----------------Preston putting those Grip Sticks to good use, totally wild boned out roast beef-y type thing on the FS wall at Hood.
LITTLE LABELS
CRAB GRAB
Who is Crab Grab? (Preston Strout) It’s just my wife Dawn and I, and our good-for-nothing dog named Peanut. We’re just a small family business here in Oregon that gets a ton of help along the way from sales reps, distributors, team riders, photo friends, etc. You guys basically cornered the traction market in one fell swoop, what made you decide to make stomp pads and grip sticks? I just wanted to make a product that inspired riders to kind of refocus snowboard tricks on style. The days of really tweaking unique grabs somehow got replaced with just grabbing mute and spin-corking till you land; so that’s where our grab rails or grip sticks came from. Not that you need a piece of foam to grab onto, but it sure feels good to grab them and seeing them on your board is a great reminder of how amazing a simple poked out grab can feel. Stomp pad type stuff was a natural extension of this, so Scott Stevens and Jesse Burtner became our first two team riders. We all spend our summers up on Mt. Hood, and the brand and products were all born out of this environment.
P H OTO : A A R O N B L AT T
I’d like to make a side note here. I think the level of modern pro snowboarding is so hard to relate to for your average rider. It’s absolutely incredible where things have progressed to, but it’s very difficult to go emulate. You don’t just go to your local mountain and try to make your triple corks look like your favorite snowboarder’s triples. On the other hand, catching a few feet of air off a bump and grabbing your snowboard makes sense to anyone. The trick then becomes making those grabs look and feel really good. I love the fact that Crab Grab can inspire new snowboarders to have fun trying this.
Aww, thanks. That would be me... I still have the mind of a 14-year old. But I also have the back and knees of a 75-year old so it all balances out.
Not only do you guys have a STACKED pro/ am team, most industry heads are rocking Crab Grab on their decks, along with a ton of rad kids. What’s the secret to your success? Yea, we’re very fortunate to have so many amazing people supporting this project. Every time I see it on someone’s board I feel so honored and lucky. Aside from making really functional products, I think the secret to our success is just focusing on one thing and doing it right. Traction is such a small category for most larger brands that it becomes an afterthought, their stomp pads end up being heinous and most riders just stopped using them. The term itself, “stomp pad”, became synonymous with something shitty you’d see on a rental board. For Crab Grab, traction products are the only thing we make and it’s all I ever want us to make. To just make one thing really, really well.
Where can kids in Europe cop some Crab Grab gear? We have amazing distributors in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Norway, so I’m assuming your local shops in those places. We still need to figure out the other countries, so hit me up if you’re a distributor down with Crab Grab.
P Pants might just be the greatest thing ever invented, followed closely by Board Barf. Who comes up with this stuff?
028
What is the difference between regular Board Barf and Bode’s Barf? On Bode’s Barf, the logo is holding a Cosmo glass, other than that it’s that same barf formula. Dawn and I actually hand make all of those in our garage and it’s a massive pain in the ass. Hot Tip: this season is actually the last year for a while that we’re making Board Barf, so the ones you can find are gonna be collectors items.
Last word is yours! It’s so cliched, but I think the most important part of running a snowboard company is just to snowboard all the time, and share your products, time, and passion with other snowboarders. To me, one hour on a snowboard is more powerful than 40 on a computer, so I want to keep Crab Grab small and efficient. If we grow naturally that’s great, if we fail naturally that’s fine too. Either way, it’s going to happen with us spending our time up on the mountain. crabgrab.com