Pro riders may come and go and brands may live and die, but the impact on snowboarding of true icons like Peter Line stick around forever. Six-time Winter X-Games medalist, co-founder of Forum and Foursquare, and part owner Electric Eyewear, Peter Line has brought us a decade and a half of cool new tricks and door-blowing video parts. He’s a rider’s rider, down for keeping snowboarding as an image-driven, renegade sport that attracts other weirdos and misfits like him. Over the course of his career, he’s used his influence as a high-profile pro and company owner to keep that dream alive.

    Line and snowboarding first encountered each other in the late 80s on the slopes of Washington resorts like Crystal Mountain and Snoqualmie. As young teenagers living in Bellevue (just outside Seattle), Pete and his skater friends took the bus up to the mountains every weekend to ride. By 1993, he’d hooked up his first board sponsor, Division 23, and was offered a pro model shortly thereafter. When Line thinks back on it, it’s these days of being a fired-up rookie that he remembers most fondly. “Everything was so innocent—all I cared about was snowboarding everyday. Of course, I was younger and just having fun, but that’s what it is—like the saying, ‘It’s about the journey, not the destination.’ Those were the good ol’ days.” 

In 1996, Four Star Distribution and Special Blend Owner Raul Reis contacted Line about starting an offshoot clothing company. Reis brought on Scandinavian pro-rider Ingemar Backman, as well, and together they started Foursquare. A year later, Division 23 President Gregg Dileo left D23 with Line to join Mike “Mack Dawg” McEntire in starting Forum Snowboards, also under the Four Star umbrella. “We brought on all the young amazing riders at the time—B.J. Leines, J.P. Walker, Joni Malmi, Chris Dufficy, Jeremy Jones, Devun Walsh, and Wille Yli-Luoma,” says Line.

While pros investing in companies might seem commonplace these days, very few riders in the mid 90s had the foresight to put some of their newfound dough back into the sport. “I think it was more about a vision we all had of starting an amazing snowboard company that everyone wanted to be a part of,” says Line. “We had an opportunity to start different, with Mack Dawg as one of the owners and team videos as our focus. No other snowboard company at the time was doing what we did, so it became our little baby that we were so proud of. And of course it was an investment thing—even though at the time I could’ve ridden for someone else for way more money, this was something that meant a lot more to be a part of.”

With Line’s input, the team videos and other depictions of Forum’s original crew, the “Forum Eight,” were larger than life—all about the image and lifestyle of being a snowboarder. Over the years, he’s striven to help keep it that way—to do something with an impact and prevent snowboarding from becoming a dull, product-driven thing that’s “just another sport.”

“I think my responsibility to snowboarding is to give back to the sport what it gave me as a rider. I started snowboarding because it was the underground, cool thing that not many people were into at the time, and throughout my career, I’ve always voiced my opinion as snowboarding grew and drifted away from that. I’ve tried to do my part to keep it a core, cool sport that others can grow up loving, too. I’ve tried to do my best at calling out the bullshit and keeping things as image-driven as possible.”

    These days Line is still a sponsored pro and still getting hyped to ride, although he admits to “checking out the retirement side.” Forum and Foursquare are now part of the Burton empire, but Line still influences everything going on with the brands, from the team, marketing, and video stuff to product design (he actually designs a few pieces for Foursquare every year). Plus, Forum’s doing a new video this coming year, and he’s focusing on filming a part for that. “It’s been a while since I’ve been so excited to snowboard and film again,” he says.

When it comes down to it, Peter Line represents something bigger than his career as a pro snowboarder—and even bigger than the companies he helped start. He represents the longevity of snowboarding as cool, creative, exciting, and maybe even an outlet for people who don’t fit in. He cares, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters. “When I first started, a big air in the half pipe was maybe five feet out, and the most rotation was a 540 by accident. Watching the progression of such a young sport from the start and actually being a person who has helped it grow is huge for me. To help shape a sport I love is an amazing feeling.”

    So how did a pool skater from the Bay Area get into snowboarding? Through Steve Caballero, of course. Around 1980, the legendary skateboarder had been shredding the Tahoe City Halfpipe and told his friend Joel all about it. “Once I saw the picture of Cab doing an invert on a snowboard, I knew I had to try it,” says Gomez, who quickly added snowboarding to his boardsports repertoire.  

    By 1982, Gomez was helping Tom Sims sell Sims Snowboards throughout the Bay Area. “One day I walked out of a surf shop and realized that if I opened up my own store, I could listen to punk music and be around skateboards and snowboards all day every day—a dream come true for me.” As a Chicano kid who grew up working the fields with his mom and brothers, Gomez wasn’t blessed with disposable income. He had to borrow funds to get things going, but an ultra-low cost of living allowed him to put almost every cent right back into the company. Modeling it after his bedroom, which was bedecked with punk posters and old surf, skate, and snowboards, Gomez created more than just a store—it was a hangout haven with its own gritty culture and flavor.

    Punk records and T-shirts found their way into Sessions’ inventory and helped develop sales, but another new project was on the horizon—Gomez was designing snowboard-specific outerwear. Officially founded in 1988, Sessions Outerwear quickly became a driving force of West Coast snowboard culture. But it was far from simply fashion—Sessions kept ahead of the pack by innovating and taking chances. In the early 90s, the company helped pioneer the use of Gore-Tex and the idea of signature rider outerwear, releasing pieces bearing the names of Jamie Lynn, John Cardiel, and Tara Dakides. According to Gomez, Sessions was also the first snowboard company to incorporate Recco avalanche rescue systems, Skullcandy headphones, and D3o shock-absorption technology.

    A quarter century later, a few things have changed. Sessions Records is “on sabbatical.” Says Gomez, “I do it more for the love than the money—it’s a time consuming and costly hobby.” However, Sessions Outerwear is an internationally distributed and award-winning brand that’s barreling forward even as many privately owned companies flail. What’s the secret? Sticking to what you know. Sessions makes outerwear—not watches, not bindings, not boots or snowboards. While other brands desperately diversify their crops, Sessions maintains a fierce focus on making the best technically advanced outwear possible.  

    Another change, however, is that Sessions has enlisted some financial help from Samsung America by selling the brand and trademark rights to a new company, Sessions LLC, which has Samsung amongst its shareholders. Confusing, no? Gomez says simply, “We are still privately owned and operated.”

    And don’t worry—Sessions is still rock and roll, as evidenced by such rock-band collaborations as the Metallica jacket boasting Skullcandy speakers on the hood. What else? Gomez is still excited about blistering guitars, about “making cool outerwear,” and about taking steep powder runs with friends. Some things never change, you know?