Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of burtonsnowboard didn’t just build a brand — he built a sport and an industry.
Charismatic, unaffected and individualistic, Burton spent his entire adult life championing a sport that early naysayers repeatedly tried to write off as a fad. Carpenter, 65, died Wednesday at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The cause of death was due to complications from recurring testicular cancer, a Burton spokeswoman said Thursday.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said in a statement Thursday, “It takes millions of years to move mountains, but Jake Burton Carpenter was able to do it in a single lifetime. From snowboarders being chased from the slopes to Olympic gold medals being placed around their necks, Jake led the way and changed winter as we know it. We are forever grateful for his contributions to Vermont and snow sports around the world.
Through the years Shaun White, Kelly Clark, Ross Powers, Mark McMorris, Terje Haakonsen, Anna Gasser and Chloe Kim have been among the legions of riders who have had the support of Burton, or still do. Staffers at the Burlington home office were also encouraged to use the all-season passes at Stowe that the company gave them, spending between 20 and 80 days on the slopes.
While ski resorts were not gunning to welcome them, one exception was Stratton, which greenlighted the sport in 1983. Over time others followed, and by the Nineties snowboarding and Burton were casting a longer shadow on the mountain. But Carpenter was always strategic with his expansion plans. “The perception is that we underproduce. The truth is we manufacture what we’ve sold and no more. We don’t make product on speculation. That’s a risk that can outweigh any short-term gain.
When snowboarding became an Olympic sport at the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, Burton was cheering on the U.S. team in the pouring rain. At the 2002 Winter Olympics after Kelly Clark struck gold at the age of 18 and her fellow Burton-sponsored rider Ross Powers did the same, Burton and a handful of his riders hosted nightly low-key parties at Mountain Logic in Park City.
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