For the past year and a half, Brett at Brazen snowboards has been making custom snowboards and skiboards out of his workshop in El Cajon, California. It all started after a divorce where he asked himself what he really loved to do. Brett, who has an engineering degree, got to work building all the large tooling himself from piles of metal and electronics, to put together the small production and prototyping factory for custom made snowboards, skiboards and skis (although they haven’t had the chance to make any skis yet.)

The factory and techniques are constantly growing and improving under the curious eyes of the factory cat Madeline Brazen Longpaw. Brett says even tho Brazen is a young company, he puts in over 12 hours a day, 7 day weeks as the only full-time employee.

It takes just a couple of weeks to your own selected graphics onto one of their production models, or about a month or more if you’re you want more customized dimensions, effective edge, flex characteristics, camber, etc. Brett says, “You can have anything you want. Literally”. Brazen uses hand selected alder, ash or maple wood cores with no knots and a tight grain. Durasurf sintered base materials, Isosport topsheet material for dye sublimation, even aircraft grade carbon fibers, fiber glasses and bio-resins.

One of their current skiboard production models is 90cm long and basedoff the old Line 5-0 skiboards but with vastly improved material, and they have made custom skiboards up to 130cm long, and an impressive 190cm long snowboard. They even have some 56cm skiboards based off the good old Kneissl Big Foots dubbed the Good Foots.

“Just about everything we’re building is gone as soon as it’s finished…” Brett says, but they do have a growing amount of in stock items. Best way to see what they have available is to contact them directly, and if they don’t have what your looking for, well they can always just make something for you!

Brett is looking move his equipment into another manufacturer’s factory in the future, “then have the capacity to do large runs…, There’s big things in the future!”

The province of Nova Scotia in Canada is the first to pass a law requiring all skiers and snowboards (skiboarders that means you too) to wear helmets on the slopes. The law comes into effect next ski season, and the fine for getting caught shredding without a helmet? $250.

A similar law was vetoed in California, while New Jersey will be making it mandatory for minors under 18 to protect their brains with a helmet. Intrawest, owners of Tremblant, Blue Mountain, Snowshoe, Stratton, Winter Park, and Steamboat has made it mandatory for children and terrain park riders to wear a helmet after an actress died at one of their resorts following a brain injury in 2009.

The Quebec Ski Areas Association years ago passed regulations for their terrain parks, which regulates the size of features, requires resorts to post signs in front of them and that all terrain park riders wear helmets, but this was never made law.

Helmet use is on the rise whether they are law or not, stats show that 9 out of 10 riders in Canada already wear a helmet.

[poll id=”4″]

Do you think helmet laws are the way to go? Why or why not?