In charge of the board

SOUTH LONDONDERRY, Vt. -- In the shadows of Vermont's Stratton Mountain region along Route 100 sits a weathered, red, wooden building on a gravel lot. A minivan plastered with stickers is parked on the lot. Inside the building, punk music echoes among the aluminum walls while the hum of power tools is interrupted by the intermittent screech of grinding metal. Glowing orange sparks scatter across the floor and disappear under a nearby workbench.

"The metal edges have to be grinded down so that they're smooth and fit flush," says Steve Hayes, owner of Hayes Brothers Snowboards, which he started eight years ago with his brother Mike. The snowboard he is working on is a 2008 model, and it needs to be done in time for a snowboard trade show in January.

Late fall is particularly busy for Hayes, 38, whose shaggy hair peeks out from underneath a black knit cap. And last week he was rushing to get as much done as possible before he headed off to New York to attend a showing of "Snow Blind," a documentary about the history, culture, and lifestyle of snowboarding. The movie credits Hayes as a pioneer of the sport and his company as a force in the subculture of core snowboarding.

A Vermont native, Hayes speaks with a West Coast surfer drawl that has migrated into snow sports in recent years. He says he adopted the accent while competing in Northern California and Utah through the 1980s and early '90s during the infancy of snowboarding, before the Olympics added boardercross competitions and riders began receiving million-dollar endorsement contracts. In fact, Hayes was a member of the first team sponsored by Jake Burton Carpenter , founder of Burton Snowboards , the worldwide juggernaut of the industry.

"Back in the early '80s, Jake developed a certification program for snowboarders at Stratton Mountain," he says. "At a time when most places in the state wouldn't let snowboarders on the slopes, [Stratton] was letting us take the chair lifts up right next to the skiers."

The move paid off, big time. In 1985, the US Open Snowboarding Championships, regarded by enthusiasts as the biggest snowboarding event in the world, moved from Snow Valley in Manchester, Vt., to Stratton Mountain. The Hayes brothers finished first and third at the competition, and Burton Snowboards signed both to professional contract s . Steve, who was attending the University of Vermont at the time, continued with summer and fall courses until he earned a bachelor's in small business management.

"I was the only pro rider who was going to college during the off-season," he says. "It took me a long time, but I'm sure glad I had an education to fall back on."

Being on a team himself prepared Hayes for managing his own team, he says. Hayes Brothers Snowboards team rider Raschid Joyce insists that he couldn't find a better manager. "The relationship between him and me isn't something corporate, where I feel like just a dollar sign," Joyce said. "I've been on the team ever since he started making snowboards in 1998, and we've always had such a great personal relationship between the two of us. I give him honest feedback on the product, and he turns around and makes it better every time."

Inside his cozy office attached to the factory, the walls are littered with vintage Burton snowboard posters. One that hangs behind his desk shows Hayes launching from a hill, arms to the sky, with his legs and board tucked behind him. This happens to be the image that was printed on Burton Snowboards ' first catalog.

"We were all just out shredding around and the photographer happened to take this photo of me," Hayes recalls. "Another shot from the same jump ended up in an ad in Rolling Stone."

It was a botched jump that brought Hayes's snowboarding career to a bone-shattering halt. In 1995, after spending all day at the annual trade show in Las Vegas, he drove with a fellow team rider overnight to a competition in Snowbird, Utah. During a boardercross race, Hayes got tangled with another snowboarder and landed short of the 30-foot gap. The impact broke his tibia and fibula, and sent the bones ripping through his thigh muscle. "I remember riding in the back of the ambulance, and with every bump in the road my leg would shift and heart-wrenching pain would shoot through my body," Hayes says.

It took 10 screws, three pins, and a bone graft from a cadaver to put his leg back together. When he asked his doctor whether he would be able to snowboard again, the doctor told him he thought it would be a miracle if he were to ever walk again. "I was on crutches for six months after the surgery," he says. "Through intense rehab, I was able to walk again. Then the doctor told me that I could try skiing. That's all I needed to hear to get back on a snowboard."

Nearly eight years after the accident, Hayes went to Alaska, where he was the first person in history to descend the Melee Renegade ravine on a snowboard. He now can ride a snowboard comfortably and is able to test his products on the mountain.

Nick Pedemonti, co-owner of Podium Snowboard Shop and Museum in Manchester, Vt., said he started selling Hayes Brother s snowboards this season. But in the museum inside the shop, he displays early snowboard artifacts that Hayes has donated over the years. "Along with backing Stevie by selling his products here, Ross Powers, the other co-owner, and I think it's important to preserve his legacy as a pioneer in snowboarding," Pedemonti said. "The museum allows us to share his history with other enthusiasts."

Along with being a husband and father of two, Hayes acts as the designer, marketer, team manager, production coordinator, and visionary for Hayes Brothers Snowboards . Though exhausting and often painstaking, overseeing the entire operation has an immense benefit.

"I get to see every board that leaves the factory," Hayes boasts. "I'm seriously picky about the quality of the product because when you build the best snowboards in the world, you can't make any mistakes."

He isn't the only one with unyielding confidence in his product. Cold Spring Advisors in New York sought and attracted four major investors to back Hayes Brothers Snowboards, bringing funds that will enable the company to expand its resources to keep up with global competitors. Hayes also receives marketing and advertising advice from Cold Spring, which urged him to place an ad in a national trade magazine and hire people to help share some of the responsibilities he now holds.

"My biggest fear is losing momentum," Hayes says. "I regret not sticking that landing, but it's a great metaphor for making sure I forge ahead full-speed to make sure I never come up short again."