Snowboard, Olympic Gold Medal

This board was designed to be the opening statement for the Santa Cruz Snowboard line.  After experimentation at the Sims factory with board geometry and discussions with riders Shaun Palmer and Terry Kidwell, a radical geometry was proposed. Sims was an entirely conventional player with a basis in surf board shapes, so it was not possible to pursue this level of experimentation.  DNR in Switzerland commissioned a statement board that would be a breakthrough.   This board altered the geometry at the heel side in order to keep the effective curvature of the steel edge in play as quickly as possible.

Mission and technology over-reach.  The first use of a plastic insert on a board, not that successfully. The idea was to soften the tip at the nose of the board in order to reduce its negative effect on turning. It looked not great, worked well, very aggressive edge length and nose geometry.

The evolution was to take all of the flexibility features and integrate them inside the board. In the four corners of the board, the stiff ABS plastic inserts were enhanced with large soft rubber layers., this allowed a conventional pressing and appearance and a stellar halfpipe ride.  The realization was made that 15% of the boards weight was coming from the graphic layers, transparency in the design saved considerable weight, establishing a trend that many other companies would later follow.  The board was selected for the Museum of Modern Art’s Mutant materials in Modern Design show, and has traveled the world as part of the show.  It is now part of the permanent design collection.

Swiss rider Gian Simmen rode this board to victory in the Nagano Winter Olympics.  This was the first year that snowboarding was an Olympic sport.