C’mon and Take a ‘Freeride’

There are two types of snowboarders.

There are those who wouldn’t do much boarding if they couldn’t tell their friends about the sick “McTwists” or “switch-540s” they pulled off in some hard-packed half pipe below a chairlift. They carry video cameras, rebel en masse and wear lots of nose rings.

Then there are those who stand alone on wind-scoured slopes. They marvel at the warm sun setting over the jagged range before plunging blissfully into the blue afternoon shadows.

Arbor Snowboards wants the latter, the ones who took up boarding to surf mountains, to carve their own lines between granite spires, to “freeride” through aspens on clouds of powder. The 3-year-old Santa Monica company spins an image of a more clean-cut, nature-oriented sport with ties to the ‘60s surfing culture. So many people think of snowboarding as a youth counterculture thing, says Arbor co-founder Bob Carlson, “but adults are taking to it in huge numbers, and it’s changing the face and attitude of the sport.”

Carlson was building furniture several years back when he and his partner, Chris Jensen, came up with the idea to meld woodworking with their love of snowboarding. They began producing boards reminiscent of the early surfboards shaped by Dale Velzy and Pat Curren, with exotic hardwood veneers and classic Hawaiian crests as graphics. To help promote the line, Arbor hired Mickey Munoz, a Malibu surf legend famous for his “Quasimodo” stance. “He was surfing when it was where snowboarding is now,” Carlson says.

In keeping with its earthy image, he says Arbor uses hardwood sparingly, only 2.6 cubic inches per board. The wood fibers combine with fiberglass to give added spring and enhance performance, Carlson says. In its review, Outside magazine described Arbor boards as ideal for weaving through the trees.

Last year, Arbor sold 2,500 boards in the $400 range. This year, it’s cranking up for 3,500, still a far cry from the output at Burton or other Southern California makers such as Joyride and Sims.

But Kurt Hoy, an editor at Snowboard Life, an Oceanside-based magazine targeting mature boarders, says Arbor is on the right track. “People are getting past the hype and attitude,” he says. “They are tapping into the raw feeling of the sport.”

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Arbor Snowboards, (310) 656-3268