Venture and Johan Oloffson announce the Odin

Last year we announced that legendary freerider Johan Olofsson of TB5 fame had signed to Venture Snowboards of Silverton Colorado. Well, for the 2011/12 season Johan and Venture owner Klemens Branner put their brains together to design the ultimate all conditions freeride snowboard and Johan’s first pro stick for the last decade, they are calling it the Odin, we call it about time.

The all new Venture Odin, aslo available in split.

Here’s what venture have to say about their latest masterpiece:

The Odin is the product of a close collaboration between Olofsson and Venture’s founder and design engineer, Klemens Branner.  “We started kicking ideas around via email and Skype last spring,” says Branner.  Then in fall 2010 Johan came to Silverton for a prototyping session.  “It was a week-long board building marathon, but in the end we had a workable prototype.”  After several iterations and extensive on snow testing in Silverton and interior British Columbia, a final design was settled upon.  The resulting board combines the best of Branner’s mechanical engineering expertise with Olofsson’s big mountain perspective for the ultimate in big mountain performance.

Dubbed Odin after the Norse god of war and wisdom, this deck is a nod to its creators’ Viking roots - Olofsson is Swedish and Branner is Danish-born.  A big mountain quiver of one, it embodies core concepts of Scandinavian design, like simplicity of form and function.

When asked about his inspiration for this board, Olofsson says “The Odin board was made as a one for all, all for one board.”  Tailored to Olofsson’s riding style and preferred terrain, it combines all mountain versatility with powder specific features, for optimal performance across a full range of freeride conditions. For its inaugural season, it will be available in a limited range of sizes, both solid and split.

“First out of the workshop with Venture and Johan, the Odin is a one for all, all for one board.” ~ Johan Olofsson

On initial inspection the Odin looks like their multi award winning freeride classic the Storm, the pointed nose and rocker profile are almost identical. I emailed co-owner Lisa Branner and asked her what the key differences are between the Storm and the Odin.

“The main differences are that the Odin has more stance offset (an extra 10mm set back), more taper, a stiffer flex, slightly longer tail and less sidecut. Essentially it’s a more aggressive ride than the Storm.”


The Odin looks like it’s going to fill the needs of Venture riders who want a touch more float on bottomless powder days and a longer sidecut for point and shoot couloir gunning. The Odin will be available in a 164, 168, 169mW and 173mW. Of course the biggest advantage of picking-up one of next years must have freeride boards from Venture is that the factory is 100% wind powered and Klemens and Lisa source as many materials as possible from sustainable sources, so you can ride with a clear conscious.

Posted by Rich Ewbank in Blog & News.

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What colour is powder?

BFBF on February 07, 2011  at  06:04 AM

RIch, Are you able to get your hands on one of these to demo?

Rich Ewbank on February 08, 2011  at  05:14 PM

Hi BFBF, I wish. Venture are a really homegrown and low key outfit, I’m not sure shipping decks halfway across the world is in their remit or budget. There’s a guy based in the US who runs a website called Powder Snowboard Reviews, he recently reviewed the Storm so I’m certain he’ll be able to get hold of an Odin to demo. Maybe one day i’ll make a pilgrimage to Silverton and shred some sticks.