Eventually we had enough of living in the city and set our sights on southwestern Colorado, so we could be closer to Wolf Creek. We looked at Pagosa Springs, Bayfield, Durango, Mancos, and even Silverton. Silverton Mountain was just getting started back then and it sounded awesome, but at the time there was no way Lisa would be able to find a job in Silverton that would keep food on the table while we got Venture off the ground. We eventually found a house on a dirt road in Bayfield with no covenants and neighbors far enough away that we could run machines without bothering anyone.
Before we left Denver in 2002, we both got the first and only tattoos we have: matching Venture snowflakes. Lisa quit her day job. We moved in the fall and both got jobs at Purgatory for the winter. Lisa worked in the ski school office and I worked in the ski demo shop. I learned how to adjust DIN settings on ski bindings and none of the customers ever realized that I didn’t ski. During that first winter, we worked on setting up shop in the basement and garage of our new house. Some people thought we were nuts and some thought it was the coolest thing ever. They were both right. By spring, we had most of the equipment we needed except for the things you can’t buy off the shelf. I started building the smaller stuff while I was working on the CAD drawings for the press I had been designing in my head and on scraps of paper.
Most of my time the following summer was spent building the press that we still use today. I had learned how to weld, but I knew I wasn’t good enough at it to make something that was as precise as I needed. And it also needed to be strong enough. Instead, I decided to use bolts which meant I needed to drill a lot of very precise holes in steel. It took forever, but I had Frank Zappa keeping me company and I eventually got it done.
Continued in comments…
Photos 1-5 by @imagesmithphoto
Photos 6-8 by me with our first digital camera...
#Venture25 #SnowboardingHistory
Since I was a kid, I have always figured out a way to make whatever I was into. When I was around 12, I read about how to make your own skateboard in a book I got from the library. At that point I had never seen a skateboard before, and I don't know what attracted me to it. The directions were to cut a rollerskate in half and attach the halves to the ends of a piece of wood with screws. So I did. You couldn't really turn it, but at the time just going straight but sideways was enough.
A few years later, inspired by the snowboard scene in the James Bond movie “A View To A Kill,” I made my first snowboard. First, I drew the shape on a piece of graph paper. Then I traced the shape onto a piece of plywood and cut it out with a jigsaw. This was a trick I learned from my dad - he used the same method to turn cardboard boxes into costumes for us.
I poured boiling water onto the plywood “snowboard” to try bending the nose, and used rubber straps attached with screws for the bindings. It rode about as well as my first DIY skateboard - I couldn’t turn it, but standing sideways was enough to get me stoked.
Eventually I got my first production snowboard - a Burton Elite 150 - and have lived to ride ever since.
Stay tuned for more stories from the Venture Vault.
-Klem
#Venture25 #SnowboardingHistory #DIYSnowboard
This nice warm weather sucks! We were hoping things would change, but it's time to face reality. What little snow we got this year is melting too fast and there is nothing significant in the forecast. So, we are canceling Silverton Splitfest. If you registered you should see a refund shortly if you haven't already. See you all next year!
Registration for Silverton Splitfest 2026 is now open. Link in bio. See you in April!
#SilvertonSplitfest #SplitboardingIsTheAnswer #Splitboard #Splitboarding
New to splitboarding and looking to learn about avalanches? Good. Here is your chance to do it with a bunch of fellow splitboarders while learning about splitboardig in general at the same time. The SAS x Venture Splitboard Level 1 class includes a happy hour at the Venture factory and a chance to try the latest greatest Venture splitboards. There are only a few spots left so head over to the SAS website and reserve your spot.
Photos: @thesplitboardinghermit
#wherethesnowprosgo
