Devin Overton 12/24/1992 - 3/17/2022
Occupation: Fine Dining Server
Home Town: Ridgway, CO
Home Mountain: Telluride
Snowboarding Since: 6 years old
Riding Venture Since: Winter 14/15
Setup: Paragon 166 in both a solid and split. Euphoria for the pow and slush days.
Bio: A Colorado native, Devin was raised in Ridgway, Colorado, and jumped ship on an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy only to discover his true passion in splitboarding. He now resides in Telluride, CO, working nights in fine dining and spending his days adventuring in the surrounding San Juan Mountains. Devin says he is committed to snowboarding steeps like it was his day job, and lives for “brutally early mornings and painfully long climbs rewarded with magical views, blower powder, and a genuine feeling of happiness.” He considers it his greatest accomplishment that “nearly every day I can stand on a big peak beside a couple of my closest friends, with thousands of feet great snow below us, as I spin in a circle identifying all the amazing places I’ve ridden my snowboard before, all the crazy places I know I’ll soon explore.”
Best Snowboarding Memory? Ah, this is a tough one because I feel like I’m constantly proclaiming how I just had the best run of my life! But if I had to narrow it down to one distinct memory I’d say it was from my first season I spent snowshoeing around in the Red Mountain Pass area. I had been eyeing these 2,000 foot roadside couloirs all winter long and when avalanche danger finally decreased late in March, I wrangled my best friend, Ryan into climbing to the top of chute-laden wall with me. Looking down the untouched, slightly wind-buffed 45 degree slope to the valley bottom was a sight neither of us had ever experienced. I dropped first, taking a few cautious turns to feel out the snow before shifting into high gear and carving the enormous natural halfpipe wall-to-wall. Then I checked my speed slightly, shot through the deep chasm of a choke and blasted out in the flattening apron hooting and hollering. 2,000 feet of the most fun snowboarding of my life went by in no longer than a minute. I then turned around and looked up to see Ryan ski it even faster than I had. With ear-to-ear smiles we slapped a loud high five, and giddily attempted to describe how awesome the experience was. I had been snowboarding on the resort for twelve years, but I finally fell in love with it at that moment and I’ve been chasing that same ecstatic feeling ever since.
Why Venture? In my eyes Venture is just the type of company a big mountain snowboarder or splitboarder wants to get behind and support. The fact that Klem and Lisa chose a remote, quaint mining town in the heart Colorado’s most gnarly mountain range says a lot about their vision and priorities with operating Venture. There are undoubtedly easier places to manufacture snowboards and gain public attention than in Silverton, but there really isn’t a better place to test your products or take the morning off from work on a powder day. On good years in the San Juans you’ll get to ride a lot of powder, but every year it’s certain you’ll be hammering lots of rocks which is my top reason for choosing a Venture. These boards can handle a beating! So many times I’ve dreaded turning over my board after crushing a rock, only to reveal a minor cosmetic blemish and shrug my shoulders over as I say, “Not bad at all!” Then during those special times when the conditions are amazingly good, the buoyant nose, straight-line rocker, and setback stance of a Venture provide a fast and effortless ride through deep, dreamy powder. Venture snowboards are so easy to love because it’s obvious they were engineered and crafted by badass snowboarders who have a genuine passion for testing their products every day, in Colorado’s most harsh backcountry terrain.