Mountain Weekly News ~
If you’re looking for a quality product made by other snowboarders that genuinely care about you tearing up the mountain on the board theses snowboard manufacturing companies make. Check out some of our favorites in this list of best American Made Snowboards.
American Made Snowboards
Never Summer
Busting at the seams with Colorado pride, this brand is known for its durability and hybrid approach to park and freeride terrain. A constantly changing lineup of snowboards and longboards has kept fans happy since 1983, making Never Summer one of the longest-lasting brands in the USA. Their approach of quality over marketing has kept their image consistent while carving out a healthy Colorado niche from the Denver, Co factory. If you are looking for a snowboard from Colorado, NS has you covered. This is one of the best Colorado snowboard brands. And one of the few independent snowboard companies still around.
Mervin MFG
This Northwest powerhouse has been innovating and continuously turning out high tech quality goods since 1977. Including LibTech, GNU, and now Roxy, the Mervin influence is widespread throughout snowboarding. From the introduction of Banana tech and Magne-traction to the basalt surfboards built for the fickle NW surf, Mervin always has something in the works up in the forests of Washington. The technology doesn’t stop at board performance; Mervin has been environmentally focused since day one, with the world’s most environMENTAL snowboard factory constantly innovating and turning out some of the planet’s most eco-conscious boards.
Weston Snowboards
Weston Snowboards in located in Minturn Colorado, and is making a presence on the backcountry lines and ski hills throughout Colorado. They are located right across from the Minturn Saloon, next time you drop into the Minturn Mile, stop in the shop to check out there line up of snowboards. Update: Weston is now based in Denver, Colorado.
Venture Snowboards
Venture Snowboards are made in Silverton Colorado and known to be some of the toughest boards around. They are the official snowboard of Silverton Mountain. If you have never been on a Venture Snowboard this is the year to start. They make a full line of splitboards, pow surfers and big mountain boards. Venture has been making boards for over 10 years and is run by husband and wife team of Klem and Lisa Branner. Klem and Lisa are down to earth people that make a great product, they not only make some of the best snowboards around, they run a company worth supporting!!!!
Signal Snowboards
Out of southern California, Signal snowboards has been taking a different approach to the snowboard industry with a focus on the artistic aspect of making snowboards and the riding community. Being a small company, Signal focuses on relations with riders through programs such as their Every Third Thursday and six month snowboard payment plan with bonus goodies. Ideas like these have kept Signal innovative in the marketing department, helping to grow into a core snowboarding audience.
Tahoe Lab Snowboards
In the early days of splitboarding, Abe and Lee of TahoeLab came together with a plan to make boards that were built to handle the abuse of harsh backcountry treatment while still being able to RIP. Completely handmade from start to finish with hand profiled bamboo cores and full carbon fiber, the attention to detail and final tuning of these boards provide quality and durability from day one. Keeping focused on a few solid designs that function excellently whether split or solid has led to a very well refined shape with amazing all-around characteristics.
While the continued globalization of snowboarding and economical overseas manufacturing has caused many brands to build boards outside of North America, a number of great brands are still churning out a quality product on American soil. These American made snowboards and Canadian Snowboard brands have stayed true to their image while giving back to the mountain communities that support them. As a result, some of the most innovative snowboard technology and design characteristics have come from these companies.
The post Snowboard Brand Ratings appeared first on Mountain Weekly News by Jonathan Penfield.