Fawcett Photo Design

Ken Achenbach on the cover of Int’l Snowboard Magazine – January 1987

Another classic issue of ISM with Ken Achenbach leading the tour of Mt. Bachelor as well as the first ballsy board test by Tom Hsieh and the crew of ISM. “This was the friskiest board tested, the Barfoot was as loose as a goose. Well who can forget those comments from the original board test. And of course the bonus of this issue was the one and only Keith Kimmel interview, not to be missed. This issue closes with a classic ad of Shaun Palmer on the back cover.

Check out the full magazine on my issuu homepage.

(left) Mike Basich and (right) Matt Schlingmann at Mt Reba (Bear Valley) Photo Shoot in April, 1991

Maybe we were a little ahead of our time. Tom Hsieh had a visionary moment when he arranged a nightime snowboard photo shoot at Bear Valley, Mt. Reba, CA. The crew was assembled (Mike Basich, Matt Schlingmann, Randy Walters, and others showed up for the scheduled two night clothing photoshoot and worked their asses off) … to be published in the Fall 1991 issue of ISM (never happened though since ISM closed their doors after the 90/91 winter season). Mike McDaniel and the crew of Bear Valley had the quarter-pipe and park (one of the first, I suppose) spray-painted for the event (obviously, this was before eco was smart). I shot about 15 rolls of film under a generator-powered Dynalite studio kit from the Bay area (which we blew up). Luckily everything was finished after the first night (till sunrise of course).

And of course, the Mt. Reba painting crew made it all possible.

Jim Zellers at Donner Ski Ranch Lake Tahoe, ISM, Season Annual, Winter 1987 (Photo by Larry Prosor)

Now this is truly a classic issue of ISM. Their first 4-Color cover in 52 pages; there was no turning back. Check Out the following snowboarding stars of the eighties. You can look at the mag in flip-format here!

Shaun Palmer, ISM Cover, October, 1986 (Photo by Tom Hsieh, Jr)

Originally known as Absolutely Radical in March 1985, International Snowboard Magazine was the first seasonal snowboarding magazine and proclaimed the “last word” until 1991 when it discontinued publication.

Brainchild of Tom Hsieh, Jr. of San Francisco, the October 1986 issue can be seen in its entirety in flip-format. Thanks for checking it out!

Mike Chantry, Homewood Ski Area, Lake Tahoe, 1988

Mike Chantry, Sand Mountain, Nevada 1988

Excerpt from Transworld Snowboarding, History of Halfpipe:

In 1978, resorts in California’s Lake Tahoe basin hadn’t realized snowboarding’s potential and refused to allow snowboards on their mountains. Because of this, snowboarders spent most of their free time searching for good spots to ride. “Back then not everyone in high school had cars so we needed places to ride that were close by,” remembers 29-year-old Tahoe local Bob Klein.

Klein’s friend Mark Anolik was hiking around Tahoe City in 1979 when he discovered the perfect hit on land owned by the Tahoe-Truckee Sanitation Company. It was literally the city dump. No one is quite sure if the spot was a bend in a creek bed, or the edge of the land fill. It had an entry and a couple hits, which was all these snowboard pioneers needed. Word of the pipe spread and within a few days Mark, Bob Klein, Allen Arnbrister, and Terry Kidwell were beginning to session the spot. They named it the Tahoe City Pipe.

By the spring of 1980, thanks to a local phone company employee and skateboard fanatic named Mike Chantry, the pipe was exposed to the skateboard world. ”Mike Chantry took me there nearly blindfolded because Bob Klein didn’t want anyone to find out about it,” remembers Tom Sims, founder of Sims Snowboards.

“What’s wrong with other snowboarders finding the pipe. At that time there weren’t even that many snowboarders in the world, let alone riding the Tahoe City Pipe.”

Over the next few years pro skateboarders Rob Roskopp, Steve Cabellero, and Scott Foss began visiting the pipe. Lensmen from Thrasher magazine and later International Snowboard Magazine were close behind, not as much for the pipe, but because of the people who were there.

By today’s standards the Tahoe City Halfpipe was not even a halfpipe. “The pipe itself was really just one-hit,” Chantry says. “To make it good took a lot of shoveling.”

That didn’t seem to bother Terry Kidwell or Allen Arnbrister. “Once Kidwell and Arnbrister got into it, it became more of shaping thing,” Klein explains. ”They would spend more time shaping it than riding.”

Keith Kimmel, Donner Quarterpipe, Lake Tahoe, 1986

Along with Terry Kidwell, Bob Klein and Allen Arnbrister of Tahoe City, Keith Kimmel was one of the original pioneers of modern day snowboarding. He was featured on the cover of the first International Snowboard Magazine (ISM) in March of 86, ripping the original Tahoe City halfpipe, a natural gully near the TC dump.

In this photo, published in the ISM Interview and Thrasher Magazine, Keith is pictured here in one of the first “switchstance” moments in snowboard history. You can read more about the early days of snowboarding halfpipe here.

IdeaBox Exterior, Portland Home and Garden Show, Portland Expo

Upscale ECO design in manufactured living, Ideabox has a new home to come see at the Portland Home and Garden show this week at the Expo.

IdeaBox Bathroom, Portland Home and Garden Show, Portland Expo

Cool wood treatments throughout and lots of light in every room which is very important in the sun-deprived Northwest.

Tom Burt and Damian Sanders at Mt. Rose Nevada before mainstream ski area acceptance, 1987

Tom Burt and Damian Sanders were two of the original founding fathers of snowboarding. While Damian’s freestyle flare and movie debuts drove mainstream acceptance and explosive growth, Tom (and Jim and Bonnie Zellars) fathered the backcountry movement in early media. Damian was FLF Films early poster boy and starred in their earliest snowboard movies which further fueled snowboarding’s popularity into the early nineties. Together, the four were sponsored by Chris and Bev Sanders/Avalanche Snowboards of South Lake Tahoe.

Damian Sanders at the first Squaw Valley Halfpipe (Lake Tahoe, 1989)

Tom Burt at the first Squaw Valley Halfpipe (Lake Tahoe, 1989)

Dave Seoane, Sugarbowl, Lake Tahoe, from Roadkill

Question – Dave Seoane is a:
1) Sculptor?
2) Pro snowboarder?
3) Professional cinematographer?
4) Furniture Designer?
5) all of the above, plus some?

Dave Seoane, Pyramid Lake, Nevada