Performance Art: Handmade Abstract Wooden Snowboards

Recently, professional snowboarder and artist Corey Smith noted he wanted to get back to what snowboarding was all about. To Smith that meant making powder turns, enjoying the outdoors with friends, and, in a strange twist, crafting crude snowboards from plywood. On his website, Spring Break Snowboards, Smith refers to his creations as “handmade abstract wooden snowboards.”

During a snowless month in Lake Tahoe, Smith dreamt up the idea of making the boards. When they turned out to be functional, he continued building them and so began Spring Break Snowboards. His creations might best be defined as “rideable art,” and many of the designs are comically large, wildly shaped with pointed noses and deep swallow-tails, or have holes bored through their decks. To say they are unconventional is an understatement.

So, is it a shred stick or is it art? Technically both. Because of the tremendous mass of these big boards, Smith is able to ride them in powder that would stop the average deck — gentle slopes, roadside hills, and any lift-less downward slant will do, he says.

“It makes deep fresh powder accessible to anyone,” Smith noted in this interview with Cool Hunting. “Since the boards float so well in powder you can ride mellow, relatively avalanche safe terrain.”

Smith continued, saying if you ride a traditional board in deep snow you can only move on steeper terrain. With his gargantuan creations you can just “hike stuff off the side of the road, you don’t need a helicopter, snowmobile or even a lift ticket.”

Or you could simply hang one of these boards on your wall. They are as crazy beautiful in their own right as they are functional for the retro style of snowboarding Smith recommends.

To obtain one of the boards, Spring Breaks’ website urges shoppers to “donate” a minimum of $500 to fund future projects and replenish supplies. A customer can then choose a board from the collection. Details of the deal are a little fuzzy, so contact Smith (corey@thecomune.com) for more info and a peek at his current boards.

—T.C. Worley is based in Minnesota.