Now Read This

Believe it or not, there was once a time when there was no such thing as a women’s snowboard, boots, bindings, or even outerwear.

There were small boards and bindings or whatever, but nothing built specifically for the ladies- tShannon Dunn changed all that. On top of her unbelievably dominant competitive career, (which included a few x-games gold medals, a bronze at the Nagano Olympics, and countless other victories) Shannon also made huge strides for women’s snowboarding. She was the first ever to have a women’s pro model, first with Sims, then with Burton, and also helped to develop product specifically designed to a women’s fit, not just scaled down men’s stuff.

A while back we caught up with Shannon to check in on life as a pro mom instead of pro rider.

How long have you been riding?

20 years.

Where did you learn how to ride?  

My hometown, Steamboat Springs, CO.

What board did you learn on?

 K2 Gyrator-I bought it after the first day I rented it.

Where have you been riding lately?

Northstar at Tahoe.

Which riders inspire you?

Dave Downing, Janna Meyen

Do you have a favorite snowboard video?

8 Tracks

What are some of your favorite Burton memories?

There’s a lot of great memories for sure! When I was signing my contract for Burton in 1994, they flew me to NYC to see Saturday Night Live. Seal was the musical guest. I had never been to New York, Saturday Night Live was my fav. show and Seal was one of my favorite artists. Everything seemed surreal. Anyway, I signed the Burton Deal-Haha! As far as snowboarding goes-My time on the Burton Team has been amazing. Burton is absolutely the best company to work with. They were so supportive of me and they do everything with such quality.

All the photo shoots were hilarious and crazy. I think the craziest photo shoot I was at was in New Zealand-Erehwon. It’s nowhere spelled backwards. Let’s just say it was a place where the team could bond! We stayed in this place where each room slept 5 and the heat hardly worked. The snow wasn’t too good but on mountain we made a giant ¼pipe. We got helied up to the ¼pipe every day to shoot photos for like 5 days. You had to be there! I think Japan has always been my favorite spot to travel to for snowboarding. I love it!

It was awesome to be able to travel around the world to compete, be on photo shoots, and be part of a team with amazing riders.

Could you share a favorite moment in your life?

My wedding day and giving birth (2 times) have to be 3 of the most indescribable moments of my life.

If you want to see more of Shannon check out some of her video parts in the old Mack Dawg videos, or the all girls video "Hardley Angers," or tons more.

Misty Nug: The tallest women ever was 8ft. 2inches tall.

Part  of a well balanced week of Burton blog posts officially known as "Now Read This,"

Throwback Thursday is a window to snowboardings past, or maybe it's future