Dear Rider

Dear Rider tells the inspirational story of how Jake Burton Carpenter, the man who pioneered the sport of snowboarding, took a favorite childhood toy and developed it into an international cultural phenomenon. Inspired by the Snurfer, a surfboard-styled strip of wood, Jake created his first snowboard as an inexpensive alternative to skiing. From there, he developed increasingly versatile boards, lobbied ski resorts to allow snowboarding, sponsored world-class athletes, fended off rival companies, and navigated the cultural backlash to what media outlets called the "Worst New Sport." By the late-90s, Jake's vision catapulted the punk-infused culture of snowboarding into the mainstream-and, ultimately, onto the world stage-the Olympics. Culminating at the 2020 Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships, the film shows how one person's dreams, coupled with tenacity and grit, can literally change the world.