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First Asymmetrical Alpine Snowboard / Historical Quest on Facebook


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Knowing that my fellow Bomber members are at least somewhat interested in this sort of quest, I am posting a link to a FB quest that has been posed.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/19924968480/10150714195448481/

Here is the original post;

Jason O'Brien10:17am Apr 22

Can anyone give me a hand here: Tom made a handfull of these late 1987', going into 88'. For the life of me I can not find a Asym that pre dates this Team model. I'm looking for confirmation & FACT that supports Tom shaping the first asym....

post-198-141842367683_thumb.jpg

Notes;

Admins , feel free to move this to "Off Topic" if you deem appropriate.

No, this is not my quest. I attempt to stay away from hard dates or "Firsts". Never ends pretty.

Please, those that would rather "Bash" asymms, resist the temptations, this is a historical conversation , if you will? Thanks,

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Wow, this would be news to me. I always thought Hooger Booger was the first, in about 1988. That Sims shape looks very advanced for 1987. Aside from the inserts of course. The shape looks a lot like Sims Asyms from the 90's. I hadn't seen those graphics on such a board though.

Edited by Jack Michaud
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Hi Jack, thanks for taking time to respond. I think HB has been brought up in the FB thread. Hot was also in the early running. Great chance to "Mix it up" with some of the most knowledgeable and or miss informed snowboard authorites in the world on the FB thread. Me. I know better :)

Bryan

post-198-141842367704_thumb.jpg

Edited by www.oldsnowboards.com
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I can't get to the FB thread, link seems broken. It really looks like a 90's board, but with special graphics, team-only perhaps. I was lusting for the 1990 PJ and reading Transworld like the bible, I would think this Sims would have crossed my radar.

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Jack, I believe you are correct on both accounts. Definitely "Team Sims" graphics.

I will look at the link again. I did try it after posting. It worked , however, it might require you be signed in to FB??

https://www.facebook.com/groups/19924968480/10150714195448481/#!/groups/19924968480/

It is a "Closed" group, meaning you must be a member. Please join.

"Hardcore Alpine Snowboard Racers and Carvers" is the group name.

You may be surprised who you run into there. Very impressive membership for sure.

Edited by www.oldsnowboards.com
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thank you for doing this. I rode asyms a lot back in the day and it would be interesting to know the history. Is Pogo in the running as they have been building boards for a long time. Would be fun to have an accurate account of the whole history of alpine snowboarding as well. it would take a world wide search of all the companies to find out who built the first plate binding and first board and first pair of hardboots?

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That photo brings back some memories. I can see my red Toyota pickup in the background. I bought my Dodge in 2002, so it is at least 10 years ago, maybe more. The shop is now gray and the benches they are leaning against were made into firewood long ago. :)

post-198-141842367716_thumb.jpg

Edited by www.oldsnowboards.com
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I made this one in '93(edit): Actually I did the analysis in '93 and built the board in '91.

post-60-141842367725_thumb.jpg

I made a soft boot asym at least 3 years prior to that, but have no idea if it's still in the shed. Looks like Tom has that beat by a couple years though. (edit) perhaps the above dates change that. Maybe I did produce an asym around the '88/'89 season. Who can remember that far back.

Edited by Donek
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I made this one in '93(edit): Actually I did the analysis in '93 and built the board in '91.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30586[/ATTACH]

I made a soft boot asym at least 3 years prior to that, but have no idea if it's still in the shed. Looks like Tom has that beat by a couple years though. (edit) perhaps the above dates change that. Maybe I did produce an asym around the '88/'89 season. Who can remember that far back.

Sean - I think you should do a run of boards or plates with that old school Donek logo.... "special edition" :D

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I'd cut them up and make a plate out of them ! Bommer sells the parts to do it. Lets start some forward thinking.

This is where we will have to agree to dissagree my friend. I enjoy oldsnowboards, I enjoy alpine, they can co-exist.

I think your values are not in step with mine at the moment.

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I made this one in '93(edit): Actually I did the analysis in '93 and built the board in '91.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30586[/ATTACH]

I made a soft boot asym at least 3 years prior to that, but have no idea if it's still in the shed. Looks like Tom has that beat by a couple years though. (edit) perhaps the above dates change that. Maybe I did produce an asym around the '88/'89 season. Who can remember that far back.

Very cool Sean. That has some pretty radical shift. Hopefully you have that on the wall somewhere? Do you recall the specs?

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Very cool Sean. That has some pretty radical shift. Hopefully you have that on the wall somewhere? Do you recall the specs?

It's hidden away in some old school papers. That board was used for several independent study projects I did in College.

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Sean - I think you should do a run of boards or plates with that old school Donek logo.... "special edition" :D

That artwork was done by a highschool kid back when I was making skateboards. I may have the artwork in a file drawer somewhere.

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I did a lot of research into the history of snowboarding and also alpine snowboarding.

When it comes to alpine boards and asymmetrical boards, you definitely have to turn to Hooger Booger and Switzerland.

There was even a court case about who built the first asymmetrical snowboards (sorry, I don´t know many details).

The first picture is from 1982!!! Look at the plate bindings!

The second picture is from May 1985! The white stickers were used in the court case and it was proven that Hooger Booger was the first company to build asymmetrical snowboards.

The pictures are taken from this site - http://www.faesslerboys.ch/frame.htm. The site is very slow and only in German, but there are a lot of interesting pictures and facts.

Hot Snowboards (from France) was famous for using deep sidecuts very early, but they brought their first asymmetricals only around 1988 (http://www.hammersnowboards.com/Archives/site2006_2007/products/hotsnowboards/before_94.php).

Sims was a pioneer, but alpine snowboarding started in Europe.

post-7799-141842367743_thumb.jpg

post-7799-141842367747_thumb.jpg

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WinterGold for the win! I'd always wanted to see a pic of that board!

Kemper Apex? 88 or more likely 89, I think?

Stealth?

Pretty sure Apex was '91. I recall it was the same vintage as my PJ7, and a comparable/competitive model. Pretty sure the same goes for the Aggression Stealth.

Edited by Jack Michaud
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