's and I can't think of a person that exuded more stoke and excitement to slide sideways than Sherman.

To this day after 25 years of snowboarding, countless EPIC powder days at some of the best resorts and backcountry around the world, the times I was able to ride with Sherman are at the tops of the list. (Right along with teaching my son and daughter to snowboard and watching them link up their first turns. Then a first decent of an amazing chute in AK that myself, Billy Anderson and Wooly from Volcom all enjoyed and aptly named Lil' Bitch afterward)

So sit back and check out this killer little video and here is a link to Sherman's Snurfer induction to the Smithsonian Museum in DC.

Good bye Vegas...

For the last 17 years as part of working in the Snowboard and wintersports industry (in addition to our little furniture project) I have made the annual pilgrimage to Lost Wages for the Snowsports Industries of America show. Last week was the last SIA show in Las Vegas as it is now moving to Denver.

The gathering of our tribe over the years and the memories of the show in Las Vegas will be hard to top in Denver. But the industry will be much closer to the mountians and the snow so that should be pretty cool instead of spending a week in the desert and a smoke filled casino.

Some memories that come directly to mind -

1997 - getting hit by a car that ran a red light as I skateboarded across Paradise to the 7-11 just across the street from the Las Vegas convention center (That for sure took one, maybe 2 of my 9 lives...)

1992 - 1994 The Snowboard Ghetto as we so affectionetly refered to by our Ski industry "Colleagues". Of course we called the Ski section of the show "The Library..."

The AVN show taking place at the Hilton the same dates as the SIA show. WOW, those were some fun times!

"Smoke" billowing from the windows of Yellow Bus Snowboards and the resulting pizza deliveries. Before they got kicked out of the show.

Rail Jams at the Hard Rock

The Circle Bar at the hard rock and The Round Bar at the Las Vegas Hilton well before the HRH was even built...

Too many good times to list here but check out some of these sites for a recap of shows past and some good stuff.

Shay Boarder.com

The Tackedlbox

Yo Beat

Take it way back with Sacklunch

Transworld Biz

Men's Health Best Life Magazine

Check out this little bit of radness! The ever sophisticated mag of all things healthy and cool - Men's Health Best Life features none other than yours truly in it's latest issue! 2 great pages with the heartwarming story of how a snowboard executive branches out and starts a contemporary outdoor furniture brand with sustainability at the heart of the DNA. Ala Maku Furniture! And how about the nice product shots of the Maku Chaise, Maku Lounge Chair, and Maku Bench.

Many thanks to my good friend Bill Bryne of BBPR for the tremendous job in helping put this story together! Here is a link to the story in HI RES from the BBPR blog

Yeah Keir , 1st place Nippon Open!

Way to Keir, 1st place at the Nippon Open in Japan!! Sweet! Keir of course rides for Maku Furniture, Burton Snowboards, Gravis footwear, a bunch of other cool companies, and is a Carlsbad loc!

Check out all the results and good stuff here.

Welcome to 08, will this be the end of Trestles??

Wow, where has the month of January gone... Sorry for the lack of updates. A few good swells to start the year off, ramping the business up for the spring, and trying to stay ahead of the "recession" which the media keeps hyping despite GDP growing (albeit not as strongly as the past few qtrs...) has made this month just fly by.

Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not saying there has not been a slowdown in our economy. My daughter dragged me into a mall last week for the first time in years and it definitely was not bustling. But if you delve into the numbers and don't just listen to the over zealous media machine, the economy "appears" to be doing "o.k." Fortunately we are going into spring and a time that traditionally brings solid consumer spending, so we will know soon.

So what's new? Snow, snow, and more snow! There's lots of good snow all around the world; Europe, Japan, Canadia, and most importantly the good ole US of A all are having epic snow sliding seasons. Yet somehow this season I don't have a single day on snow for the first time in almost my entire life. Gotta change that for sure, can you say Spring Skiing!

The good news is all those watersheds that were dwindling in supply particularly on the west coast here will fill back up with the spring melt off!



One of the biggest environmental battles to face Southern California in years is the proposed 241 toll road right through the middle of our beloved Trestles and San Onofre' state park. For those of you not familiar with Trestles, it is the last remaining relatively untouched watershed and wildlife areas on the coast of So.Cal. And the waves aren't too bad either!

Set aside by President Reagan in the early 70's with a decree to never be touched and with a long and steeped history in the surfing community, many say that Trestles / San O' were the birthplace of west coast surfing. Spanning over 3000 acres of beautiful coastline and home to many endemic and endangered species that can now only be found here this area is certainly a place of solace in the hustle and bustle of So.Cal. Access is by foot, bicycle or skateboard so you truly feel like you are away from everything when you spend a day at Trestles.

On Wednesday Feb 6th @ 9 am the California Coastal Commission will be holding a meeting at the Del Mar fairgrounds and will be (once again) hearing arguments for and against this road. Every major coastal city in So.Cal has voted to against this toll road yet the TCA believes that paving over one of the last remaining coastal resources in California will all the sudden solve the traffic issues we face here.

Check out the Surfrider Foundation website for all the info on this project and how you can help save THE LAST remaining piece of undeveloped coastal So.Cal. by clicking here and sending a letter to the Coastal Commission

Hot Child in the City...

running wild and looking pretty! (albeit a little bit slower today after last nights festivities)

Day 3 at the International Casual Living and Accessories show was... well it was day 3 and I'll spare the rant today. But we did meet with a number of really cool retailers that "get it". (see day 2 comments) So there is hope that Maku will still be able to save the world of Casual outdoor furnishings from itself...



Enough with the furniture show how about the parties! My good friends at Burton Snowboards had the grand opening of their new Chicago store last night. A rocking good time was had by all who attended including VIPs like Mr. Chris Bachman retail hero to the Midwest snowboard scene with his store Shred Shop. Here some pics



Is she dancing or checking her pits...?