Waves of mountains

SAWPIT — In the late 1980s, Dennis Zeller got bored with skiing. He tried a snowboard and was soon making his own, modeled similar to surfboards.

Zeller, now 56, has a shop is in his garage along the San Miguel River outside Sawpit. Here he creates Sawpit Snowboards. Posters of celebrity customers and pros he’s met adorn the walls among many shelves of woods and tools.

Gerry Lopez, famous surfer of the ’60s and ’70s, has one of Zeller’s boards. So does actress Daryl Hannah.

The boards are much different from the average style on the slopes. They’re much stiffer, much heavier. They’re shaped with a point rather than what Zeller calls the popsicle-shaped look of a skateboard.

“What’s unique about my boards is that I shift the core and the side-cut two or three inches back to make it ride more like surfing than skateboarding,” Zeller said.

He said the common version of the snowboard, with its center-stance, certainly has its advantages, such as with half-pipes and rails.

“It’s great for the business and the kids are in it — but tricks are for kids — you know what I mean? I get hurt. I’m 56, I don’t repair real fast,” Zeller said.

Examining board number 36, he explains the design of his boards as favorable for powdery conditions rather than hard-packed snow. The pointed nose helps with lift over deep powder and the V-shaped tail helps the back end to sink into it.

Zeller doesn’t advertise. Most people find out about his craft either through word-of-mouth or on a lift in Telluride Ski Resort. He also works at Ace Timberline Hardware in Telluride and is a proprietor for Accommodations in Telluride. He does some taxidermy for extra money as well.

Zeller grew up in Southern Oregon, where he was an avid surfer. He moved to Telluride in 1978 when season passes were about $260, he said.

He said it was either in 1988 or 1989 when snowboards began appearing on the slopes.

“The first year I could give you the name of maybe seven or eight people and then the next year it just went off and, well, it’s grown ever since.”

He said people first didn’t like having to share the mountain with snowboards. They were stereotyped as out-of-control.

“Out of control being the person — out of control is out of control. It doesn’t matter what implement you put them on, they’re still gonna be out of control,” he said.

When someone comes to him asking for a board, Zeller customizes its dimensions to the person’s size. He also creates designs — ranging from flames to fish to seaweed — out of the wood on the top layer. The board is given a unique number.

“I wanna make sure that it’s right,” he said. “I’m not gonna tell you what my success rate or non-success rate has been on ‘em, because it’s been really good. You know, I mean, you can get 300, 400 days out of one of these boards. And you can get longer.”

Sawpit Snowboards are much longer than the average of about 155 centimeters; his are no shorter than 173 centimeters. They can range from roughly $400 to $2,500, depending on the specifications.

“They’ve got character, they’ve got something — and for some people, they work,” Zeller said.

He’s made about 100 snowboards. The most he’s made in a year is 15. He can make one in as quickly as one week, though the customer must wait an additional week to ride, allowing the board to cure.

“I build all of them. I don’t have a kid coming in here and doing ‘em. I have another guy, an older guy, that comes in if I get really jammed up,” he said.

Zeller said he’s been encouraged to come up with an eco-friendly snowboard made from all-natural products, and that this could be the next step for Sawpit Snowboards.  

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com