The ARchivist
Hidden behind steel and concrete, in the belly of the beast we know as BURTON, lies the greatest collection of snowboarding paraphernalia in the world. I like to think of it as Jake’s Arc. Since 1977 Jake has religiously put aside one of everything his company had ever made. And I’m not just taking about boards, boots, and bindings, No. Every pant, shirt, glove, sock, catalog, sticker, poster, etc. If Burton made it, chances are that a brand-new version of it lives somewhere in the archives. Sounds crazy right? Well, I recently went there to see for myself and hang with my good buddy Todd “TK” Kohlman. TK is the Archivist at Burton whose responsibility is to safely store, organize, and preserve Jakes most sacred items.
As he was giving me the tour, I asked TK If he could show me a few of Jakes more prized pieces from the archives. I could see his mind processing what I was asking, and I could tell that there were a ton of those items but then his eyes lit up and he said, “check this out.” He walked over to a box laying one of the hundreds of shelves and pulls out the holy grail, a prototype BB1 Experimental. It was beautifully preserved, painted blue with yellow writing. Something any of us board collectors would guard with our lives. TK went on to show me a few more items that equally blew my mind including Craig Kelly’s first prototype board which was the exact same board he was riding in the infamous “Free at Last” Burton ad which ran right after his lawsuit with Sims. The last thing Todd brought out looked strange and somewhat odd considering I was expecting another board. What looked like a pair of hairy spider legs held up by a roach clip was Jeff Brushie’s dreads that he had cut off right before the US Open in 1992. TK said that he got the dreads and other things several years ago from Brushie’s mother when she and her husband moved out of the family house.
I have to say, I was blown away by the tour and super stoked to not only see such incredible, one-of-a-kind pieces but to hear the stories behind them. TK’s passion for the sport and wealth of knowledge makes him perfect archivist. If you haven’t visited the archives at Burton do yourself and book a tour with TK. You won’t be disappointed.
