Board Brands to Watch: Hightide Mfg

Sometimes I get tasked with a job that requires me to distill the essence of a thing into not nearly enough words to do that thing justice for not as much pay as I would hope for. Recently, Transworld Snowboarding gave me just such a task and it was published on their site as Eight Board Brands to Keep an Eye On.

Transworld graciously allowed me to share the interviews and pictures that I drew from on my humble blog. Here is part three, industry old-timer and all-rounder Akasha Weisgarber, founder of Hightide Mfg, edited sparingly for spelling and clarity.

Yak: How would you explain your brand to someone stumbling across it for the first time?

Akasha: It's a small snowboard company that is designed, tested and handmade with machines in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It is owned by three BC snowboarders who have lived the lifestyle for decades, Gabe Langlois, Tyeson Carmody and myself. Every board is shaped and built by me with a focus on mountain snowboarding.

Akasha and The Usual Suspects

How did you get into the whole snowboard manufacturing game?

I've wanted to shape and build snowboards for a long time as I've always had a renewing vision of what my perfect board would look like. Eventually I ended up going back to school for architectural technology that taught me how to use computer-aided design software which allowed me the skills to shape snowboards down to the micro millimetre. With the help from some industry friends - Johnny Quattro, Alex Warburton and Sean Johnson - I started to shape and draft boards on the computer for a few different snowboard companies. With so many other shapes in my head and no outlet to bring them to life I brought up the idea of building snowboards to Gabe one night and he was down to help make it a reality. We built a two ton pneumatic heat press from scratch and I started to press some prototypes back in the winter of 2013-14. Even the first blank prototypes rode really well and the mayor of Whistler, Rube Goldberg started riding them. Then Tyeson jumped on the first Hippy Slasher proto and liked it so much for the deep Kootenay pow that he refused to give it back so Gabe asked if he'd like to join the cause. We weren't exactly planning on starting a snowboard company, we definitely didn't have a business plan, more of a desire to build boards to ride and Hightide Mfg evolved from that. I like to think of it as an evolution of a lifestyle.

What separates Hightide from other brands on the market?

The board shapes and how they ride. The craftsmanship and the unique resin tint topsheet colors. I don't know, however you perceive it to be different from other brands. We're just trying to have fun with it and do our own little thing in the saturated snowboard market.

Where or what do you draw inspiration from?

Mostly from time spent snowboarding in the mountains of British Columbia. Growing up living the snowboard lifestyle in Whistler for decades with thousands of days spent on snow brings a lot of experience to draw inspiration from. Riding so many different boards over the decades I've learnt to understand the minute details in snowboard design that I believe make boards ride really good. Of course I also keep up to speed with the snowboard and surf industries as there's a lot of progressive board shaping happening especially in the last five years or so to draw inspiration from.

What is essential to snowboarding for you?

Pure and simple enjoyment. Snowboarding is so enjoyable that it has been the biggest driving force in my life since the first day sliding sideways. Riding with friends, powder days, adventure, the snowboard community and being outside in the mountains and feeling connected to nature all intertwine to make it a highly enjoyable lifestyle.

Where and how are your boards made? Is it really a little shop in BC like the video on your site?

I build and press all of our boards in a small shop on Gabe's property in Pemberton, BC. The board materials are sourced internationally for the highest quality components and the cores and base material are CNC machined to a tenth of a millimetre tolerance to my CAD files by a couple outsourced companies as those machines are too expensive to own at our current production volume. The boards are stone ground and pro tuned on the best machines by our friend Adam Levitt at a local shop in Whistler. Hopefully we will have all these very expensive machines in house one day as we grow.

Bane brings a board into existence.

How can the public get their hands on your boards?

They can be purchased at www.hightidemfg.com with shipping to many countries and at Showcase Snowboards in Whistler, BC.

Is there any chance they can ride one before they buy?

If you are in Whistler you can arrange to try a demo board for a day or two by emailing info@hightidemfg.com. We will also be doing some on hill demo days this winter mainly in British Columbia.

What do you see in the future for Hightide?

Being focused on flexible manufacturing to be able to prototype and produce boards at low volumes so that new board shapes can be put to market often. Coming up with new shapes and testing them out is the fun and creative part so look for new shapes in the future. That and working to grow the brand to maintain the company and lifestyle.

What else would you like people to know about Hightide?

The name comes from us saying it's "lowtide" in the early season meaning there's not much snow. We don't really say it's "hightide" when there's lots of snow but that's what it means. That or maybe we were just high? ha. Anyway who doesn't want a hightide (powder) day.

