OT: Jake Burton Carpenter RIP

[sparky33]

OT for the snowboarders here. Jake passed away recently.

This interview is really good listening: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/78178...rton-carpenter
Incredible story and perspective.

[p nut]

I’m a skier but I learned to board on a Burton. RIP. That’s too young.

[572cv]

I'm not a boarder, but this is totally local to me. Jake and Donna built a company with values. It revitalized the ski industry in the US and in the world. He went to UVM, and when I was there, in engineering school, we had a materials testing class in the lab. Jake was bootstrapping his idea and there were prototypes of the early boards in the lab, which got tested to failure. It was pretty cool to be testing something like that.
My best wishes to his family and friends, and my touque off to what he did.

[Hilltopperny]

Not a snowboarder, but actually met Jake at the Frendly gathering in Vermont a few years back when my Cousins band was playing and I got to sit backstage. Jake and the whole Burton crew were the only other folks there with me.

He seemed to be a very busy and driven man from my limited interaction with him. He built quite an empire and industry! May he Rest In Peace.


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[David Kirk]

I wrote this yesterday to post on FB.

----------------------


I was in high school in 1979. I was a skateboarder through and through. It was nearly all I thought about and most every waking moment was devoted to skating in some way.

I saw a small advertisement in the back of a skate magazine for a board that you could ride on the snow - a Burton Board. Living in snowy upstate NY this was an answer to my prayers - I could ride in the winter too it seemed. I called the number and ordered the Burton Backhill and when I got it my life changed. I now identified as much as a snowboarder as I did a skateboarder.

One day I called the Burton "factory" in Vermont and asked if I could come and see the place. A guy named Jake took the call and invited me to come out and see the place, spend the night, and do some riding. The Jake I spoke to was Jake Burton Carpenter and he was "Burton Boards."

I traveled east and saw the dark, dim and cold two stall garage that was the 'factory' and while it was a bit underwhelming Jake's enthusiasm more than made up for it. We rode twice that weekend and when I was about to leave he offered me a job working for him. I was flattered of course but didn't see myself happily dipping boards into a 55 gallon drum full of polyurethane all day. I turned him down. That may have been a mistake.

Time passed and I rode Burtons for many years. Jake wisely saw that there needed to be a non-branded generic name for these things for the sport to grow and he promoted the use of the term 'snowboard' instead of the original 'Burton Board.'

I saw Jake a number of times over the years but it would be an overstatement to say that I knew him. I knew of him, but I didn't know him. The one thing that I was sure of was that his hard work and determination resulted in the sport of snowboarding. He of course didn't do this single handedly but he was arguably the major player in the biz. And this work changed my life for he better. I've been snowboarding consistently every year since 1979. My wife and I moved from NY state to Montana to be in the high mountains and snow and I still manage 40-50 days a season snowboarding.

I learned this morning that Jake Burton Carpenter has passed away just recently at the age of 65. If I understand it right he lost his battle with cancer.

I can't exaggerate the impact he and his work had on me. I will feel forever in his debt. Thank you Jake Burton for doing what you did and making countless lives more full and happy. Rest in peace.

dave

[marsh]

My old Burton board finally bit the dust last year after almost 20 years. The ski shop kids would cackle when I brought it in to get waxed, but that sucker handled the Austrian Alps, Tahoe parks, anything I threw at it. Godspeed Jake!

[noonan1970]

I worked a Burton function in Stowe VT. about 24 years ago and after the week long function Jake came up to me and shook my hand with $100 bill in it. He told me to come up to the Burton factory and pick out any jacket I wanted. Later the the next week he showed me around the factory and let me pick a jacket off the floor. I thought that was above and beyond treatment of a hospitality worker.

[merlinmurph]

If you think Jake built some snowboards, they caught on, and an empire was made, you are mistaken. Jake had an amazing amount of persistence and determination as it took a number of years for his idea to click with people. Just getting ski areas to allow people on the lifts was an undertaking.

Find an article or podcast to get his story. It's a really good story about someone srarting with an idea and gutting it through. Here's a podcast from "How I Built This", which has a lot of other great success stories.

[Hellgate]

As a Sophomore at Colorado State University in 1984 Jake, and I think his brother came to the university to show snow boarding movies in one of the large lecture rooms. It was pretty cool. My roommate went out and bought a red, split-tail Burton the next day.

[dbnm]

I went to college in Bennington VT in the late 80s and had met Jake a bunch of times and even boarded with him. He was such a kind guy with a real vision.

Very sorry to hear he passed.

[GregL]

I had the opportunity to meet Jake and Donna Carpenter a little over 30 years ago. I was a young co-pilot on a private jet. We flew them to a Caribbean resort for a short vacation at the end of the winter season. I always joke that a private jet pilot is a just a high-speed chauffeur who operates in three dimensions. We were usually treated respectfully by our passengers, but we were just hired servants.

Jake and Donna were different than most of our passengers. They traveled with a golden retriever and a surfboard. They were very down-to-earth and friendly. As others have said in this thread, Jake was very friendly and approachable. He asked Gene (my captain) and I what our plans were during our stay. We told him that we would likely spend some time golfing and that I planned to do some snorkeling. Jake loved those suggestions, so he joined us for several rounds of golf and I taught him how to snorkel. To this day, I treasure the memories of that week. Without doubt one of the most enjoyable weeks of my working life! I'll pull out my photo album this weekend and smile at the pictures of Jake, Gene, and I playing a round and hoisting some beers. Here's to Jake Carpenter, one of the really good guys!

Greg

[72gmc]

I read only one obit for Jake yesterday, and while it mentioned many Burton riders, it didn't mention Craig Kelly. As a skier with board-crazy friends and a ski shop job, I spent my college years buying a lot of snowboard gear with my employee discount. Most of it was Burton, and most of it had Craig Kelly's signature. The Burton jacket that I still wear does not, but I think of those days every time I put it on.

Maybe Jake and Craig are together now, riding a snow cat into the mountains under blue skies.

[gavingould]

rode a couple different Burtons in the mid-90s, while consuming every snowboard magazine i could get my hands on.
surely missed.

[kiwisimon]

I first rode a snowboard in 1985 or 86 and it was called a "snowboard". About 1991 there was an effort by Jake to license the name "snowboard" for his company and the "Boycott Burton" stickers were passed around, not that we could actually board at most skifields back then. Our money wasn't good enough apparently.
Jake did a lot to popularize the sport and that opened up access but my bias against that move lingered long.

RIP, gone way way way too soon. Fnck cancer