It’s not a snowboard, it’s a snow surfer
“It’s not sledding. It’s not snowboarding. It’s something that fills the void between the two. Mark my words: Snow surfing’s going to be huge.”
With those words, Mark Halseth reintroduced me to snow surfing, an old-school method of sliding down a snowy hill while standing up.
Look into the history of snowboarding, and very quickly you’ll encounter the Snurfer, the most famous snow-surfing board. The Snurfer, which a father built one day to entertain a bored child, quickly spawned a new sliding craze. Built in the snowbelt in Western Michigan, it was suited for powder snow conditions. But since it had no metal edges to grip into icy snow, or bindings to keep riders feet attached to the board, people soon started tinkering with it. Years of experimentation later, the Snurfer had evolved into the modern snowboard.
Halseth was there in those early days, and he has the early Snurfer models to prove it. But more than a collector, he was “world’s first professional snow surfer.” In 1979, Halseth, his wife (“Boogie Jane”), and Paul Graves appeared in a commercial for Labatt beer, surfing down a field of powder.
After that commercial, Halseth went on to some other snow-filled activities, such as a competition in Europe, but he did not make a career out of of snow business. Though he anticipated that snow surfing would one day be an Olympic event, he did not take up snowboarding. (Among snow surfers, he’s not alone.)
After decades in the auto-auction business, he decided it was time to turn away from the stress of corporate life. “One day,” he says, “I decided that to step out in faith and chase my dreams was worth the risk.” That decision led him back to the days of snow surfing. In recent months he’s been living the busy life of a start-up business owner, launching a new company to make and sell snow surfers.
As we started our lunch at two o’clock in the afternoon, he confided that it was his first meal of the day. As we ate, he told me of some of the work involved: Pouring his personal finances into the business, talking to outside investors, developing prototypes of the products, making plans for marketing, contacting factories, and on and on. We reviewed some photos of prototypes and how they will differ from what’s on the market already. We also talked about what’s driving him these days.
“When surfing you sit in the water with your friends,” he said, “looking for that perfect set of waves, waiting in the line up for your turn. In the line up of life it is my turn and I can see a huge set coming in. I am ready to paddle my way into a huge wave, take off, drop in and go for the ride of my lifetime! What a blessing this is!”
The surfing analogy is no accident. While Halseth is a Minnesota native, he spent much of his youth skateboarding and surfing in California. Even today, he speaks of “dropping in on our wave,” and sees snow surfing as a ticket to enjoying time with friends and family, exploring new hills, aided only by a few inches of snow and a free spirit. Snow surfing, he says, creates “memory maker moments.” Given its simple nature, snow surfing can be enjoyed on the smallest of hills: In some cases, all it requires is walking into the back yard. Simple, enjoyable family fun.
But there’s more at work than a desire to see people grinning while sliding down the hill. He’s also driven by his Christian faith, which prompts him to see the boards as one way to reach youth for discipleship purposes, so he is teaming up with a youth ministry that has a skater twist.
The two of us agree that too few children spend time outside, especially during winter. You can tell that he’s more of an outdoors guy than an indoors one. I mention the video game Minecraft–for which Microsoft recently paid $2.5 billion–but he isn’t familiar with it.
While the latest gadgets may lure people away from snowy fun, another barrier is cost. For all its benefits, snowboarding is an expensive activity. Even the most basic youth package costs over $200. Add to that the cost of lift tickets, gasoline to power the car to the hill, and resort-priced food. By contrast, all snow surfing requires is a board and some snow, and Halseth will price his products “around $125.”
As we discussed all this, I was both skeptical and excited. Skeptical because I saw a small market: There are, for example, only 5 million snowboarders in the country, give or take. Halseth, though, is confident that the market goes beyond snowboarders and skaters. After all, there are already several companies in the market (see a list here), and Burton, the 800-pound gorilla of snowboarding, will be selling its own snow surfing board this season. Snow surfers have even caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which published a story about “back-to-basics, binding-free board[s].”
As a consumer, I got excited about the possibilities. There are times when I’d like to enjoy some snowy fun but don’t feel like gathering the board, bindings, impact shorts, and so forth, into the car for a 30 to 60-minute drive to a hill, after which I need to buy a lift ticket, adjust my bindings, and get into the line at the nearest lift. So lately I’ve been having my snowy fun an hour at a time. I put on Nordic ski boots, grab some skis, and walk two blocks to a city park for some sliding around. Granted, the vertical drop is only 30 feet, but it’s a simple experience that, unlike sledding, keeps me upright. Like the snow surfer, it requires no lift ticket, and no waiting in line. At the park, I see that the desire to stand up while sliding is strong; kids attempt to slide down a hill on a $30 cheaply constructed plastic “snowboard.”
The new boards, “Snow Surfer Pro,” haven’t been released yet, which may be one reason why Halseth’s website simply says “Coming Soon!” The coming out party is scheduled for January 3, 2015, at Theodore Wirth park in Minneapolis. That’s where Halseth rode his Snurfer back in 1978. (You can see some grainy footage on YouTube.) The “Snow Surfer Classic” will feature downhill and slalom races in various age categories. There will also be food and beverage options, games, vendors, and more. It’s a true snow surfing event: No bindings or metal edges will be allowed in the races, and all boards must have a rope.