Arbor Snowboards is loading up its pro team for the upcoming season with some of the most decorated snowboarders in the game.
Red Gerard, Jared Elston, and Danny Kass have all joined the Arbor team. The brand announced the signings on its Instagram page earlier this month.
Kass and Gerard have three Olympic medals between them. Kass won halfpipe silver in Salt Lake City in 2002, and again in Torino, Italy in 2006. Gerard won slopestyle gold in 2018.
Elston comes to Arbor after nine years with Nitro Snowboards. He beat out Torstein Horgmo to win the Jackson Hole leg of the 2022 Natural Selection Tour, and had a part in Brown Cinema’s 2023 film “Knights of the Brown Table”. See below.
The Arbor team already boasted some of the most recognizable names in snowboarding, like Bryan Iguchi, Marie-France Roy, and Pat Moore. Now, Elston, Gerard, and Kass will beef up a team that features 11 pro riders, two amateurs, two regional riders, and an ambassador in Pat McCarthy.
Gerard revealed in September that he was leaving Burton after 15 years in an Instagram post. The featured photo was one of him and the late Burton Snowboards founder and CEO Jake Burton Carpenter at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Carpenter died of cancer in 2019.
“After 15 incredible years with Burton Snowboards, it’s time to say goodbye. I want to say thank you to everyone at Burton, from all the amazing team managers to the staff, to the warehouse, to all the riders, and most importantly the Carpenter family,” the post said. “Ever since I was 9 years old, I have so many core, unforgettable memories that will forever be held deep in my heart. The people that I was surrounded by at Burton have helped shape the person I am today, and I am so grateful for every moment and all the friendships that were made along our journey together.”
Mark Clavin
Gerard will also work closely with Arbor on a kids collection, which will focus on making high performance gear accessible to younger riders. Kass will have a pro model park board that is released in Arbor’s 2025 collection. Elston’s pro model board, the El Camino, will also debut in 2025, and he’ll play a key role in the brand’s Omnis Collection.
In October of 2023, the brand announced a slew of new changes at the executive level. Matt Patti came on as the general manager from Vans, they added Cale Meyer as the director of marketing, and Trevor Brady as the North American sales manager. Garrett Gibb also joined the design team, after 12 years with Vans. Patti hinted in a press release at the time that the big moves would lead to big changes, and it appears as if those are starting to unfold.