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Continue ShoppingAbout Us
Based in Truckee, California, USA - Est. 2012
Thrive was founded with the mission of elevating people's mountain experience. Home-based in Truckee, California, Thrive Snowboards builds boards around how you move with the environment in mind. Innovative design and high-end materials make the boards feel so sensational.
Why Thrive?
Dreams of chasing snow-covered mountains is what drives us to design and create rider-focused gear. We are a rider owned brand that is dedicated to elevating the experience of fellow riders from around the world.
We can't afford to ride cheap boards!
We challenge what is possible in design by only using the best ingredients. Our love for food has taught us that the best flavors originate only from the best ingredients. This is our approach to materials in every board we build. The result is boards that make every day on the mountain better.
What makes Thrive different?
Boards built around your sensations!
- Mindful Approach - Sensation Focused Quality Products
- Better Materials - Only the best Ingredients
- Balanced Design - Built around how we move
We are excited to have you on this journey with us. Ride and Thrive
The Board Shaper & Co-Founder - Doug Fagel
I never thought I would run a snowboard company, but I always loved building, designing, and shaping snowboarding for people. As a snow sports industry professional, I have spent countless hours translating rider movements into the performance and sensations of the rider. Understanding how a rider moves is what steers Thrive designs to be more ride-focused and biomechanically intuitive.
As a kid, I loved to build things. A skate park consumed my driveway as a young teen. I remember moving all the features around and out of the way just as much as using them: all homebuilt ramps, boxes, and rails built out of my step-father Bill’s garage. At fifteen, I converted my upstairs bedroom into a cave-style climbing wall. After a short stint at Clarkson University, enrolled in the Computer Science program, I was thoroughly hooked on chasing the snow. I worked as a Snowboard Instructor at Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondack Mountains, located in the north country of New York State. By year two, the career commitment was there. And I knew I needed to make a big move. So I jumped into these newly committed unknowns and moved to Truckee, CA.
The winter of 2000-2001 in New York was good with many norms, icy cold days, and a good year for the park, pipe, and big air. An excellent season for the riding community around the Lake Placid and Wilmington Area. The spring shaped up in more ways than one. The big dumps on March allowed for the High Peaks to open up with lines showing their faces. I had my first real backcountry mission. We hiked our line and rode the Rolling Rock Slide into the trap dike off Mount Colden. I was crazy enough even then to air the ice waterfall over the trap dike yolk. These are the days of inspiration.
That winter Greg Wrobble allowed me to work with him to bring my first design to life and produce a Wilde Woode Board. I shaped up a 160 cm true twin profiled down to be flexible and playful. The board was a bit too soft, not enough incorporated structural support to keep it alive. I built the core from parts of two separate cores intended for an alpine style Snowboard. It was my first glimpse into hand building and board shaping.
More stories of the journey to Thrive to come.
