I am amazed by Kevin Sansalone's time management skills. Let's be honest: it's not a quality possessed by most snowboarders. In a world of burned-out bros who prefer marinating in front of the flat-screen, Sansalone is in his own multi-tasking universe. For one thing, the legendary rider is still riding. While others from his generation rarely strap on their boots, Sansalone shreds on the daily. And off the mountain, he has not one but two significant projects to run: Sandbox films and the recently-launched Whitegold snowboards.

"That's the toughest balancing act for sure," he acknowledges. "Time management. Well, number one is riding, so I try to make that the top priority. That's why we are all in this, to ride, and it's really easy to lose that focus or drive when you feel like you have to bring home the bacon and survive. I should be out riding right now instead of doing this interview," he jokes (I think).

Sandbox grew from the original Skids video series to become an important showcase for a new generation of Canadian riders. The party-and-pirate footage from the Skids era was replaced with progressive riding and clean edits. Sansalone is blazing ahead with Sandbox in spite of an ever-changing video market; his first teaser for this year's release, Shine On, just dropped online. He also has a Sandbox helmet line (called "Brain Buckets") on the side. And just when it looked like there might be some free time left in his day, along comes another responsibility.

After a long history with Vancouver's Option Snowboards, which included multiple pro models and a heavy hand in team decisions and product development, Sansalone found himself seeking a fresh start during a transition in management. Instead of looking to the industry, he continued his entrepreneurial streak by launching Whitegold.

White Gold.

"After I left Option I didn't want to go out and try to find a board sponsor. In this crazy market and at my age, I knew it would be tough to find a solid home with good product that I like," he explains. "I got really picky with my boards. I was spoiled at Option with our own factory right in Vancouver. So on the product side, I just wanted to be on boards that I really liked. Then on the marketing and team side of things, I thought it would be impossible to find a brand that I could actually grow with and become a real part of the company. So I definitely didn't set out to start a brand, I just wanted to do my own thing on good product. Then after two years of prototypes, I made the decision to offer these boards on a very limited scale."

Sansalone jokingly describes Whitegold as a "mad scientist experiment in the snowboard industry," but says bluntly that he has "no expectations for growth and sales" since he considers it an experimental business model. He's sticking to his goal of making high-end boards that he wants to ride and performs well in the "ride everything" environment of Whistler, BC.

"[There are] no fancy gimmicks, just boards that work and ride well," he says. "We will always be trying new designs and materials and progressing, but no gimmicky stuff. We then make a small, limited amount of these newest designs and offer them to people directly, from me to them. With this business model, it's not a two year process of sampling, going to trade shows and getting orders. These boards are the newest and latest designs that basically come out of the factory and head straight to the customer."

The Whitegold boards are indeed high-end (with a price to match), but will no doubt appeal to riders looking for a quality product with a genuine pedigree that stands out in the lift-line. Sansalone says they are "lightweight and durable, with really fast base material, and medium flex pattern so they don't overpower your riding." The boards are also offered in regular camber or rocker, which Sansalone has a sweet testing program for.

"I go up with two exact boards; same side cut, flex, bindings, stance everything, except one is rocker and one is regular camber," he explains. "I'll do alternating top-to-bottom runs from the peak of Whistler down through the park, and then down into the mountain bike trails with mini rhythm-jumps and tight berms. It's been really fun and I can really see the advantages and disadvantages of both styles. Plus, it's an insane leg-burner workout."

Since the brand is so small, Sansalone has no plans for a traditional team, but has flowed boards to a few Whistler locals to get their R&D feedback. One of his customers, Josh Lappo, recently provided a legit testimonial for the quality (and speed) of the Whitegold boards by winning the second annual Westbeach Asian Canadian Downhill race, charging from the peak of Whistler Mountain to the Creekside base (and chugging a beer, no less) before any other competitors could make it down.

"One of the points of the business model is to make every customer a test rider as well. [I want] to get their feedback and get them involved," Sansalone elaborates. "This is possible with the small, limited-edition style personal sales we're doing. I pretty much know every customer now," he laughs.

Of course between launching a snowboard brand and continuing to run Sandbox, Sansalone is still riding as much as possible. It's part of the job, right?

"I've had some good days for sure, not much filming at all," he says. "I will most likely have a hidden credits part again, but we'll see. I am off to Bella Coola to go heli-skiing for a week. That should be pretty damn fun. I will be testing out some boards and I have a really cool experimental board that's like the Libtech Banana Hammock. It's reverse side-cut and reverse camber; that will be really fun in the pow."

www.whitegoldsnowboards.com
www.sandboxland.com

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Related:
Sandbox Crew in Quebec (video)
Sandbox and Alterna (part 1: Sandbox)
Kevin Sansalone by Brian Hockenstein (photo)