Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Outdoors

Burton is re-releasing some of its most iconic snowboards ever and we want them all

Burton's retro collection put s afresh spin on some classic snowboards

Tom Kilpatrick
By

Every snowboarder has it stored away in their memory bank; their one perfect winter. It’s that winter when they were riding hard, hitting the hucks, slashing the pow, living out the back of a truck or on your buddy’s sofa, washing pots and pulling pints to get by. Sure, other winters have hit the highs, but like how we have one perfect summer that has lives longer in our memories than all the others — just out of high school, right? — one winter hits with that pang of nostalgia that you would do anything to relive.

Key to that entire winter, and to all of your snowboarding prowess, joy, and passion, was the board you were riding at the time. There’s no greater feeling than riding your perfect snowboard and no worse feeling than realizing it’s time to retire it and that the current lineup from your favorite snowboard company — no matter how great the gear — doesn’t include the board that has become an extension of your body. Wouldn’t it be great if companies started releasing their back-catalog like singers, so you can get that same feeling, the same thrill and the buzz that first got us hooked on hitting the snow?

Well, Burton is doing just that with their Retro Collection for spring 2023. This rip through time, as Burton puts it, features four of their most iconic snowboards that were made in collaboration with some of the biggest riders of the day — who are still shredding hard today. These boards take it back to the old-school, but Burton has updated where it counts to make sure they’re still competitive with today’s riding style. After all, you don’t want to find out that your nostalgia is all rose-tinted glasses and no substance, do you? This means modern materials and a modern layup, so your retro Burton snowboard can be set up with their top-of-the-range step-in bindings; this is a dream, right? Your perfect retro-ride with your modern boots and bindings — does life get any better than this?

Related

But just which boards has Burton decided to draw out of the back catalog? With so many to choose from, we can only assume that the arguments went long into the night and took up most of the next day. Burton is a snowboarding establishment with whole websites dedicated to its back catalog. It’s not hard to see why, though, given the fact that for as long as anyone can remember, they’ve been pushing the boundaries of the sport and developing game-changing snowboards.

Recommended Videos

In the end, Burton decided on four boards that represented their snowboarding journey:

  • The 1987 Elite Flat Top – This all-mountain and powder snowboard was designed to give smaller riders a board that could help them progress in all types of snow.
  • The 1995 Kelly Air Camber – Inspired and shaped by four-time world champion Craig Kelly, this board is all about getting at it in the backcountry and big mountain riding.
  • The 1996 Dolphin – The Dolphin was Burton’s first female-specific pro model. Designed in collaboration with Shannon Dunn Downing, this remains a competitive freestyle option to this day.
  • The 2011 Nug – A little more contemporary, the Nug set new standards for smaller boards. This board was ridden around 3 – 4 inches shorter than most at the time, and showed that you could put big power in a small package.

All four of these boards are available over at Burton’s website, alongside matching retro crewneck jumpers. Stop living in the past and instead, take the past with you.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Tom Kilpatrick
Tom Kilpatrick
Contributor
A London-born outdoor enthusiast, Tom took the first ticket out of suburban life. What followed was a twelve-year career as…
Burton just gave you the perfect reason to go snowboarding this weekend
We don't ever need an excuse to go snowboarding, but this one from Burton is a good one
a day for jake snowboarding burton snowboards 2023 group

Fun fact: the original moniker for snowboarding is “snurfing.” It’s a mash-up of “surfing” and “snow,” which was how the forefathers of snowboarding viewed the sport. (And honestly, snurfing is a bit more fun to say, we should have kept that name.) Jake Burton Carpenter, the founder of Burton snowboards, is considered by most the inventor of modern snowboarding, along with Tom Sims. Every year, Burton celebrates Jake with “A day for Jake,” a loosely organized worldwide day of riding. This year, A day for Jake will be this Saturday, March 11.

In 1977, in a barn in Vermont, Jake founded Burton snowboards. The original board had no bindings; it was basically a toboggan you stood up on. A rope tied to the nose of the board was all you had, and hey – best of luck in staying on top of a board without bindings. Here's why Burton snowboards was started, in Jake’s words:
I was working 12-14 hours a day and not loving it. I also (in the back of my mind) knew that surfing on snow could become a sport. So I bailed on my New York job, moved to Londonderry, Vermont and started ‘Burton Boards’ out of a barn in a house where I was the live-in caretaker and tending the two horses. By night, I bartended at the Birkenhaus Inn. By day, I built makeshift snowboard prototypes and tested them in the back hills of southern Vermont.

Read more
What’s still to come in the Snowboard World Cup? All dates and venues
High speed snowboarding, huge tricks, and podium places still up for grabs: Check out the FIS World Cup
Slopestyle course at olympics.

We're well over halfway through the Snowboarding World Cup season already, but if you've not managed to catch any of the events yet, don't panic, there's still plenty to come. The U.S. is currently leading the way in both men's and women's slopestyle and providing stiff competition in the boardercross — among other events. With so much still at stake, there has never been a better time to get into the Snowboarding World Cup.

The FIS — responsible, among other things, for skiing safety rules and regulations — put on a skiing and snowboarding world cup each season, bringing elite competitors from around the world together to compete for glory. Stages around the world host race events like giant slalom, parallel, and boardercross, alongside freestyle-oriented snowboarding competitions like halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. Here's what's still to come this season and how you can catch all the action.

Read more
Review: The Dakine Boot Locker 69L is the best snowboard gear bag we’ve tested
Snowboard gear review: What to know about the Dakine Boot Locker 69L
dakine boot locker snowboard bag review 69l compartment

I have a love-hate relationship with snowboard gear bags. I’ve found that backpack-style bags have little room once boots are packed, and large duffel bags with boot compartments are often unruly. And if I’m not running through an airport, why do I need a backpack with all my gear?

All I want is a duffel bag that is appropriately sized and carries all my gear. I thought it was a pipe dream – until I came across the Dakine Boot Locker 69L.
Dakine Boot Locker 69L features
The Dakine Boot Locker 69L comes in several design options, but there’s a bit of a catch, and here’s my pro tip: Look for the bag at a few retailers. Dakine’s Amazon store has colors its own website doesn’t, and Evo had one design I didn’t see elsewhere.

Read more