This weekend marks the opening of many of the resorts in Utah, and so I've got snowboarding on the mind right now. The social media algorithms have officially switched me over from cycling videos to ski and snowboard videos. I'm ready to go. The snowboard I have been using for the last few years is from a German company called KORUA. Their story is that the company grew out of a trip to Japan. A group of friends, who were all snowboard nerds in their 30's, fell in love with the snowboarding culture over there, specifically the focus on "deep powder boards", and so they decided to return to the Alps and create their own brand.
The result:
To date, this has been my favorite board. The shape of it fits my riding style and I love the absolute simplicity of it. None of their boards have any designs or graphics -- they're just different shapes (optimized for different kinds of riding) with an all white top and an all red bottom. I joke that it's the Christian Louboutin of snowboards. But it's not really. The KORUA brand is all about performance, the aesthetic beauty of being in the mountains, and the simple pleasure of turning a board on snow. If you've ever watched any of their videos or if you follow them on the socials, you'll know that they have a very unique aesthetic. Black and white. Super simple.
To this end, they've just released a new photo book called Ten Years of Turning. The book tells KORUA's brand story through the lens of Aaron Schwartz, who is their in-house photographer. He's been with them since the founding of the company in 2014. And even though I've only seen a few of the pages online, I follow Aaron and I already know that this is a book we're going to need to have hanging around at Parkview Mountain House. If you're into snow and beautiful things, you may want to check it out as well.
