After many years of avoiding personal requests for many of my snowboarding photos, I finally decided it’s easier to set up an online shop rather than spitting them out one-by-one on my inkjet printer. I just got the 5×7 proofs for a test and the quality is really good. The B&W’s look like the real thing. Check it out. Go to this link.
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.
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 Lee Crane’s story at 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.”
Craig Kelly Backside, Soda Springs, Sims World Championships, 1985
At the third world championships, Craig ruled the pipe along with Kidwell, Kimmel, and Palmer. Craig had just picked up his sponsorship from Tom Sims a month before, and he’s sporting Raybans, Moto Gloves and Levis. In this photo it’s funny to see people sitting on the walls which is generally prohibited at today’s events. The World Championships moved to Breckenridge the following year.
Craig Kelly, Mt. Baker, 1991
Six years later, Craig had switched his sponsor to Burton and we had another miraculous sunny photoshoot at Mt. Baker during New Years vacation. Craig bounced off the tree top which was unexpected. The posse that day was pretty large and included Mike Ranquet (who was sharing a house with Craig), Shawn Farmer who was wearing all black, Jeff Fulton, Carter Turk, and Eric Jenko. Anyone else?
Shaun Palmer, Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, 1989 Photo
Shaun Palmer was one of the first athletes I photographed and learned to respect. His drive, passion, and desire to win is matched by no one. Since this photo was taken at Lake Tahoe, Shaun has won nine gold medals at Winter X and championships in snowboarding, skiing, motocross, mountain biking and has even successfully competed in car racing and skateboarding. He was named the World’s Greatest Athlete by USA Today in 1998 and won the ESPN ESPY in action sports in 2001. In 1995, Shaun founded Palmer Snowboards (and Skis), who remain an innovative leader in snowsports to this day. Just turning 40 years old last November, Shaun still actively competes in several sports against other youth half his age.
Toms Sims, 1985, Soda Springs Halfpipe (Lake Tahoe), Sims World Championships
Tom Sims invented his own brand of snowboarding and was the original competitor in the early days of riding. His “layback, look back” is one of my favorite images.
Tim Windell, 1988, Chris Karol Snowboard Camp Halfpipe, Mt. Hood Timberline
Tim Windell owns a snowboard camp at Mt. Hood and he was an original pro. Pictured here he rips the Chris Karol Snowboard Camp pipe in 1988.