Board Brands to Watch: Franco Snowshapes

Sometimes I get tasked with a job that requires me to distill the essence of a thing into not nearly enough words to do that thing justice for not as much pay as I would hope for. Recently, Transworld Snowboarding gave me just such a task and it was published on their site as Eight Board Brands to Keep an Eye On.

Transworld graciously allowed me to share the interviews and pictures that I drew from on my humble blog. Here is part two, master crafter Mikey Franco of Franco Snowshapes, edited sparingly for spelling and clarity.

Yak: How would you explain your brand to someone stumbling across it for the first time?
Mikey: Franco Snowshapes was started to represent what snowboarding means to me. It's been my life for over 30 years and I wanted to create boards for myself and others that represents our lifelong passion and commitment to riding.

How did you get into the whole snowboard manufacturing game?

First, I was in Japan doing work for Burton. I was injured and couldn’t ride. The president of Burton Japan at the time felt bad so to cheer me up he took me to meet Taro Tomai of Gentem. It just so happened that my best buds from high school ran Igneous Skis in Jackson. They encouraged me to come in and make a board. My injury ended up taking me out for the season so that was a needed uplift. Combining what I learned from Igneous and what I saw at Gentem, I felt there was a missing link between the two: The functional, aesthetic shape of Gentem with the beauty, craftsmanship and hand-made aspect of Igneous needed to meet. That's when I chose to start Franco Snowshapes.

Mikey Franco at work.

What separates you from other brands on the market? 

There are so many great brands on the market and I have great respect for all of my mentors and inspiration. What separates me from most is that I look at building boards much like an organic farmer looks at growing produce or a craft brewer brews beer. My first priority is not cutting costs. It is using the best possible ingredients, the best possible methods and most important of all, listening and truly understanding each and every client I shape a board for.

Where or what do you draw inspiration from?

I draw inspiration from so many places! One board was designed from a radical fairing I saw on the front of a vintage Harley. It looked sort of like a cobra, elegant yet deadly in an instant! I also get inspiration from surfing, from the snow conditions and terrain features a client is intending to ride on. I get inspired from so many of my peers in the snowboard industry as well. Design inspiration is everywhere if you look!

What is essential to snowboarding for you?

Style. Beauty. Fresh air. Being a part of a community. Knowing that what you are riding was built with intention. It was built with passion and with pride.

Where and how are your boards made? Are you seriously the only guy involved!? You must have a team.

Its just me! I wish I had a team… I make my boards from scratch at my shop in Jackson Hole. I order materials like base material, edges, etc. from various suppliers but I also handcraft parts as well. I harvested a couple of beetle-killed whitebark pine trees from Casper Bowl within the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and sliced them into super thin veneers for top sheets (each board made with the whitebark pine top sheets comes with a GPS code on it so you can go find the spot where your board's topsheet was harvested). I have some beautiful ash stock for core material I harvested from my brother's property in Pennsylvania. The trees were killed by the emerald ash borer. I then had a nearby Amish farm mill them into core material and will then make custom cores out of a mix of ash, hemlock, maple, etc. And I do have a guy, Patrick Shehan, that does my website and helps me a ton with PR stuff. He has been a great help.

Where, here!?

How can the public get their hands on your boards?

Right now, direct sales are the only way, unless you are in Jackson Hole. I have a small showroom in Teton Village during the winter months we call “The Shack”. Its the only rustic, tiny log cabin at the base of the Tram. There you can demo boards.

Is there any chance they can ride one before they buy?

Yes and no. They can ride a few here in Jackson, but in reality a custom board will not ride like any board you’ve ever ridden before. Your board is something that doesn’t exist yet therefore a demo will only provide a certain amount of feedback. It will certainly give you a sense of feel but most of my customers rely on a great deal of trust in me and my experience.

Ultimately, this board will be the greatest snowboard you’ve ever ridden because it was specifically made for YOU, from scratch. From your head down to your toes. These boards are designed with every millimeter of your soul considered. We want to know what scares you, what makes you scream with excitement, where you ride, how you ride, and everything in between. I developed something called the Rider Genome Profile. It is a way for me to get to know you as if we have been riding together for years. Based on my 30 years of teaching, guiding, and training clients and instructors all over globe, the RGP has become an invaluable tool for me to fully understand who you are.

What do you see in your future?
I see expanding out from Jackson Hole in a slow, purposeful way. Having a small showroom in three to five special mountain towns in the near future is my goal. Just like the one in Jackson, it is meant to be more of a gallery, a place where you come in for a coffee in the morning and grab a board or come in after riding and grab a craft beer in the afternoon and admire some beautiful snowboards surrounded by equally beautiful photography. A place to be fully inspired to ride, not a place to be bombarded by 45 different brands, products, and POP displays. I also see creating some limited release lines - maybe one or two each season - that are limited in series like 20 per season. I know there are folks out there that have difficulty conjuring up a custom shape and this might be a way for them to ride something unique without the stress of going through the design process.

What else would you like people to know about Franco Snowshapes?

That when you call, email, or text Franco Snowshapes, it is ME you will talk to! And it is ME that will design, build and finish your dream ride.

Board Brands to Watch: Interior Plain Project

Sometimes I get tasked with a job that requires me to distill the essence of a thing into not nearly enough words to do that thing justice for not as much pay as I would hope for. Recently, Transworld Snowboarding gave me just such a task and it was published on their site as Eight Board Brands to Keep an Eye On.

Transworld graciously allowed me to share the interviews and pictures that I drew from on my humble blog. Here is part one, Interior Plain Project's Pete Harvieux, edited sparingly for spelling and clarity. Keep up with them at www.theipproject.com

Yak: How would you explain your brand to someone stumbling across it for the first time?

Pete: It’s a snowboard brand focused on participation and culture. 

How did you get into the whole snowboard manufacturing game?

Well, having worked in skate/snow retail for a decade with a large passion for our region (Midwest) and a strong team of shop riders, as well as starting and running our own skateboard brands, inspired me to believe a snowboard line from the Midwest was needed. It took me repping another 10 years and a major life change (birth of a daughter) to decide to make it happen, which I'm grateful for because I learned, helped, and passionately pursued linking our territory which was an amazing time. All those parts added to what The Interior Plain Project is today. 

What separates IPP from other brands on the market? 

Personally, I think a snowboard is simply a vehicle of expression/energy, a conductor if you will. We’re focused on great riding boards that the pilot can operate at a high level in whichever environment the day has provided. I feel like all snow conditions are prime conditions to ride with the proper want to, and that action is the output. So our boards are shaped and laid up with that ideal, a strong conductor of energy. We then conceive new collection aesthetics each season and reach out to different artists to keep the boards feeling unique collection to collection.

Pete and some new friends. Photo: Erik Schleicher

Where or what do you draw inspiration from? 

Forever inspired by riding. That is what informs and eases me as a person. I find artists, unique personalities, new places, followed-through ideas, brainstorming, magazines, photography, moving pictures, story, and intention very inspiring.

What is essential to snowboarding for you? 

Participating. 

Where and how are your boards made? 

Made in Austria by passionate people who produce boards with the least amount of possible impact to our environment. They are made with love and passion near amazing mountains using some of the most advanced and unique processes.

How can the public get their hands on your boards? 

The key to where snowboarding stands today is the culture. Much of that culture has been born from the shops that choose to sell the goods to those interested in doing it. Our focus is doing business with specialty snowboard shops around the world. We hope the end riders also choose to support our culture by supporting the shops that help cultivate it. If there isn’t a shop close to you that you wish to support, I’d implore you to find one that aligns with your vibes and support them by purchasing through their online site. All our retailers can be found on our shops page at theipproject.com/shops-2/

Is there any chance they can ride one before they buy? 

There’s always a chance although we haven't done many consumer demos. I guess that’s why I think shops are key; they can help the end user get on the right board. They do all the leg-work and you don't have to surf the web and get tossed. 

What do you see in the future for IPP? 

New collections, new models, and more snowboarding. 

What else would you like people to know about IPP? 

We're focused on “premium medium” boards with the ideal being like your favorite skate deck shape. It's good - maybe even great - and we're not changing it just to change. You can ride it and switch to something else. Just know we'll be here with that deck you want to get back on. 

Do you have anything else to add or any questions for me, you know, since I've been doing all the asking? 

We couldn’t do it without the support from all the contributors which helps make our collections happen season to season. I am truly grateful for all the contributions of energy, talent, and input. They help create the plains in which is the Interior. Also our full length film titled SHAPESHFTR will be releasing this Fall, new teaser drop soon [Ed. It's out now, check the IPP blog for some parts and other news]. 

Every time I type 'IPP' I think, "You down with IPP? Yeah, you know me." If that makes me a dork, I'm OK with it. 

Me too. Bridges yelled that at me once in the Hood parking lot as we drove off. Been meaning to make him a custom shirt since. I'll add you to the list.

The crew. Are you down? Photo: Dan Mullins